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Steffi Graf to
promote God's Own Country, Ayurveda
Kerala Tourism has
roped in tennis legend Steffi Graf for endorsing its
upcoming campaign to promote Ayurveda.
The 46-year-old, who has 22 Grand Slam singles
titles to her credit, will endorse print campaigns
and television commercials to promote Ayurveda in
national and international tourist circuits.
“Ms. Graf has, in principle, agreed to our proposal
to endorse the campaign and to associate with us in
the forthcoming tourism fair in Berlin,” P.I. Sheikh
Pareeth, Director, Kerala Tourism, told The Hindu .
The quest for an eminent sports personality to
endorse Ayurveda, one of the prized tourism
offerings of Kerala, started after enquiries came to
provide treatment and therapy to injured Brazilian
footballer Neymar in God’s Own Country during the
World Cup last year.
The State Cabinet meeting on Wednesday cleared the
proposal of Kerala Tourism and gave the nod to sign
the agreement with Ms. Graf, Chief Minister Oommen
Chandy said.
Mr. Pareeth said the terms and conditions would be
worked out with the tennis legend. The endorsement
by Ms. Graf comes at a time when Kerala Tourism is
observing Visit Kerala Year to attract more tourists
to the State.
With this, Kerala Tourism’s decades-long search for
a brand ambassador to promote the destination and
its tourism offerings has met with partial success.
In 2012, tourism authorities failed in their effort
to rope in cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar as the
brand ambassador.
Before that, they tried to rope in megastar Amitabh
Bachchan. Though Mr. Bachchan agreed to the lend his
name in 2006, the central leadership of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) shot down the
State plan, saying the thespian was already the
brand ambassador of Gujarat, ruled by the Bharatiya
Janata Party. |