THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Behind Kerala Tourism’s globally celebrated tagline, “God’s Own Country,” lies a fascinating administrative and creative history often recounted by the late former Additional Chief Secretary and veteran bureaucrat Dr. D. Babu Paul IAS. While popular folklore frequently links the epithet to the mythological legend of Lord Parasurama reclaiming Kerala from the sea, Dr. Paul clarified that the phrase was actually the result of a strategic branding initiative in the late 1980s.
The Birth of the Tagline and Walter Mendez
During the late 1980s, Kerala’s tourism sector was still in its infancy, with promotional brochures even being printed on ordinary gazette paper. Taking charge to revamp the state’s global image, Babu Paul—who was leading the Tourism Department—commissioned the reputed advertising agency Mudra Communications to craft a compelling campaign.
It was Walter Mendez, a creative director and copywriter at Mudra, who coined the iconic three-word phrase “God’s Own Country.” As Babu Paul noted in his lectures and writings, the phrase was not created out of thin air; rather, Mendez drew inspiration from a 19th-century poetic expression and adapted it to capture Kerala’s lush greenery, backwaters, and serene landscape. When several individuals later attempted to claim credit for the slogan, Babu Paul famously remarked, “Give to Mendez what belongs to Mendez.”
Official Adoption in 1989
The tagline received official government backing in 1989 with the approval of the then Tourism Minister, P.S. Sreenivasan. Coupled with pioneering initiatives like introducing houseboats to Kerala’s backwaters, the “God’s Own Country” campaign transformed Kerala from a lesser-known destination into one of the world’s premier travel brands.
