Chapter X

SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

 Chapter X
SUGGESTIONS AND CONCLUSION

Emperor Jehangir had said about Kashmir, “If there is paradise on the

earth it is here, it is here”. The same could be said about India, in context of

tourism resources, “If there is any country so richly endowed with tounsm

resources, it is here, it is here”.

India can easily be one of the most attractive and top destinations
//■
because of the favourable advantages, (1) Very big size of the country, with

variety of natural and cultural resources - beaches, snow covered hills, wild life,

places of cultural interest, festivals, music and vibrating dances, which induce
/y
tourists to visit India throughout the y e a i^ 2 ) Its location at the South end of the

Asian continent, in middle of the Indian Ocean, has placed India on trunk routes

of world traffic - both air and water. It has made the country very accessible to

main tourists markets in the west and newly emerging markets in the Southeast

and the Fareast Asia. (3| It has abundance of manpower, which could provide

personalized services very essential for success of tourism industry. Further,

motivated by Indian ethos - Athithi Devo Bhav, a full commitment and

- /
involvement is expected from people when it comes to serving guest or a tourist,

- Based on these advantages India could easily have made the most

enjoyable products at competitive rates, to attract large number of tourists by

using professional marketing approach. However lack of political will to develop

tourism as a part of national programme for/economic development and meagre

financial resources resulted in not converting advantages for developing most

attractive tourism destinations.^

Tourism produW as noticed earlier, is composed of a complete set of inter

related services (attractive site, transport, accommodation, catering, public

utilities, personnel services etc.). T hey(^e combined in such a way so as to

provide most enjoyable experience, from the time tourist leaves home to the time

he returns. Tourism service product is also identified as tourism service

performance. The main purpose of people going on holiday is to relax, to enjoy

and get pleasant experience^Countries detemiined to attract more tourists,

combine various services in most creative way to provide complete satisfaction

and pleasant experience. Using the most effective “marketing mix” they have

succeeded in getting large number of international amvals.

/ Unfortunately no effort was made by India to use rich tourism resources

effectively to make enjoyable tourism products. In eariy years of tourism

development concern was “profit” and not customer’s satisfaction. Therefore

selling and not mari<eting was the driving force. Even government organizations

showed no interest for development. As a result, even basic amenities and

services could not be provided to worid-class heritage places or hill stations.

Finest beaches were inaccessible because of lack of transport facilities and

where transport facilities were available, there were no carriers to bring more
tourists. Tourist sights were not maintained and even today are in pathetic

condition^ Further, country could not promote effectively to attract tourists2 High

pricing for the poor services offered also forced tourists to avoid India. A / ^

Therefore tourists face a holiday to India with anxiety (Pg. 185). graveling

long distances under most difficult conditions tourist find visit to India very tiring

experience, kidia has a poor image of providing in consistent and unreliable

services to make Journey an unpleasant e x p e rie n ^ Most tourists find country

overcrowded, unsafe and dirty.

Successful countries have attracted more tourists because of fimri and

determined commitment of the political leadership to develop tourism resources

for rapid economic development. Using integrated marketing approach; they

offer attractive products combined with quality services. They have succeeded in

capturing larger share of market with aggressive marketing strategies and

competitive prices. Singapore with out natural resources attracts more than 5

million tourists because of professional marketing approach. In 1980’s China’s

performance in terms of international arrivals was poorer than India. In 2000

China received more than 40 million tourists where as India received only 2.37

millions. China has made the determined effort to attract large number of

tourists.

Learning from the experience of successful countries and offering various

tourism products India can improve its performance.

 To compete in the global market country must use effective marketing mix

to produce world-class products, matching qualitatively with the world’s best.

The country should position its products in the market in such away so as to

cater to the needs of various tastes and purchasing power. Keeping the demand

and supply conditions of international tourism market in mind India should

position its tourism products, ^ a y ’s customers are more knowledgeable and

discriminating. They buy services that are, fairly priced, reliable to customer

needs and worth for the value of money paid. They insist on quality. The service

provider must match the promise with customer’s perception of quality. If the

performance of service were below customer’s expectation they would move

immediately to another service provider~^

l^ e r e f o r e it is suggested that India should differentiate its tourism

products from competitor’s products by adding more input of “Personnel

in the marketing mix to provide quality services^ It is very difficult to

differentiate the tangible part of the product of two competiting tour operators

offering the same packages. Product difference is often derived from the

personnel who are core part of service product and the way the service is

delivered. It is the performance and involvement of employees, which

greatly influences the quality of tourism product Employee’s contact skills

such as courtesy, attitude and helpfulness along with his behaviour such as

prompt action to give response to their queries, influence customer’s judgment

about the quality of tourism product.

 “Personnel” also play an important part In marketing of the tourism product

effectively. In fact most of the marketing activities are carried out by employees

outside the marketing department, and not by the professional marketing staff in

a tourism organization. Importance of “personnel in service marketing can be

judged from the remark made by the Vice-President, Marketing, of the famous

hotel Marriott, that for the hotel 4 Ps of ‘Marketing Mix’ are “People, People,

People and People”. As noticed in case study of Raj Travels, companies’

employees are also involved in the external marketing to tourists. Employees

prepare the layout and copy of the advertisement and take decision regarding the

selection of media for advertisement. Further, some of the employees also act

as models for TV advertisement of the company.

