Since the time I have come to Europe, I have remarked many times to my colleagues here that India has so much more to offer as a tourist location than probably whole of Europe. However the fact is that Europe is so tourist friendly that they get so many tourists visiting them. I think that is true for Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore.
Supposedly, the 'Incredible India' campaign is creating a few stirs. To me, it is only one of the campaigns amongst Thailand's - the heart of Asia, Malaysia - Truly Asia which are all really good campaigns. TV spots are all good but that is not enough.
In addition to the spots on TV, it is important that the government works offline with the people who matter to get more attention to India. More important than that is to ensure that the problems back home are sorted out. Today, it is a struggle for any tourist in India starting from the 3 hr queues at the Customs (I also have had to stand in these queues and I was thinking at the time what first impression will this make on these tourists?) to taxi-drivers and guides trying to screw them over.
Well, at least there seems to be finally some effort to managing these.
This report talks about how Renuka Chowdhary, the Minister for Tourism is actually driving a campaign for this amongst the people who are Customer-facing.
I must confess, when Renuka was made the Minister for Tourism, I thought, 'What? will a woman who has been this glib spokesperson for Congress really do something worthwhile?' I must say, I am pleased that Tourism is not being thrown to the backburner like every other government does and there is some serious thought given to what we need to do. Renuka, I think, is doing a better job than any other previous minister.
I just hope we manage to maintain the momentum. There is such huge potential in this industry and can really make the lives of so many people in India.
This started off as a hesitant step, but the blog has grown and the journey has been enjoyable. These are just a collection of my ramblings and my views..a good reflection of what is running in my mind...
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- Bibs
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3 comments:
I also suggest India as a tourist destination to some of my colleagues. They are put off by the air fares. They can pay the same price and travel to Europe / US. The fares to AUS / NZ are cheaper than India.....and it takes much more time to fly to these places.
Dunno about the IHT article, but Indian press is slamming Renuka bcoz she has been splurging govt. money in the name of ad campaign. even the Finance ministry is after her. they say that she has thrown lavish parties in flashy places in the US and Europe. they are also spending a lot of money by way of ads in Discovery channel. Some of the Indian states are also creating their own campaigns....Enchanting Tamilnadu, Kerala - God's Own Country, Pondicherry, Goa etc. This kind of multibranding might create confusion in the mids of the tourist / consumer.
What we need more -
better infrastructure at airports, joint promotions by hotels, airlines etc.
I agree that there is too much of multi-branding happening so much so that people consider Goa to be the brand rather than India.But I am optimistic that things are changing. We are competing against some good marketing folks from the other countries. We need to be quite smart about this.
Main requirements for developing Tourism in India would be infrastructure, facilities, aggressive marketing.
Eventhough the first one is being undertaken slowly by the Govt, the private sector is catching up the second. The last one is the critical one which is lacking. Just few years back, they hv identified some slogans and pushed India into the tourism zone.
Whenever I used to see the marketing brouchures of Singapore / Thailand, I wondered why Indian Govt. is not taking initiatives.
this is the crux. you hv to keep the dish and attract the tourists thru advertisements. smell of the food alone is not enough.. ad is very much important.
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