Kochi: The first international Spice Route Conference will be held in Kochi from January 06 to 08, 2026, bringing renewed focus to the commercial and cultural link between the Kerala coast and a vast geography stretching up to the Mediterranean lands over centuries, playing a significant role in shaping history.
The event, organised by the Muziris Heritage Project in collaboration with Kerala Tourism Department, is planned as a landmark international gathering celebrating the shared maritime and cultural heritage of the world and its continued relevance in the global narrative. The event will also explore new pathways to strengthen cultural and heritage tourism ties among a host of countries across continents that lie in the ambit of the famed Space Route.
The Spice Route, powered by monsoon winds, had served not just as a busy maritime commercial trail but also as a vibrant cultural corridor that carried ideas, faith, art, technology and faith systems, together creating a lasting people-to-people bonding. The three-day event will be held at the historic Bolgatty Palace, Ernakulam, a site intrinsically linked to centuries of maritime trade and cultural encounters. The first-of-its-kind initiative in India, the conference is conceived as an intellectual and cultural platform that reconnects the ancient Spice Route with contemporary global discourse.
Highlighting the vision behind the initiative, Tourism Minister Shri Mohamed Riyas said, “The International Spice Route Conference marks a new phase in Kerala’s heritage tourism journey.” “Heritage tourism today represents a USD 600-billion global market, and the Spice Route offers Kerala a powerful and authentic story within this space.”
The event will see 38 international delegates from 22 countries, apart from national participants, engaging in absorbing conversations. It will feature a remarkable cross-section of attendees, including academicians and historians, archaeologists, diplomats, policy-makers, tourism stakeholders, artists, cultural practitioners and performers.
The speakers will explore the Spice Routes not as a single trade corridor, but as a vast, interconnected cultural ecosystem that shaped societies across continents. Moving beyond the economics, the conference will delve into the human narratives embedded in maritime history.