More input of manpower in the tourism service products will

therefore help the country’s products to be identified and branded on the

basics of quality services provided. It would also help in effective marketing

and influence the performance of the organization in getting more tourists.

Huge reservoir of human resources in the country can be used to provide

personalized quality services. It will also help the country to differentiate its

product from countries in the west where, due to scarcity of labour more

components of automatic and mechanized services is used and therefore

“caring” feeling noticed in personalized services is missing.

 Because of the nature and characteristics of tourism product, which affect

the quality of services, there is need to follow different marketing approach to

tourism products than, marketing mix of 4 Ps (Product, Price, Place and

Promotion) followed in case of industrial products.

Therefore it is suggested that Internal Marketing Approach should be

followed in marketing tourism services in India.

Employees are “core” component of tourism product and performance and

therefore profit of the company depends on the involvement and commitment of

employees. If they were familiar with the tourism product and marketing

campaign of the company, they would be able to create more interest in

customers about company’s product. According to internal marketing

approach employees are the first internal market for the company’s

product Services as well as specific marketing campaigns are marketed first to

the employees before they are marketed externally to potential tourists. As a

result of internal marketing employees become very familiar with company’s

product, and its campaign. Therefore it becomes easier for them to win over

customer. Tourist’s decision regarding buying tourism product from a particular

company mostly depends on the basis of first contact or experience with

employees of the company. Courtesy, helpful attitude and confidence with which

employees create interest about the product result in instant decision to buy.

Norman and Jan Carlson rightly call this decision making as “moment of truth” as

employee’s efforts determine the performance of the company and Its profit. In
fact convinced customer helps the company by spreading good words about the

product and the company to his friends. Therefore internal marketing is also

the first step of “word of mouth” publicity. Today internal marketing in

considered as a pre-requisite for successful external marketing.

Internal marketing also influences to enhance good relationship with

customers as noticed in case study of Raj Travels. More than 60 percent of the

tourist’s who join the new tour package offered by Raj Travels are old customers.

Today number of tourist organizations and hotels are switching their marketing

approach from transaction perspective i.e. marketing mix approach, to customer

loyalty building perspective i.e. relationship marketing, with the help of “data

mine” stored in computers. Internal marketing infact is the basis on which

lasting relationship marketing could be developed.

However internal marketing approach would be effectively practiced by

organizations with strong service culture and where employees are selected on

the basis of their aptitude, knowledge, skill and experience. Further empowering

the employees to take independent decision in handling customers and

appreciating their performance and rewarding them accordingly will greatly

motivate employees to involve completely for better performance of the

company.

Internal marketing can successfully be practiced by tourist organizations in

India. Most of the organizations are family concerns where employees are either
related or known to the management. It is easy to develop teamwork based on

service culture, empower employees and recognize their performance with

suitable rewards and promotion.

India must use effective “marketing mix” to produce world-class tourism

products to compete in the global market. Marketing mix based on 4 Ps

(Product, Price, Place and Promotion) used generally for industrial product, is not

effective as “Personnel” the main component in tourism product service is not

included. Because of intangible and variable nature of tourism product it is also

necessary to provide Physical Evidence of the quality of the service product as

well as the Process by which product is delivered. Therefore it is suggested

that India should use effective marketing mix based on 7 Ps to provide

superior tourism products.

Further, to produce world class tourism products the country first has to

improve the quality of various components combined to make effective marketing

mix. As noticed in chapters on Domestic Tourism and Inbound Tourism, Indian

destinations are unable to attract more tourists because of inferior products

based on poor quality of product mix, poor services, high price and uninspiring

promotion.

India can provide world-class tourism products only when its marketing

mix is based on committed personalized services, superior product mix,

very competitive pricing and attractive promotion based on marketing

strategies.

Following suggestions are offered to improve the quality of

marketing mix used in India to produce world-class tourism products.

A. PERSONNEL:

1. Top most priority should be given to provide training for employees

of the tourism industry. As noted above, the quality of services

provided, marketing of the product and even success of internal marketing

approach depends on educational qualifications, knowledge and skill of

the employees. Therefore success of the company depends on the

quality of human resources employed, which in tum depends on education

and training.

At present, only multinational and well-known companies lay emphasis on

continuous training and sharpening skills of the employees. Seminars,

training programmes are continuously organized. A comprehensive

human resources development programme should be the main

concern of all tourist organizations both in the private and

government sectors. The government and private organizations should

open more training institutions for travel and tourism courses. At present

some travel organizations like Trade Wings, SITA conduct training

programmes in travel and tourism, but there is tremendous shortage of

 trained manpower not only in the hospitality sector but also in travel

business. In the hospitality industry there are nearly 50,000 rooms in the

pipeline and more than 30,000 rooms in the budget hotels are also being

planned. The total training capacity of government and private

polytechnics is about 10,000 per year where as projected demand for

trained workers per year projected is around 25,000. According to a study

done by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) for India, the

travel and tourism sector is estimated to generate 12.9 million direct jobs

and 25 million indirect jobs in the country by the year 2010, as against 9.3

million direct jobs and 17.4 million indirect jobs in 1999. v

There is also shortage of trained guides especially at major tourist centres.

The regional tourist offices of the government of India at various places

and private organizations should help in increasing the number to provide

better services.

