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| Wednesday, January 31, 2007 |
| Incredible India campaign works: foreign tourist arrival in India grow at 13% in 2006 |
In India, 2006 witnessed an ascent in domestic as well as foreign tourism, generally thanks to the economic boom in the country and the availability of better and cheaper travel options coupled with attractive package deals for new destinations.
The star packaging of the country under the ‘Incredible India' campaign attracted millions of foreign tourists - about 4 million of them in 2006.
The ‘Incredible India' campaign was built around the brand proposition of "India as a path to ananda"(wellness, bliss and contentment - in Sanskrit).
When the advertising campaign was launched in 2002, and in the years since, India has hardly been the peaceful haven that the tourism campaign promised, yet it worked wonders.
The campaign used captivating visuals of India, showcasing its exciting diversity in terms of geography, heritage, culture and cuisine. The ‘Incredible India' campaign went beyond ‘marketing' India as the land of the Taj Mahal to showing a country that offers tourists sights ranging from spectacular sunsets to ski slopes and adventure sports to a stress-free lifestyle.
The ‘Incredible India' campaign certainly clicked with foreign tourists - over the past two years, tourist arrivals in India grew at a steady 13% annually. In 2005, India was ranked fifth on the Conde Nast Travelers Readers Travel Awards 2005 list - up from the 11th slot three years earlier.
The increase in arrivals resulted in India's foreign exchange earnings from tourism touching US $5.7 billion in 2005 - a 20.2% rise over 2004.
Till a few years ago, it was the ‘shoestring budget' tourists who mainly visited India. This has changed - foreign tourists in India spent an average of $1,470 per person in 2005, nearly double the global average of $844.
While tourism in the strife-torn parts such as Jammu and Kashmir continued to be hit, the tourism potential of the north-eastern states remained untapped owing to the decades-long insurgency there.
Goa, a favorite with foreign tourists, especially those from Israel, was reportedly on al-Qaeda's hit list during Christmas 2006, which prompted the Israeli Government to issue a travel advisory to its citizens travelling to Goa. Interestingly, Israeli tourists, who also constituted the largest group visiting Kashmir, have often said that they are used to worse violence in their own country and are not scared by the situation in India.
Tourism, India's third largest foreign-exchange earner, is also among the sectors that provides the most employment. The tourism sector in India directly and indirectly employs about 42 million people, which is 8.78% of the total employment in the country.Labels: Business |
| posted by a correspondent @ 9:55 AM |
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