Photo Caption: P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism
The Indian tourism boards are leaving no stone unturned to increase their tourist arrivals. From new marketing campaigns to development of new tourism products, plans are being implemented to be a preferred tourist destination.
To accelerate the growth of tourism in Kerala, the Department of Tourism in the past had launched a three-year long Continuous Tourist Survey (CTS). The survey was intended to study the interest of tourists, their age and demographic details, reasons for visit and nature of tours undertaken. It not only cover tourist destinations, but also hotels, house boats, home stays, ayurveda centers, restaurants and tour operators.
Kerala has been following a comprehensive tourism development plan to double the number of domestic tourist arrivals and increase foreign tourist arrivals by 50 per cent, by 2021. With over one million foreign tourists and 13.1 million domestic tourist arrivals, the state has been witnessing tremendous growth in tourist traffic since the last couple of years.
P Bala Kiran, Director, Kerala Tourism said, “The tourism department has been following a comprehensive development plan in order to promote the adventure tourism of the state as it has huge potential and can substantially contribute to the overall growth of the tourism sector. We are keenly working with the forest department and it will result in the growth of adventure tourism without affecting the environment.”
“Kerala is also being positioned as ‘the land of adventure’ to woo the younger generation of tourists by offering them activity and water-based tourism. Moreover, the Department of Tourism plans to develop water based activities like Kayaking, Cruise tourism”, he added.
To promote religious & spiritual tourism, Kerala’s Tourism Department has implemented three mega circuits with Government of India assistance through “Swadesh Darshan” and “PRASAD” projects worth Rs 250 crore. These three projects include Erumeli-Pamba-Sabarimala tourism circuit, Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple-Aranmula-Sabarimala tourism circuit and Guruvayur temple development.
Considering the scope and potential of medical tourism in Kerala, the Tourism Department has been leveraging medical tourism while promoting Ayurveda on international forum. Kerala is well connected by air from major medical tourism markets in the Middle East, US, South Africa, Europe and South Asia. Tourists visit Kerala to experience the Ayurveda treatment, especially during monsoon season. Owing to the popularity of Ayurveda treatment, the state attracts maximum footfalls during this period. As per the traditions, Ayurveda treatment is the most effective therapy for physical and mental relaxation. The tourism department has been keen to take all the necessary steps to boost medical tourism in the state.
Moreover, state’s international markets including UK, France and Germany have shown considerable growth. UK, USA, Saudi Arabia, France and Germany were the top five international markets for foreign tourist arrivals in 2016. Additionally, Kerala has witnessed 100 percent growth from domestic markets, including Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan and West Bengal, over the period of five years. The tourism department has always been keen to keep up the positive momentum. The state aims to increase domestic tourists’ arrival by over 8% and international tourists’ arrival by 13%, every year.
Kerala Tourism is extensively focusing on promoting Northern Kerala, which has a lot of untapped tourism potential. With the aim to increase the geographical spread of tourist arrivals to the state, Kerala Tourism plans to promote its Malabar region aggressively through a Rs. 325-crore project, which include unexplored destinations such as Kozhikode, Wayanad, Bekal and Kannur.
“While promoting river cruise tourism through an exciting Malanadu cruise project, Kerala Tourism has also been keen on investing in light and sound shows at Bekal and Kannur, musical fountains and theme parks and developing monsoon tourism in Wayanad. Once the unexplored Malabar region takes off, the tourism department is hopeful of doubling foreign tourist arrivals and increasing domestic tourist arrivals by 50 percent by the year 2021”, added Kiran.
Punjab has a huge potential for tourism but it needs aggressive marketing. “Punjab has immense potential to emerge as a tourism hotspot but the need of the hour is to properly market its rich heritage. Over 1 lakh tourists visit the Golden Temple every day, but there is a need to extend their stay in the state for a few more days. And for this, there is a need to create infrastructure,” said a senior official of state’s tourism department.
“Punjab Tourism is finding ways to ensure that the tourists coming to the Golden Temple also visit many other attractions that we have, like the majestic fort of Amritsar that housed the famous diamond Kohinoor. Not just Amritsar, we have marvels of architecture all over the State and we need to ensure that the tourists also visit these places along with the Golden Temple,” said the official.
As part of its tourism policy, the Punjab government had identified 20 heritage sites to be restored and used for hotels or resorts to be developed in the public-private partnership (PPP) mode. The policy had proposed three wedding destinations at Chanson village near Shambhu in Patiala district, Manji Sahib near Doraha in Ludhiana, and one in Amritsar.
In its efforts to increase tourist arrivals in the state, Tourism Corporation of Gujarat is eyeing infrastructure upgrade and promotion of its festivals.