2. There is need of creating a separate cadre of service officers (ITS) on

the lines of IAS or IRS and Post-Graduate MBA in tourism. We have

seen how IAS officers, except few, have failed in managing tourism

departments or organizations. Because of the nature and characteristics

of tourism product we must appoint officers who have knowledge

of tourism and its marketing aspect. Therefore separate cadre of qualified

 Indian Tourism Services (ITS) officers will bring qualitative change in the

working of tourism department.

Similarly Post-graduate degree in management with specialization in

tourism should be created on the basis of MBA — finance or marketing

etc., to manage tourist organizations more efficiently. From 1999, MM,

Kolkata has started a Management Development Programme (MDP) on

cultural tourism, to provide new insights on cultural tourism and achieve

diversification of tourism products, packages and circuits.*^

A. PRODUCT M IX :

1. / D e v e lo p m e n t o f in fr a s tr u c tu r e to a c c e le ra te in b o u n d a n d d o m e s tic

to u r is m . Along with training of human resources, development of

infrastructure should be given to top most priority and attention to

accelerate inbound and domestic tourisn^ traffic in the country. After

visiting the site and shopping most of the time of the tourist at a

destination is spent either in the hotel or in travel. Therefore good

transport and accommodation w ^ ld provide pleasant experience to the

tourist who would carry better impression of the country. Provision of

quality infrastructure also provides the tangible proof of the quality of

tourism product and it also gives indication of the commitment of the

country to attract more tourists.

Government should expedite development of Infrastructure as envisaged

in National Strategy for promotion of Tourism 1992 (Pg. 220) and National

Tourism Plan of 1999 (Pg. 27), to improve capacity and availability of

hotels and restaurants, air services, roads, low price accommodation,

mega tourism projects, integrated infrastructure etc.

Special attention should be paid to development of standard and two star

budget hotels with clean and comfortable lodging facilities and youth

hostels with reasonable prices, to overcome the shortage felt at present.

There is need of improving tourist amenities of international standard, in

major places of tourist attractions and on national highways. For budget

or back packers tourists, provision of minimum facilities like clean toilets,

drinking water etc. must be made. At present large number of tourists go

for upmarket accommodation, even if they could not afford, since safe

drinking water, clean and pest free rooms, are not available in most of the

unclassified hotels.

To overcome the lack of proper air services adequate entry points; more

international airports and facilitation services of international nomns in the

major airports should be taken up immediately. Efforts should be made to

promote more chartered flights from various markets to different parts of

India. The proposal submitted by 60 foreign airlines to start operations to

 India should be considered/favourably. This will help in increasing the air

seat capacity and tourist inflow.

2. j F o r p r o p e r d e v e lo p m e n t o f d o m e s tic to u r is m th e re is nee d fo r
w-
c e n tr a liz e d g o v e r n m e n t a u th o r ity . At present development of domestic

tourism especially infrastructure, hygiene and sanitation, protection of

environment, land deyelopment, maintenance of law and order is under

the control of state government. Therefore development varies from state

to state. For any tourism action plan to be implemented successfully

across the country, it is important to have a centralized monitoring agency,

coordinating with all state governments plus 10 ministries of central

government including tourism minister, which would ensure that plans are

im plemented^ This can happen only if tourism is included in the

concurrent list.

3. j j h e r e is a n u r g e n t n e e d o f d e v e lo p in g a n d p r o m o tin g n e w t o u r is t

d e s tin a tio n s a n d p r o d u c ts in th e c o u n tr y . It is very essential to

promote at the earliest new destinations to meet ever-increasing demand

of fastest growing domestic tourism m a rke ^ The number of domestic

tourists has swelled from nearly 60 million in 1992 to 167 million in 1998,

but comparatively very few destinations have been promoted. Therefore

pressure on infrastructure at the existing destinations has resulted in over

pricing of the destinations compared to the services offered. Frequent

travelers from middle class are thus tempted to go out of the country in
 absence of new destinations being promoted. Over crowding at existing

tourist destinations has also resulted in the places loosing their natural

charm, air and noise pollution and mushrooming of concrete structures of

hotels and residential buildings.

4. . ^ ^ ^ n c o u r a g e e c o - fr ie n d ly s u s ta in a b le to u r is m d e v e lo p m e n t a t t o u r is t

d e s tin a tio n s . Ecological, social and cultural tourism resources are very

fragile and limited. We are far behind the western countries in promoting

eco-friendly tourism developmen^Tourists avoid going to Mahabaleshwar

because of environmental degradation and pollution. In the west,

chartered flights are banned in some of the crowded beaches around the

Mediterranean Sea, to prevent pressure on resources and pollution.

Tourists in the western countries have environment care upper most in

their mind, ^herefore their choice of visiting a destination is greatly

influenced by ecological preservation. By following sustainable tourism

i^dia will be able to attract more tourists over a long period of tim e.J

5. (w e m u s t m a in ta in p r o p e r ty p la c e s o f t o u r is t in te r e s t, h e rita g e

b u ild in g s a n d m o n u m e n ts . Due to limited resources with DOT and ASI

rare monuments and heritage places are not maintained properly. There
s'p-
up keep is shabby and dirty. Proper maintenance, good up keep and

beautification of areas in the vicinity of the tourism sites would create very

pleasant and cleaner ambience and make places very a ttra c tiv ^ This will

convey to tourists, the care we are taking in our national assets.

