Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 18 (IANS): In an effort to ease travel planning for holiday-goers, Kerala Tourism Wednesday introduced a quick response (QR) code-aided tourism search, which makes it easier for the travellers to find destinations and information on the department's official website.

Kerala Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar, while launching the QR code here, said it is the first such facility in the country.

"This technology will enable visitors to Kerala in overcoming difficulties they face in getting to their destinations. They will be able to not just get there, but know many interesting things about the place without any external help," he said.

The new facility has been rolled out as smartphones have started playing a key role in travel planning because of the high degree of convenience and affordable cost.

QR code aided tourism search optimises the interactive features of the website - www.keralatourism.org .

"Kerala Tourism has already established hundreds of QR coded sign boards across the state. The traveller can scan the QR code using a smart phone or a tab which has a QR code reader. The QR code will also be carried on tourism related magazines and brochures", said Kerala Tourism additional director (general) T.V. Anupama.

"The traveller can select the radius of the location which he wishes to know about. The predetermined distance varies from 2 to 50 km," she added.

A total of 1,200 geo tagged photos from various parts of Kerala, with around 75 photographs from each district, have been uploaded on the website of Kerala Tourism.

"Geo tagged photographs with location information of possible tourism destinations can be uploaded to the tourism website by the tourist using a smart phone, which will be verified by Kerala Tourism before including in the QR code aided tourism search," added Anupama.