Gujarat has attracted over Rs 9,000-crore investments for 220 tourism-related projects. It is targeting over six crore tourist footfalls by 2020 on the back of promotions and is mainly targeting the youth looking at short vacations.
“We have received investment commitments of over Rs 9,000 crore for developing and creating infrastructure for 220 projects for the period 2015-2020. Tourism has played a key role in generating employment in the state. Our aim now is to develop new circuits to ensure that tourists have many reasons to visit Gujarat,” said Jenu Devan, Managing Director & Commissioner of Tourism, Government of Gujarat.
The state has been developing two new circuits heritage and Buddhist to add to the existing offers for holiday-makers. Besides it is also considering creating several other circuits like Jain, Sufi and tribal.
Agreeing that the destination needs to make efforts to significantly increase international tourist arrivals in the state, which at present comprise about 2 per cent of the overall visitor footfalls in Gujarat, Devan said, “We are promoting Gujarat on the international platform, including Italy, East Europe, Japan and South Korea among other markets. We are hoping to increase the inbound tourist footfalls to 5 per cent by end of 2020. We will also continue to strengthen our top source markets, the US and the UK.”
In terms of segments, the Managing Director shared that the main focus segment is the young people with spending power who go for short vacations. He said for the youth Gujarat offers a host of attractions, including adventure, eco, and beach, festivals, and heritage and border tourism.
“The government spends around Rs 200 core every year for promotion and branding of Gujarat tourism at various domestic and global platforms. We are targeting metro cities like Delhi, Bengaluru and Hyderabad besides tier II places like Pune and Indore, where there is a high level of young working population with good spending power. We are looking at a mix of tier I and II cities, which have a good young population with spending power,” he said.
The tourism department has indentified about 20 festivals that are a part of its tourism calendar for the current fiscal. “Digital platforms are also an integral part of our overall marketing strategy,” Devan said.
The state is also bullish on medical tourism and Bollywood, for which the tourism department will facilitate support in terms of incentives, including single clearance window and transport, among others, Devan said.
Gir Forest National Park where one can spot elusive wild species such as blackbuck, chinkara, wild boar, and hyenas will also see development of home-stays option near the national park.
Goa Tourism is evolving fast with new products, services and a lot of new attractions than ever before. In the past, projects like the multi level car parking project in the capital city, renovations of the Santa Monica cruise boat jetty, beach accesses, promenades, parking and illumination facilities at tourist locations had been undertaken. Goa had received Rs 200 crore as Central Financial Assistance from the Government of India under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme for coastal circuit development projects.
Tourist arrivals in Rajasthan surged 21 per cent in last three years, making it a favoured destination for both domestic and international visitors, the state tourism department said recently.
Over 5.19 crore domestic and international tourists visited the state with a royal essence in 2018, an increase of nearly 90,000 visitors from 2016 while the number of international tourists increased by 15.9 per cent between 2016 and 2018. The number of domestic visitors too rose by 21.06 per cent during the period. The Rajasthan government is considering floating a new policy to boost tourism in rural areas, the department said.
Rajasthan that is a part of the famed golden triangle circuit is known to be one of the most visited states in the country. Though places like Jaisalmer, Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur record most of the tourist arrivals in the state, the government is also keen to promote the lesser known destinations in Rajasthan.
The tourism department of Rajasthan has introduced night tourism in city markets including Chooti Chaupar, Tripolia Bazaar and Johari Bazaar. Looking at the enthusiasm of anglers from Rajasthan and other states like Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra, the state government is looking to develop Bisalpur Dam as an angling hub. The government will provide boats, fishing rods and accommodation to people to promote angling as tourism at state’s biggest dam at Bisalpur in Tonk.
Anand K Tripathi, Joint Director, Marketing, Department of Tourism, Government of Rajasthan said, “Many infrastructural development projects in various parts of the state are being carried out to provide better facilities to tourists. Krishna circuit covering places related to lord Krishna, tribal circuit covering tribal areas are few to name.”
Jaipur has become a major MICE destination well-known for hosting big-ticket ‘destination weddings and large conventions. The addition of the new Jaipur Exhibition and Convention Centre (JECC) and large MICE-focused hotels such as the Crowne Plaza in Sitapura, have further helped strengthen the city’s position as a top meeting destination in North India.
Located merely 5km from the Jaipur International Airport, facilities in JECC include an open exhibition area of 10,000 sq meters with an on-site car park for over 4,000 cars. Additionally, JECC has a convention centre of international standards with a plenary seating for 1,200 delegates supported by 20 meeting rooms spread over 5,000 sq m of area accompanied with pre-function areas, registration counters, interpretation booths and a lawn for outdoor events.
–