 It is suggested that tourist organizations should share part of the

maintenance cost of heritage properties and places of tourist interest

as they benefit greatly from the visit of tourists to those places.

Multinational companies can also sponsor maintenance and beautification

work around the places of tourist interest, on a long term basis.

Help of NGOs, schools and colleges should also be sought to encourage

and involve people in maintaining clean environment around their houses,

streets and localities in the places of tourist interest. Clean and green

environment around will provide physical evidence of attractive and

beautiful destinations.

6. I^Very pleasant and friendly experience should be provided to tourists

in the first contact meeting. The first contact between the tourist and

service provider is very crucial because tourist’s impression of the

destination will be greatly influenced by it. Therefore process of going

through immigration and customs formalities should not be cumbersome,

^ tim e consuming and irritating. Ease with which visa is issued if not

already taken keep tourists very happy, f u r t h e r physical evidence of a

clean and bright place must be conveyed, when they land for the first time.

Well spread out counters to collect luggage, free from confusion and over

crowding, will always remind them of pleasant experience of destination.

Special tourist assistance will prevent touts from harassing them. Pre­

paid taxi or shuttle service will facilitate their hassle free travel to the hotel.
7. A llje f f b r t s m u s t b e m a d e to m a k e t o u r is t ’s s t a y s a fe a n d p le a s a n t In

the last few years’ number of foreigners have been drugged and killed

prompting the tourist’s relatives to set up “Foreign Missing Person

Bureau”. Therefore we must take care that at the airport, railway stations,

places of tourist interests, touts, taxi drivers, beggars and tourist guides do

not hassle them. This can be done simply by strict enforcement of rules in

areas frequented by tourists, ^o m e states like^aharashtra have already

introduced tourist police to protect the interests of tourists.

8. G o v e r n m e n t a p p r o v e d o r c o n t r o lle d s o u v e n ir s h o p s h o u ld b e lo c a te d

a t e v e r y t o u r s ite , either at the entrance or the exit as is noticed in

Europe or the USA. Thus tourists would be free from exploitation by

guides and agents who lure them to shops, where they are cheated. Here

they could buy not only souvenirs, picture post cards etc. at fixed rates but

they would also be assured of quality and authentic goods.

C. ^PRICING:

I. ia needs to reduce cost all around to compete with other

destinations. At present In^a is perceived as an expensive destination

where the quality of services is inferior and offer poor value for money.

^Because of the high price tourism traffic is diverted to~)Boutheast Asian

c o u n trie s ^ Even our domestic tourists are increasingly interested in

 foreign destinations because of the high price of tourism services charged

in In d ia ^

2. P ric e s should not be frequently changed. Frequent changes in tourism

prices have affected the inflow of tourist^in the country. Many tour

operators in western countries organizing charters are most unhappy

about frequent increase in the cost as a result of government increasing lA

tariffs. Kuoni worlds leading travel agency reported the fall in number of

tourists going to India by 25% during the year 1997 because of frequent

changes in the price of hotels and transport services. Number of

European tour operators also had to cancel their tour packages to India as

a result of increasing cost due to frequent changes in the price.

D. PROMOTION:

1. ^ M a r k e t s a v v y p e o p le , p r o f e s s io n a l m a rk e te r s s h o u ld b e a p p o in te d to

p re p a re p r o m o tio n s tra te g ie s . An autonomous tourism promotion

authority should be created and handled by people who are accountable

and result orientedTj The government should assume only regulatory role

without interfering in the working of this autonomous body. Singapore,

Malaysia and Britain have scored major successes through marketing,

because autonomous boards like the British Tourist Authority (BTA) or the

Singapore Tourists Promotion Board (STPB) handle promotion. Both

comprise people who are chosen for their competence and ability to
 influence government and regional policies and stimulate Investment and

market programmes.

Recently fonned “Destination India Society” to promote and build brand

equity for tourism abroad; set by major Hotel Chains, Tour Operators and

Travel Agents at the initiative of Ministry of Tourism is a welcome step. Its

Ad Agency Enterprice Nexus Low launched sell-lndia ad and promotional

campaign from 2000 in USA, UK and Germany.

It is suggested that another chapter of this “Destination India Society”

should also focus on promoting Indian destinations for domestic markets.

2. India should be promoted as Multi-destination country. Promoting_^

very big country like as a single destinatic^ or mega brandjj^has

affected very badly tourist destinations located in different parts of the

V/
country. It is suggested that, based on tourists interests todia should

promote different tourism products say, places of Buddhist interest to

Japanese tourists, Kerala’s beach resorts to Gernian tourists etc.V rather

p sfe t
than maFketing jh e cotmtfy as a w h o l^ However depending on

professional marketing skill, country can combine mega brand with sub­

brands, to create a very powerful image of India, an image that reflects the

many facets that constitutes India. For example mega brand “India” be

represented as a logo mark such as “This is India”. Individual sub brands

could be used either for individual destinations such as “Goa - Land of

 Leisure”, “Rajasthan - Romantic Destination" or for special interest

packages such as “Curry Country”, "Himalayan Holidays” or “Treasures of

Maharajas”, etc.

