Incredible India : Marketing strategy for Indian tourism

Abstract

The Incredible India marketing campaign, since its inception in 2002 has seen changes and new initiatives being taken every year. Everything from new posters, new taglines and participation in tourism fairs, however since 2009 a new initiative in the print media has not taken place. A campaign that has been so wildly successful since the very first year, “the campaign successfully established India as a high-end tourist destination, generating a 16% increase in tourist traffic in the first year1 ” should not let its global presence fade. The objective for this study is to create the marketing strategy that fits in as the next step for the Incredible India campaign by looking at how existing issues can be solved and what new avenues can be explored, The current campaign is already quite successful but there is still a long way to go before the tourism industry in India can compare to that of the USA or many European nations. This study hopes to point out many of the issues faced by the Indian tourism industry, what the perceptions of tourists are and how new strategies can be developed to change negative perceptions, as well as what changes or new elements can be added to the campaign to take Incredible India forwards, and continue on its path to making India one of the greatest tourist destinations.