IIPM set to beat economic slowdown
Tourism has not forsaken India, and hoteliers can only rejoice. Leela Nandan speaks to 4Ps B&M...
Qs: Last year was not so good a year for tourism in India. What’s your take on that?
Ans: First of all, I will not agree to the fact that 2008 was not a good year for tourism in India! When we look at ourselves, we may have grown by just 6% over the previous calendar year, but then compare it with the world average – it is far more, because the world grew at only about 2-3%! Definitely this is despite the fact that there was a global meltdown and that there were terror attacks. So that is definitely a very positive thing for us, and in numerical terms, we had 5.37 million arrivals in 2008 as compared to just 5.08 million in 2007. That itself is an indication of the fact that people are continuing to travel to India, and in the month of December ‘08 alone, we had 5.22 lakh people who came to India as compared to 5.96 lakh in Dec 2007; and all this despite the fact that the Mumbai incident happened just before the month of December. So, I think that all this indicates that people the world over do take tourism in India very seriously.
Qs: But what has been the price that Indian tourism and hospitality Industry paid for ‘terror’?
Ans: When you talk of price paid, you can only look at it in numerical terms. We continue to have visitors coming to India in December and in this New Year. We also had more foreign exchange earnings. We also had more than Rs.50,000 crore earnings accruing to our foreign exchange exchequer because of tourism. Therefore economically also the sector has done well.
Qs: It is said that proactive marketing pays off well during times of recession. So how are you marketing tourism as a brand?
Ans: We have launched a very aggressive marketing campaign and we have tweaked our campaigns with new creative in the print and a new online commercial. We have also launched an all India campaign, which is happening as we speak throughout the world, through our offices. We are using the image of a tiger for promotions as the animal is well-identified with India. This communicates a brave and strong image of an ‘Incredible India’. We are also focusing on highlighting the diverse features of India. So while our culture and heritage are well acknowledged and acclaimed the world over, we are also focusing on the fact that our adventure tourism, cruise and rural tourism are products that have a huge appeal in themselves.
Qs: What is the target of tourist inflow set for 2009?
Ans: We don’t fix any year-on-year target as such, but yes we are looking at 2010 giving us 10 million arrivals. Really, the mantra for making this initiative successful is to take full advantage of globalisation.
Dr. Lalit K. Bhanot
Secy. General, Organising Committee, Commonwealth Games, 2010
Qs: With Commonwealth Games round the corner, a huge influx of tourists is expected. Is the Indian hospitality and tourism sector ready?
Ans: The Government of India and the Tourism ministry has formed a committee which is looking after the fact that more and more hotels are built for the same. During the time when this project was started, we had 10,000 rooms in Delhi and NCR regions (including Five stars, three stars and budget hotels et al). The target set for Commonwealth Games was 40,000 rooms. Thus many new hotels are coming up in the same league in the Delhi and NCR regions.
Qs: How many tourists are expected to come in during the Commonwealth Games 2010?
Ans: The number of tourists that are expected to come to India during the Commonwealth Games in 2010 is equal to the number of tourist who flew into Melbourne during the last Commonwealth Games, which was around 5 lakh.
Qs: Last year gave the hospitality and tourism sector in India many hiccups, like the global slowdown and terror attacks . So how do you see Commonwealth Games attracting tourists in the country in the current conditions?
Ans: When there is a big platform like Commonwealth Games, wherein 71 nations are ready to participate, then the tourists can’t help but visit India. Moreover, the whole marketing campaign, including the publicity in 71 nations, makes India an attractive destinations for tourism.
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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2009
An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).
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