3. b o u n t r y s h o u ld f o c u s o n “ N ic h e ” m a rk e ts r a th e r th a n s p r e a d in g

m a r k e tin g e ffo r ts to o th in . This will help us to save precious meagre

resources available for promotion and also make our efforts more result

o rie n te ^ We should identify few key countries and market there in a

concentrated manner. According to WTO*i report and study made by

PATA more out bound tourists in future will be from countries of Fareast,

like China and Japan. Therefore we must intensively market in these

destinations.

4. /I-T im in g s of promotion and marketing must be planned very carefully

to make it more result o rie n te £ l “Visit India Year” to coincide Millennium

Celebration was an utter failure because government announced it too

late. It gave very little time to the tour operators, travel agents and hotel

industry to announce packages on time. Therefore^important events

should be advertised sufficiently in advance in electronic and printed

media, as other successful countries have done.^

5. / T e c h n o lo g y to m a rk e t d e s t in a tio r ^ a n d p r o d u c ts s h o u ld be

c o m p a t ib ^ w it h th e w o r ld - s y s te m . Ifourists in Western and Fareast

 l^ountries have access to latest facilities of information technology and use

these to access inform atioj^ Detailed travel routes especially road maps,

places of tourist’s interests, facilities available in different countries in

Europe and North America are on Internet.^herefore it is very easy to

prepare itinerary.f^We should also give all possible details on Internet so

that mobility of tourists to various destinations could be increase^

Though the DOT as well as various states and number of tourist’s

organization have elaborate websites, in most cases, they are not

updated.

6. N e g a tiv e p e r c e p tio n h e ld b y fo r e ig n e r s s h o u ld b e c o r r e c te d th r o u g h

p o s itiv e a p p ro a c h a n d n o t th r o u g h r e a c tiv e o r dam age c o n tro l

e x e rc is e . I n ^ should focus on promoting ^lig size of the country and its

diversity in culture, its range of cuisines, beautiful landscape etc. This will

convey the message that a problem in one area doesn’t affect other areas?]1I

Further a single strong statement to reassure potential visitors should be

sufficient. /A successful colourful and bright advertisement should project

tndta as a classy, elegant, sophisticated destination for today’s traveler.

This vision of India would erase the perception of India as filthy, poor, over

run with beggars etc.

7. In d ia s h o u ld c o n c e n tr a te o n “ N ic h e ” to u r is m p r o d u c ts . Focusing on a

niche market is central to any promotional success. However identification

of the product and its marketing to a particular segment of market.

 requires careful market research. Some of the products, which India

should market to select segments of the market in different countries, are

suggested herewith.

a) Rejuvenation camps should be organized in the hilly areas around

Rishikesh and Hardwar or any secluded natural environment. Here blend

of practice of Yoga, meditation and Ayurvedic therapy especially massage

to reduce stress for campers will give them exhilarating experience. This

package can easily be marketed to Mediterranean and American

countries.

b) Followers of the religious seers spread throughout the world should be

marketed to visit Puthapathi ashram of Satya Sai Baba. For example,

there are as many as 1200 Satya Sai Baba centers in Latin America, more

than 100 in the USA and many more centers in Europe and other parts of

the world. Even if marketing is focused on 10 to 20 centres a year,

substantial number of long haul tourists could be attracted to the country,

and it would be a rewarding experience. The package for such visitors

could cover the country’s other attractions also. This will also provide the

country a break through in the Latin American market, which because of

distance, language and also lack of information has remained untapped.

c) Museums, Art galleries, Heritage places attract largest number of visitors

in the USA. According to CNN report more than 50 million people visited
 Museums, Art galleries and Exhibitions in the USA in the year 2000. India

with glorious heritage artifacts and remnants along with various items

connected with our music, dances, and festivals kept in various museums,

art galleries could market the same to this selected market segment in the

USA. Package tours to heritage places like Srirangapatnam, the capital of

Tipu Sultan and ruins of Vijyanagar Kingdom at Hampi, not much known in

the western world like Ajanta, would attract large number of tourists.

d) Archaeological discoveries have facilitated formation of new tourist

circuits, which would interest many Buddhists not only from East Asia, but

also from different parts of the world. Both in western and eastern India,

several shrines and cave temples have been identified with the evolution

of Buddhist thought. Right from Gujarat, through the Konkan coast to

Mangalore a string of such centers of Buddhist interest have been located.

Luckily around these places is much scenic splendor as also a long

coastline, well connected by rail and air. Similarly, from Varanasi through

Orissa and down to Nagaijuna Sagar stretches a long Buddhist pilgrim

trail, which has heritage shrines that arouse the interest of the scholars

and the faithful, which needs to be marketed.

e) Pittoragarh and Garwal hills in lower Himalayas could be developed along

with wildlife sanctuaries like Jim Corbett and Dudhwa National Park as

eco-friendly and adventure tourism package, which American tourists

 would love to visit. Similarly Sunderbans in West Bengal could also attract

lovers of nature as a fine destination in eco- tourism product.

