In the rapidly changing global scenario, tourism boards across the world are required to have flexible destination-marketing strategies to reorient and tap new and emerging markets. India Tourism will have to shore up its marketing strategies to tap new markets if it wants to achieve the goal of welcoming one per cent of global inbound arrivals in five years, writes P Krishna Kumar
The Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Govt. of India has set a goal - 12
million or one per cent of the international inbound by the end of the
12th Five Year Plan, that is by 2016. However, this is easier said than
done. The target is to double the present international inbound to
India in the next five years. In order to achieve this target, Indian
inbound needs to grow at a consistent pace of 12 to 13 per cent in the
coming five years. The current growth rate is around nine per cent per
annum. Although the gap seems to be small, the unpredictability in the
global market could throw challenges in an effort to bridge this gap.
Therefore, it is important how the industry copes with these challenges
to keep the momentum going to achieve the targeted growth.
As far
as Inbound Tourism is concerned, India traditionally has been
over-dependent on certain regions of the global travel market. Western
Europe and North America together contribute about 50 per cent of the
international inbound to India. Therefore, it is obvious that any kind
of economic or political turmoil in these markets could have an adverse
impact on tourist flow in the country. As per the last India Tourism
statistics for 2010, Western Europe contributed 30.3 per cent of total
inbound to India, followed by North America (20.3 per cent); South Asia
(18.1 per cent); South East Asia (7.6 per cent); and East Asia (7.1 per
cent). The growth numbers also throw up new trends from some relatively
untapped regional markets. These include markets like Africa, Eastern
Europe, South East Asia, and West Asia. The year-on-year visitor growth
from these markets has been higher compared to some of the traditional
markets. African and Eastern European regional markets grew 24 per cent
in 2010, while South East Asia and West Asia grew 22 per cent and 15 per
cent, respectively. Positive inbound trends have been visible from
Central and South America. The regions together registered a growth of
over 34 per cent in 2010.
With the emergence of some economic and trade alliances on the regional
and global stage, travel exchanges, especially business travel, from
various countries of these alliances have increased over the years.
India is an active constituent of SAARC, BRIC, IBSA, and the G-20, and
there is near total integration between India and ASEAN after signing of
the Free Trade Agreement. Moreover, India has emerged as a business and
investment destination in the last few years because of its steady
economic growth.
Exploring New Markets
India Tourism on its part has been promoting the destination in overseas markets through its marketing offices in almost 13 locations across the globe. In addition to the existing marketing set-up, MoT will be opening marketing and public relations offices in 16 other countries soon. Instead of setting-up its own offices, MoT will be hiring private agencies with destination-marketing expertise for the job for three years. The countries shortlisted for this outsourced set-up include emerging travel markets like Russia, Korea, Spain, Thailand, Israel, Turkey, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Switzerland, Sweden and New Zealand.
MoT is also proactively looking at tapping the regional market of South Asia to increase inbound travel to India. As a major step, MoT had convened an interactive meeting of the tour operators of the region in Delhi. The meeting discussed the potential of travel and tourism in the regional market, and ways to remove the current barriers for travel that exist in the region. Suggestions like easing visa norms in the SAARC region, improving air connectivity, common branding, and a tourism fair for the SAARC region were made at the meeting. Subodh Kant Sahai, Minister for Tourism, Govt. of India called for collective efforts to realise the huge tourism potential of the region. Speaking on the occasion, Sultan Ahmed, Former Minister of State for Tourism, Govt. of India noted the poor air and road connectivity between the countries in the region. “Just starting flights will not help. The rates also need to be affordable. There should be opportunities for budget travel in the region,” he said. Ahmed also suggested setting-up a joint forum to promote travel and tourism, and extending Visa on Arrival scheme for travel within the region.
Middle East and Africa are two regions that have started emerging as key
source markets for India in the last few years. There have been
dedicated efforts to promote India as a health and wellness destination
in these markets by both government and industry stakeholders. The
platform of Arabian Travel Mart (ATM) has been meticulously used to
drive the message of Indian capabilities in the medical travel segment
in a big way. Industry associations like Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) have also taken the lead role in
promoting India’s Medical Tourism capabilities in Africa and West Asia
in the past couple of years. Around 26 top ranking hospitals of the
country had participated in a Medical Tourism road show in Nairobi in
Kenya last year. FICCI, in association with MoT and Ministry of Culture,
organised a four-day road show in Nairobi and Darussalam in Tanzania
recently, in which around 45 top hospitals from the country
participated. “Africa is a big market for Medical Tourism. The question
is how we can turn it around,” said the organiser of the show. MoT
provided financial assistance to all the National Accreditation Board
for Hospitals & Healthcare (NABH) Providers-accredited hospitals to
participate in these road shows under their Marketing Development
Assistance (MDA) scheme, while the Ministry of Culture offered the same
assistance for the non-NABH hospitals.
Another major area is Pilgrim Tourism, especially for Buddhist pilgrims
from the Asian region. India Tourism, along with the Ministry of
Railways, a few years ago had successfully created a circuit train for
Buddhist pilgrims, integrating all the important sites associated with
the life of Lord Buddha, and it was well received by pilgrims from both
India and overseas. The product has been sold to pilgrims from 30
different countries so far. Improvements in road and other
infrastructure around these sites in the coming years would definitely
make the product more attractive to tourists. Moreover, there were
efforts to integrate more sites into the existing circuit. The Diamond
Triangle of Buddhism, comprising Lalitgiri, Ratnagiri and Udaygiri, in
Odisha will soon join the extended route map of the Buddhist circuit
train. Odisha Tourism plans to organise independent campaigns in
overseas markets like Taiwan, Thailand, Japan and Korea to promote
Buddhist sites of the state. States like Bihar and Jharkhand are also
not leaving any stone unturned to highlight and promote Buddhist sites
to the outside world. The Bihar government recently extended an open
invitation to domestic carriers to start operations to Bodh Gaya from
metro cities in India. Vimla Pradhan, Minister for Tourism, Govt. of
Jharkhand, recently visited Japan to promote newly excavated Buddhist
sites like Itkhori. MoT on its part convened a Buddhist Conclave in
Sarnath around a month ago. About 300 delegates from 30 countries
attended the two-day conclave.
Challenges
It is always ideal to nurture and consolidate the existing markets, and at the same time look for niche markets to achieve greater growth. India Tourism seems to be doing the same. However, it is important for the country to put in place the right infrastructure to make growth sustainable in the long run. The travel industry feels that India is still not ready for a quantum leap in Inbound Tourism. They fear that the sudden surge in inbound without the right infrastructure would be disastrous for the country in the long run. “Where are the airports, roads, coaches, hotel rooms, etc., for carrying that many tourists?” asked Rajesh Mudgill, Managing Director, Planet India Travels. “The ideal situation is to have gradual growth that is sustainable,” he added. Mudgill recommended renewed efforts to revive the traditional markets, instead of looking at too many places. “The market is down by almost 60 per cent. There is need for revival of existing markets. A bird in hand is worth two in the bush,” he observed.
Tourism is a competitive business. There is growing competition among
destinations to catch the eye balls of international travelers through
innovative marketing. In this era of cut-throat competition, it is not
only important to attract tourists, but also necessary to deliver to
them an experience to cherish. Destinations cannot afford to fail in
this regard. India also needs to shed the image of a costly destination
to remain competitive. State governments in India at various levels
compete to tax the travel sector, which ultimately makes the destination
uncompetitive. Taxes and visa issues impede the growth of tourism in
the country. These problems need to be addressed at war footing to make
India Tourism competitive on the global platform.
Posted By Sameera Chathuranga
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