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God's own country reinvents itself

October 1, 2006
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(The Times of India Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) NEW DELHI: Inventing and re-inventing has never worked so well. Kerala Tourism, one of the pioneers of tourism promotion in India, is at it again.

The state will unleash another ad blitzkrieg to showcase the beauty and charm of God's Own Country. Whereas the earlier themes it dabbled in were product-based - health, pilgrimage, adventure and monsoon tourism - this time, it's people-based.



The first of such 'Tourism Enriches' ads, a harbinger of what's in store actually - was unleased on World Tourism Day (September 27).

"The actual campaign will follow later. Some 3-4 ad agencies have been shortlisted, including Stark, Crayons, etc. The ad spend will be much more than the Rs 1 crore we spent on the Monsoon Tourism campaign earlier this year,"says V K Bharat Bhushan, tourism secretary. "The new ad is people-centric."

Prem Mathew, account group head, Stark Communications Pvt Ltd, Kerala Tourism's communications agency, says, "It's more a brand-building ad and talks about the spirit of travel. It's not a marketing ad."

K Balakrishnan, minister for tourism, had said these theme-based programmes had made the state an all-time destination.

The Monsoon Tourism ads, unleased on May 21 to coincide with the rains, were well worth it. Not only did hotel occupancy go up by 30% during the lean monsoon season, the average duration of time a tourist spent in the state went up to 16 days - up from 14 in 2005 and a dismal four in 1991, says Bhushan.

"We hope to keep increasing this number. The monsoon campaign as well as various marketing strategies such as showcasing the state as God's Own Country worked in our favour,"he adds.

The new ad is colourful, but not as eye-catching as the monsoon ones. It shows three happy faces of real people: an Arjuna Nritham artist, a chef and an oarsman, all of whom talk about how tourism changed their lives.

For one, it's about ensuring continuity in traditional art forms, for another about doing away with the stigma attached to some jobs and for the third, about enterprise making a difference.

It has an aims-straight-for-the-heart appeal by showing how despite diverse backgrounds, tourism can be a great leveller.

It ropes in the new age traveller by asking him to join in with the good times and makes him feel special. In short, it has enriched the very fabric of society.

"Involving the community is important for tourism,"explains Bhushan. "It's a win-win situation for all. Everyone is drawing sustenance from this sector."It tells people that their travel has made a difference to the lives of people.

These campaigns have made a marked difference. "For the first six months of this year, foreign tourist arrivals increased by 34%,"says Bhushan.

International tourist arrivals in 2005 were 3.45 lakh. This has been growing from 2001-2005 at an annual rate of 13.1%.

Copyright 2006 The Times of India. Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd. Source : Financial Times Information Limited


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