8. ^ e lu s iv e Tourist Zone on the basis of Exclusive Export Zone should

be created to attract upmarket tourists. This exclusive tourist zone

should be located little distance away from the city, near the beach or in

forest area, to provide “Exclusive Environment”. This would attract rich

and famous tourists who otherwise skip India because of crowded

destinatior^The quite and peaceful environment, free from pollution and

nuisance of errand sellers etc., will give tourists free movement to relax for

which they go out on holidays. Exclusive beach for swimming and to

enjoy sunset or just sit and think, without getting disturbed by beggars and

massage boys will provide the right environment to relax. The best type of

clean, open accommodation and sanitation, coupled with entertainment

facilities at night time and ayurvedic treatment to rejuvenate them will be

additional attractions for them to come to India. Government sponsored

shop to sell souvenirs should also be located on the complex so that they

could conveniently buy without the nuisance of touts and being

overcharged by shopkeepers. The facilities thus provided would not only

be worth for money they spend but also must be compared to the best in

the world.

This “exclusive tourist complex” for rich and famous “up market”

customers could also be promoted to attract rich and famous Indians, who
 at present go to western countries for want of such exclusive classic and

elegant resorts. T h u ^ will help us to divert the outbound tourists back to

our Indian destinations^

9. Cultural Centres be opened in selected urban centres of the leading

outbound tourist countries. They should be opened with the help of

local Indians settled there and / or industrial houses both Indian and

foreign, which have trade contracts with India. The centre must project the

most colourful, fun loving image of modern India. Along with the glorious

heritage, films shows on various aspects, cultural life and natural beauty,

talks, and seminars on Indian related subjects be organized and locals

encouraged to attend it.

The centres will serve better purpose to promote country’s image and

destinations unlike occasional advertisement in the press or organizing

fam tours. How effective are the cultural centres could be explained by

sharing a personal experience a few months ago. The Chinese Cultural

Centre at Atlanta, Georgia organized Chinese New Year Celebrations in

January 2001. Local Chinese and Cultural centre in charge had organized

one-week programme of exhibitions, film shows, and food fest for public

and cultural show for elite of the city on the last day. Local newspapers

and TV had covered all the main functions and gave wide publicity by

reporting in TV news at prime time. Some of the schools had also taken

students to the center, as part of the study assignment.

10. In tr o d u c tio n o f lu x u r y c r u is e s h o lid a y s o n th e w e s t c o a s t o f In d ia . By

combining world famous destinations like Goa, Kerala and now

Sindhudurg-Devgarh beach cum fort coast of Maharashtra, India will

attract large number of tourists from Asia and Europe. As is known, more

and more Asians from Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and India are going

on cruise holidays these days. Many Indians are looking at cruising as an

alternative, having done USA, Europe and now they would like to go on

cruising. Further packages could also be worked out to cover the interior

destinations after cruising from Mumbai to Goa and staying in Kerala to

enjoy backwater boat cruising and Munnar hill station etc.

11. E c o - to u r is m s h o u ld be g iv e n m o re im p o r ta n c e in to u r is m

d e v e lo p m e n t a c tiv itie s . Environmentally sound resorts and hotels are

going to be preferred as uncontrolled, authentic and natural surroundings

vis-^i-vis closely controlled purpose-built and enclosed structure as noticed

in case study of Kerala. Local hotel and resort designs will be influenced

by local culture and heritage. Therefore various packages and

destinations around eco-tourism should be prepared with careful

consideration of not disturbing the nature’s balance. By controlling the

number of visitors to such places country will attract the genuine lovers of

nature to these destinations. Big size of the country has given us various
«
sites, be it in Northeast of India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Desert of

Rajasthan, wild life areas in the country including Sunderbans and Terai
 Region in North India and coastal hilly areas. They will provide us ample

sites to promote eco-tourism.

12. Concept of destination selling should be encouraged by motivating

various tourists’ organizations at the destination to pool resources for

marketing. Because of scarcity of resources it becomes difficult for a hotel

or a tour operator to sponsor national or intemational event. If all the

tourist organizations come together and promote destination per se, and

holding it over a long time, everyone would gain. The effort here is to

enlarge the pie so that there is more to share from. For example

collectively they can bid for intemational convention at the destination,

which no one organization could afford to compete for. Such synergy

could translate into individual improvement in business over a period of

time, as destination would properly see stronger presence in national or

international level.

13. A (Authorities connected with tourism should utilize sports events,

important programmes and other national events in the oowttry to

promote to urisr^ Due to lack of imagination and foresight such

occasions are not explored in India. For example, beauty pageant was

staged in Bangalore a few years ago, which attracted the attention of the

world. The cultural show arranged as a part of the pageant was shown

live on TV not only in India but also in different parts of the world. It gave

glimpse of Indian heritage. Co-sponsoring the glorious programme by the

 State tourism department and showing clips of the most attractive

destinations on TV during telecast of the programme would have attracted

large number of tourists during the vacation.

If the above suggestions were implemented, countfy would be able to

produce wofW-Class p ro d u cts^ India can effectively use the comparative

advantage due to accessible location and variety of resources to position its

“branded” labour intensive products, catering to different tastes and incomes in

the market.

Indta^ marketing strategic, nature of tourism products jand promotion etc.

should take into account the new global trends, which are taking place in tourism

m a rke t^h e se global changes viz. rapid growth in tourism traffic, emergence of

new areas of tourism development along with new trends in the demand

preferences and expectation of tourists are all favouring Indta.^ As noted earlier

(Pg. 232) except America, all other regions likely to receive maximum tourist

arrivals in future are located around India. Newly emerging tourist destinations

are within three to seven hours of flying distance. Therefore tourists from

emerging leading regions of Asia Pacific and South Asia as well as outbound

countries in the east (e.g. Hong Kong, Japan) or the West (England, Gemriany)

could be easily attracted to India as the country is located on the main traffic

routes - air and water, of the world. For example European tourist would save

time as well as airfare visiting closer Indian destinations rather than going to

Fareast Asia. With attractive products matching the taste and demands of
International tourists and comparative cost and time advantage, India could

attract largest number of tourists from emerging outbound countries.

