TravTalk India Online Magazine
To boost inbound tourism, India needs to up its marketing and promotional game by organising its maiden travel exhibition. The country’s national and international roadshows if planned well can reap good results in a short period of time, believes Sarab Jit Singh, MD, Travelite India.
In an effort to promote inbound tourism, Ministry of Tourism and the tourism industry have been going to great lengths. Recently, the Tourism Minister has shown interest in taking initiatives that can change the tourism scenario in the country.
Earlier, we felt restrained by external forces such as, inadequate international flights or non-availability of accommodation at various tourist centres. Now we have better air-connectivity on domestic and international routes and a larger inventory of accommodation. The new initiatives taken by the Ministry of Civil Aviation are also going to benefit the aviation sector and we may see a very tourism-friendly policy post Air India’s disinvestment.
Different models for destination promotion have been deployed by various National Tourism Boards. The most common factor is organising international tourism exhibitions in their countries and organising roadshows in their markets.
For several years, MOT has been trying to work out a mechanism to organise an annual tourism exhibition. After multiple discussions with the trade, the need was felt by the industry to organise such an exhibition with support of MOT. In order to bring the industry players together, the Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) was formed.
At present, there are approximately 15 travel shows organised in India by commercial organisations and state departments which are billed as inbound tourism exhibitions. The scale of these events is much smaller than what a country like India deserves. Moreover, the message conveyed by such events does not give a positive feedback to international attendees.
India Tourism Mart
All the states are encouraged to showcase their culture, heritage, handicrafts, tourism products and even film shoot locations at this mega event. This show will not only create a positive ambience for the exhibition, but will convince foreign tour operators and media to attend it.
The exhibition must be organised with full support of the various industries and sectors in collaboration with State Governments and must be supported by MOT and other ministries such as External Affairs, Culture, Commerce, Information and Broadcasting, Civil Aviation, Road Transport and Highways among others.
With the active support of Ministry of External Affairs and Indian Tourist offices overseas, we should invite a minimum of 500 tour operators from across the globe, following a stringent selection process where inputs are taken from tourism professionals from private sector as well. In addition, we should also aim to invite at least 100 media personnel from all over the world.
Though this proposition is an expensive one where the private industry will extend its support, but that cannot be enough to meet the required expenditure. MOT’s policy allows us to issue international and domestic air tickets for the invitees and host a gala dinner. The need of the hour is that MOT reassesses its policy so that inbound tourism industry gets required support to compete with other destinations.
Roadshows
The second initiative is to organise roadshows across the globe starting with top source markets across all tier cities. The roadshow format must be standardised to invite tour operators at least two to three months in advance for B2B meetings and presentations on India.
