Tourism has emerged as a major contributor to any country’s economy and employment generation. Having realized this, countries and cities are going aggressive with its marketing and promotional activities in overseas markets. We have seen cities and regions like Florida, California, Queensland, New South Wales, Flanders and South West Germany amongst many others have established their own or representative offices in various countries including India. At a time when these cities are so proactive to drive foreign tourist arrivals, India is shutting down its overseas offices which were mandated to create awareness through aggressive destination marketing about India’s tourism product.
Although the Union Govt is considering having a tourism promotion desk in embassies, we, at T3, feel that it is the high time for State Tourism Boards to come forward and have direct or representation offices in major overseas source markets. Few states like Kerala and Goa have been organizing roadshows in overseas markets, but then having a permanent presence in major source markets will definitely bring desired and better results.
No doubt, all states are gung ho about domestic tourism market but the fact of the matter is that 60% per cent of domestic tourist numbers are pilgrims. Majority of the pilgrims do not spend much on their religious journey due to various reasons. Business travel is booming in India due to consistent growth in the economy. On leisure tourism front, there are only few states and pockets in the country which are getting in good numbers. Mostly foreign tourists are going to Golden Triangle : Delhi-Jaipur- Agra and Kerala and Goa while India offers a plethora of tourism products for every age brackets and segments.
We are of the opinion that opening direct offices in the overseas market will provide ample opportunity to understand the requirements of the market that can help in formulating a suitable marketing strategy to drive traffic from that country to respective states. States can do this as many states have good marketing budget and this will be a wise investment as ROI will definitely be too good.
Very recently, the Ministry of Tourism also urged states to come forward and join hands with the Ministry for promotion and marketing to make it more effective with wider reach. This is truly a good though process and states can partner here. However, having a direct or representation office will enable states to have focused strategy to promote their tourism products in an effective manner.