India can also exploit the trend for two holidays in a year by offering six to

eight days packages covering places of tourist’s choice, because of variety of

tourism resources in the country and it’s big size.

India with multiple destinations can certainly meet the latest change in

tourist’s preference to combine two or more destinations by offering attractive

packages at reasonable price. Tourists from Europe going to Thailand or

Indonesia could be induced to include India also in their itinerary by aggressive

marketing strategy. Similariy Japanese tourists going to Europe may be offered

attractive packages to visit Buddhist places so that they could include India in

their itinerary. Alternatively, tourist could be attracted exclusively to India to visit

different destinations. Packages consisting of two or three destinations varying

from beach resorts, beautiful Kashmir’s adventure sports, palaces and forts in

Rajasthan to eco-tourism trail in lower Himalayas could be offered at very

competitive prices.

Another trend noticed is the rise in the long haul share of arrivals. Most of

the European tourists in the past were going to near by countries of southem

Europe or coastal areas of UK, Netheriands etc. These destinations are not only

crowded during the season but also expensive and highly polluted. Fast air

transport especially chartered flights have made it cheaper to travel to long

distance. That is why most of the Europeans now prefer to go to distant

destinations which are less crowded free from pollution and offer new

experience.'^ Europe is the main market for Indian destinations. India can woo

tourists with cheaper chartered flights and offer attractive packages as

suggested.

Based on the study of WTO - Tourism 2020 Vision, it is suggested that

India’s focus on promotion and marketing efforts should mainly be

concentrated around three following regions. Top ten outbound tourist

countries are also located in these regions.

a) Europe

b) Far East Asia

c) North America

Europe :

India’s full attention should continued to be on Europe, which traditionally

is the main market for Indian destinations. Five out of ten leading outbound

countries, Germany, UK, France, Netherlands, and Italy with 392 million tourists

going out from these five countries, covering 28.6% of the world market share. Is

very large number on which India must concentrate marketing. The first four of
these countries are already part of top ten tourist generating countries for India.

The main constraints about Indian destinations as pointed out by leading

European tour operators noticed earlier would easily be overcome with the

improvements and suggestions made in this study. While focusing on marketing

activity in Europe the different characteristics and demands of these leading

European countries must be kept in mind.

Germ any:

With 10.2 percent of the total number of international tourists going out

from Germany by 2020, it will be the largest outbound tourists country. Gemians

love to go to sea resorts, where beaches are clean, water wanner and less

crowded. Max Muller’s description of India as the most popular destination could

have been exploited to attract more tourists but for the poor impression of India,

created by media and of course poor product mix, which keeps Gemians away

from India. In 1998 Gemiany ranked fifth in the total number of tourist arrivals in

India. The traffic actually had declined by 11.3 percent compared to previous

years. Aggressive marketing campaign by Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala states

coupled with active interest taken by our regional tourist office in Germany have

revised the interest of Germans about Indian destinations. As India has to

compete with African countries like Egypt, South Africa and Fareast destinations

in German market, we must workout packages, which are superior to those of the

competitors. Our promotion must be based on pristine clean beaches with warm
waters, pleasant nightlife entertainment, combined with Yoga and Ayurveda

treatment for rejuvenation.

UK:

No other European country is so close to India as UK, because of

historical connections. Presence of large number of NRI and Indian immigrants

from East Africa has influenced considerably British taste for Indian cuisines,

music, performing arts and literature. British tourists have fascination for Goa,

and are also attracted to Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal, especially Darjeeling,

and Northeastern states etc. Variety of packages based on “curry country";

“Beach Resorts” etc. could be especially prepared to attract tourists. At present

most of the tourists come by chartered flights and are back packers. However

India could focus on up market tourists by providing “Exclusive resorts” as

suggested earlier. Maximum number of foreign tourists (19.1% of the total) in

1998 came from UK. According to WTO - Tourism Vision 2020, 6 percent of

total number of international tourists going to different destinations by 2020 will

be from Britain. India must focus its marketing campaign there to attract more

tourists.

France:

It has a larger number of holidaymakers going abroad to experience

cultural heritage. Like India, France also has its own tradition of valuing with
respect cultural legacies, art form, and cuisines. French visitors at present

represent a broad cross section of French society, back packers, blue and white-

collar workers, youth, and executives at various level. Most of them travel in the

month of July almost as a religions ritual. Coincidentally July is our lean season

time and there is every reason for luring more tourists from France to visit India.

At present more than 60 percent of the traffic originates from Paris and 40

percent from other provinces. Most of the French tourists to India are free

individual travelers (FIT). This shows Indian promotion reaches the tourists

directly and therefore we must focus our advertising to individual travellers. In

1998 five percent of the total world tourists arrivals to India came from France. It

was the fourth leading country in temis of number of foreign tourist arrivals to

India.

