Right to Information (RTI) request submitted to the General Administration (Protocol) department suggests that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet ministers have undertaken over 150 foreign trips to 27 countries in the last four years. The figure underscores a notable spike in compared to the CM's preceding cabinet. The Chief Minister and his ministers made 87 foreign tours between 2016 and 2021, as per assembly records.
It is worth noting that international travel was suspended in 2020-21 due to the global pandemic and subsequent lockdown measures.
An analysis of the current tenure’s travel data shows that only 13 per cent of foreign tours were for official government purposes, while 42 pc of the trips were classified as being to participate in events.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan leads the count with 16 foreign trips, a number that rises to 18 if his most recent visits to Qatar and Bahrain are included. He is closely followed by the Minister for Public Works and Tourism, PA Mohammad Riyas, who has made 15 trips.
Minister Riyas’s travel was primarily for attending trade fairs and travel marts; however, five of his trips to Indonesia, Singapore, and the UAE were designated as private journeys. Overall, ministers made 28 private trips during this period. Mohammad Riyas accounted for the majority, followed by KB Ganesh Kumar, who flew to Italy, the UAE, Thailand, and Indonesia for private reasons. A total of 64 trips were for 'events', which included award ceremonies, conventions, festival celebrations, family gatherings, and association conferences. Minister for Water Resources Roshy Augustine led this category with 12 trips, followed by Agriculture Minister P Prasad with 10.In addition to the Chief Minister's travels, the Minister for Sports, Waqf and Hajj pilgrimage, V Abdurahiman, was granted sanction for three separate trips abroad to seek medical treatment at the Johns Hopkins Outpatient Centre in New York.
The Middle East was the most frequent destination, accounting for 64 trips, 35 of which were event-related. Europe was the second most favoured destination, with ministers making 38 trips to European nations over the four-year span. The bulk of these European tours were for events, with the remainder classified as official business.
Vijayan has, reportedly, been consist in refusing to answer questions regarding these foreign trips during legislative assembly sessions. Information has also been requested concerning the sanction orders issued by the General Administration (Protocol) for the travel.
The data provided regarding the countries visited, the purpose of the visit, and the number of trips included an addendum which suggest, "This authority is not sure whether the ministers have performed all the visits sanctioned."
In related matters, publicly available records show instances where the Centre has denied permission for ministers' foreign travel. For example, in March 2025, Industries Minister P Rajeev and his team were denied clearance by the central government to attend an annual conference in Washington where he was scheduled to speak on the state’s 'Year of Enterprises' initiative. More recently, Health Minister Veena George was refused permission to travel to Kuwait following a fire tragedy in 2024, and in May, she was again denied clearance to speak at Johns Hopkins University in the USA.
When questioned about instances where foreign travel sanction was withheld from Kerala ministers, Rajiv Saxena, Under Secretary and Chief Public Information Officer for the Ministry of External Affairs, reportedly skirted the question, stating that a reply could only be provided if specific details for each proposed visit were supplied.
Finally, the General Administration (Accounts) department has confirmed that the total expenditure reimbursed for flight tickets related to Pinarayi Vijayan and his ministers’ foreign travel between 2021 and 2025 amounted to ₹1.05 crore.
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