Current initiatives in Indian tourism

Presented by:-Nitish Kumar Singh

TOURISM IN INDIA

• Tourism is the largest service industry in India , with a contribution of 6.23 % to the national GDP and 12.4 % of total employment in India.

• India witness more than 5 million annual foreign tourists arrivals and 562 million domestic tourism visits.

• The tourism industry in India generated about US$ 100 billion in 2008 and that is expected to increase to US$ 275.5 billion by 2018 at a 9.4% annual growth rate.

FORMS OF TOURISM

DOMESTIC TOURISM

INBOUND TOURISM

OUTBOUND TOURISM

INITIATIVES TAKEN BY GOVERNMENT TO PROMOTE INDIAN TOURISM

• In the year 2002, the government of India announced a New Tourism Policy.

• The policy is built around the 7-S Mantra of

SWAAGAT (WELCOME) SOOCHANNA (INFORMATION) SUVIDHAA (FACILIATION) SURAKSHA (SECURITY) SAHYOG (COOPERATION) SANRACHANAA (INFRASTRUCTURE) SAFAAI (CLEANLINESS)

• The Ministry of Tourism undertakes various initiatives to promote tourism in the country. These include:

• Infrastructure development:- Adequate infrastructure facilities are vital for the tourism industry. Thus, the Ministry of Tourism has been making efforts to develop quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destinations and circuits. The Ministry has launched a scheme for development of nationally and internationally important destinations and circuits through Mega Projects. It is also taking initiatives with other Central Govt. Ministries — Railways, Civil Aviation, Road Transport & Highways, and Food Processing and Urban Development and the concerned state governments — to achieve convergence and synergy with their programmes, to maximise the impact of investments. The various schemes offered are as follows:

Marketing and promotion initiatives• Incredible India Campaign

To promote India as an ultimate tourist destination on the global tourism map, in 2002, GoI promoted the “Incredible India” campaign in the overseas markets. The campaign was an integrated marketing communication effort to attract tourists to the country. It projected India as an attractive tourist destination by showcasing different aspects of Indian culture, history, spirituality, and yoga. This campaign included visible branding in the outdoor media such as advertising at airports, on trams, taxis and buses and through the print, online and electronic media as well as via participation in travel marts and road shows. The campaign was conducted globally and received appreciation from industry persons and travellers.

• Atithi Devo Bhavah

This is another initiative of the Ministry of Tourism to harness the potential of the tourism industry in India. It aims to create awareness about the effects of tourism and sensitise people about our country’s rich heritage and culture, cleanliness and warm hospitality. The main components of the campaign are training and orientation of taxi drivers, guides, immigration officers, tourist police and other personnel directly interacting with the tourists, while simultaneously creating brand equity for the trained persons. This concept was designed to complement the “Incredible India” campaign.

• Visit India 2009In an attempt to boost the inflow of visitors and tourists after the terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008 and to weather the impact of the global economic slowdown, the Ministry of Tourism and the World Travel & Tourism Council jointly announced the “Visit India 2009” scheme. The scheme which was valid from April to December 2009 and had the support of the hospitality sector, tour operators, travel and airline companies, who offered various incentives and value added services during this period. The incentives included one complimentary air passage for a travelling companion, one night complimentary stay in a hotel and complimentary sightseeing tour in a city. Rural eco-packages and wellness packages were also offered to overseas tourists. Road shows were organised in important tourist markets overseas with participation of different segments of the travel industry.

• Other promotional initiativesIn addition to the aforementioned marketing and promotional activities, the Ministry of Tourism also organises road shows in important tourist markets overseas; arranges overseas marketing meets; undertakes familiarisation tours under the hospitality programme; and participates in major international travel fairs and exhibitions. It also undertakes online promotional activities on Websites in the US, UK, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, and China as well as on search portals (Yahoo! and Google). The Ministry of Tourism has 14 offices overseas, through which it undertakes these activities. It also generates tourist publications in different foreign languages to promote India as a tourist destination in other countries.

Initiatives undertaken to promote different tourism productsSeveral other initiatives undertaken to promote different tourism products include the following:

• Rural TourismRural tourism showcases rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations and interactions with the tourists benefit the local community economically and socially. The existing scheme for destination development supports the development of infrastructure in rural areas. Under this scheme, the thrust is on promotion of village tourism as a primary product to spread tourism and its socio-economic benefits to rural and new geographic regions. The Ministry of Tourism has joined hands with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for capacity building. Around 153 rural tourism projects have been sanctioned in 28 states/union territories including 36 rural sites where UNDP offers support in capacity building. During the “Visit India 2009” scheme, around 15 rural tourism sites were selected as rural eco-holiday sites.• Cruise tourismTo facilitate growth in the cruise tourism sector, GoI approved the cruise tourism policy in June 2008. The objective of the policy is to a make India an attractive cruise tourism destination. With state-of-the-art infrastructure and cruise facilities across various parts of the country, the aim is to attract foreign tourists to cruise shipping in India and popularise the concept of cruise shipping with Indian tourists. The Ministry of Tourism provides Central Financial Assistance to state governments/union territories for development of tourist infrastructure and promotion of tourism including river cruises.

• Adventure tourism

GoI is taking several measures in this regard. These include financial assistance to the state governments/union territory administrations for development of adventure tourism destinations and granting of exemption from customs duty on inflatable rafts, snow-skis sail boards and other water sports equipment. In July 2009, the Ministry of Defence gave permission for opening of 104 additional peaks in Leh area of Jammu & Kashmir for adventure tourism.

• Medical tourismMedical tourism has emerged as one of the important segments of the tourism industry; initiatives taken for promoting this include financial assistance to service providers under the Market Development Assistance Scheme and issuance of Medical visas for patients and their attendants coming to India for medical treatment. In addition, GoI has also requested the state governments to promote medical tourism by offering suitable packages of identified hospitals and price banding for specific treatments.

• Foreign Direct InvestmentIn the hotel and tourism industry, 100% FDI is permissible through the automatic route. Here, the term ‘hotel’ refers to restaurants, beach resorts, and other tourist complexes providing accommodation and/or catering and food facilities to tourists. The tourism industry includes travel agencies; tour operating agencies; tourist transport operating agencies; and units providing facilities for cultural, adventure and wild life experience and surface, air and water transport facilities; and leisure, entertainment, amusement, sports, health and convention/seminar units.

TOURISTS ATTRACTION OF INDIA

Niagara fall, kerela

Maysore palace

India Gate

Taj Mahal