Netheriands and Spain are also more interested in our culture and

heritage. Ayurveda treatment and beaches of Goa and Kerala too attract them to

come to India. Netheriands with 2.7% of total arrivals in India occupied the 9‘^

position in order of foreign tourist arrivals in 1998. However highest (20.9 %)

increase in growth rate of arrivals was registered in case of Netheriands.

Fareast Asia :

In 1998 Japan (6‘^ out of 10 top countries) and Singapore (9‘" out of 10

top countries) were two main tourist-generating countries to India. According to

the WTO’s Tourism Vision 2020, Japan and China will be second and forth rank
in the top ten outbound tourism countries by 2020. Singapore, Hong Kong and

Korea too will register high growth in outbound tourism. India’s cultural affinity,

variety of destinations and tourism products based on Buddhist religion, proximity

to these countries, and its location on the main trunk routes will help the country

to reap good harvest of tourist arrivals, provided India’s marketing mix

ingredients, are up graded as suggested above.

Japanese tourists coming to India are mostly from middle income group

and belong to middle age group. They are very particular about cleanliness,

safety and good quality facilities. Besides, they are interested in places of

Buddhist religion, and cultural places. High income group tourists prefer to

spend time in playing golf.

Chinese could be induced to combine their tour to Europe, Middle East

and Africa with India. Variety of destinations to suit requirements of different

segments will enable India to attract number of tourists from China.

Singapore and Hong Kong have number of residents of Indian origin. By

providing shopping, entertainment and exclusive hill or beaches resorts India

could attract them.

North America - USA :

Survey conducted for this study shows (Pg. 198) that India has a very

poor image in the USA. Majority of the tourists find India very crowded, unclean
destination, expensive and too far off for plane ride. With improvement in our

destinations on the basis of suggestions made earlier India could attract largest

number of tourists from the USA.

India has to focus its promotion campaign to create positive image.

Opening of cultural centers with the help of Indians settled in the USA and private

companies would do a lot of good work. By promoting tourism packages based

on different interests of American tourists India could attract more tourists. As

mentioned earlier, India could draw maximum number of tourists interested in

Museums, Exhibitions, Art galleries, etc. Similarly many Americans could be

attracted by developing adventure tourism in lower Himalayas especially in UP,

Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and West Bengal. Places of cultural

interests, sea beaches with provision of Yoga and Ayurveda treatment could also

attract large number of Americans. In 1998 tourists from USA formed the second

largest number of foreign tourists arrivals to India.

Besides the above three regions, India should also concentrate its efforts

on Sri Lanka, Middle Eastern countries. New Zealand and Australia, Indonesia,

Malaysia and South Africa.

Tourism industry, which has the fastest growth rate comparatively, is

considered as the industry of the 21®* century. Study made by WTO - Tourism

vision 2020 shows that the total tourist arrivals in the world in 2020 will increase

from 692 million in 2000 to 1602 million and yet this growth in number will fonn
only 7% of the world’s potential tourism traffic. Therefore future growth in

international tourism is going to be very high. India receives nearly half the

number of tourist arrivals in South Asia. By 2020 South Asia will receive 19

million tourists and India about 9.5 million.

For the last few years the country’s perfomiance in terms of tourist arrivals

has been very disappointing. Number has remained stagnant around 2.3 to 2.5

million tourist arrivals. We are unable to compete globally with superior tourism

products based on effective marketing mix of the successful countries with our

inferior products offered at high price for poor quality of services provided. If

China and Indonesia, which were behind India in temis of tourist arrivals in 80’s,

could reach to 40 million or 8 million tourist arrivals, India could certainly do much

better. The country has the best combination of the tourism resources and this

gives India comparative advantage to offer very attractive products to suit taste

and income of different tourists. India must leam from the experience of

successful countries and show the same Will and firm determination to

develop tourism. In fact, following the marketing approach, the country

could attract even more than 9 or 10 million tourists as envisaged in WTO

Tourism Vision 2020 study^ Sir Edmund Hillary was very correct when he said

that it was certainly feasible for India to get 100 million tourists a year provided

the world knew more about the country’s rich culture and beautiful spots

(Pg. 198).^lndia has to act fast with full deterniination to develop tourism

resources io bring about economic development^_^th®rwise, country s condition

would be like the famner mentioned in Panchtentra Rook of Wisdom Tales - God
took pity on a poor farmer. He blessed him with a Sandalwood tree, hoping that

sustainable growth of the tree would give him perennial income to live happily

ever after. Not realizing the real value of Sandalwood tree, farmer used wood as

fuel thus wasting the precious gift given by God and continued to remain poor.

The nature, cultural heritage and world’s changing market trends are

all favourable to India to be one of the top ten tourist destinations of the

21^ century. The country has only to exploit its opportunities by producing

variety of tourism products based on superior product mix as suggested

above. Using internal marketing approach along with external marketing, it

would be able to attract largest number of tourists with different tastes,

interests and incomes. India’s superior tourism products combined with

quality services and attractive prices will give full satisfaction and value for

money by providing tourists complete relaxation, blissful experience and

rejuvenation. Thus comfortable joumey by plane or train, prompt and courteous

services provided by hotel, friendly and hospitable nature of the people and

pleasant, clean and pollution free environment would make their trip memorabte.

They will be willing to come back and say, "DU Mange More”.