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 Globalisation has given marketing of tourist destinations a whole new meaning as countries, regions and individual destinations compete with one another to attract investment and visitors. Vision and brand are a fundamental part of commercial activity, but does a destination need a vision and a brand for tourism development? The answer is yes because destinations, like companies, must communicate to a broad market of consumers about what they are, what they offer, what they do and the consistency and quality of their offerings. This is accomplished through the brand and the vision. Ultimately, a company’s vision is the most visible part of the company’s marketing strategy and the same holds true for tourist destinations . Destination branding is a presentation of the combination of what makes a destination, these include its products and services like agriculture, tourist spots, sports, arts, investment, technology, education etc. Mini Case Study: Incredible India campaign How to brand the destination in the existing and emerging markets is the responsibility of the tourism bodies promoting those destinations. The term destination branding has come about in recent times in the quest to draw maximum tourists to one’s state. The challenges of branding a destination for a country like India is a big task, given the diversity within the nation, as well as the diversity in the target markets. Tourists travelling to the US or Europe are quite aware of what to expect. But for first time visitors to India, there are always concerns about what they might encounter. Till 2002, Indian tourism was promoted through delegates at the Indian tourist offices located globally. These promotional campaigns were not too effective as the promotional approach was unorganised, varied, and limited by the skills and capabilities of the delegates. In September 2002, the Ministry of Tourism unveiled a new campaign called ‘Incredible India’ to promote Indian tourism globally. The first phase of the campaign, for a period of three months, was jointly funded by Government of India and Experience India Society, an association of travel agents in India. The campaign focused on the Himalayas, wildlife, yoga and Ayurveda and was widely promoted in the print media, television and the Internet. The television campaign was telecasted on CNN, BBC and other popular channels across the world. The brand personality was named ‘Incredible India’, essentially as a positioning and branding strategy that differentiates India in the global market place. It was developed so that all tourism offices, tour operators and organisations promoting India as a destination could market it in a unified and consistent manner. ‘Incredible India’ has been built on a solid research foundation that resulted in a set of descriptors for personality and values of India as an essence that captures the underlying spirit of the country. Therefore, ‘Incredible India’ captured its unique spirituality, the varied colours of its landscapes and the distinctive character of its people. The positioning of India was not only the breathtaking locales, the mysticism of the East, the draw towards civilisation, the call of the wild, but much more than all this. Apart from the Incredible India campaign that promotes India as a whole, Indian states have individually taken measures to attract inbound as well as foreign traffic.  Kerala: ‘God’s own country’Around 1994, Kerala Tourism recognised that sustainable marketing was the key to promote the destination, advertisements featuring the tagline, ‘God’s Own Country’, began appearing in the print and electronic media in India. These advertisements were not run by a company to promote its products and services. Instead, the campaign was run by Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) and was intended to promote the South Indian state of Kerala as a tourist destination. With this decision, Kerala Tourism started independent exhibition stands – both within India and internationally at trade fairs, road-shows etc. It adopted a multi-region strategy and also focussed on infrastructure development and up-gradation of facilities including two new airports in Kochi and Kozhikode, approach roads to tourist destinations and also public amenities. The advertisers projected Kerala as ‘the place to be’, marketing every aspect of the state from the towns, cities, beaches, backwaters, cultural heritage, food, wildlife and even the centuries-old tradition of healthcare through Ayurveda. These aspects of Kerala, which were identified as the state’s unique selling propositions, were packaged in a professional way by KTDC. Apart from these marketing initiatives, the government of Kerala made an effort to professionally manage the state’s tourism industry. KTDC perhaps had no idea that with this campaign, it had hit upon a gold mine. Over the next few years, the organisation’s efforts to ‘sell’ Kerala to Indians as well as foreigners began paying off. The state reportedly became one of the destinations with the ‘highest brand recall’, thanks to its unique positioning and targeting efforts. To innovate with the product offerings, the KTDC identified new destinations and developed circuits like Kumarakom, Munnar, Wayanad and other destinations like Kovalam and Thekkady were added to the Kerala portfolio. The addition of these destinations brought central Kerala into the limelight as the hub of tourism activities. It also introduced niche and unique segments like Backwaters and Ayurveda. With a focussed approach, these two segments became popular internationally and the average duration of stay in Kerala went up from 4.4 days to 14 days. The hike in average duration of stay disclosed the potential of Kerala. “Tourism had started to pick up, foreign tour operators started including Kerala in their holiday programmes and catalogues, destination management companies came into existence and also investments started flowing in,” stated Dr Venu V, Secretary, Kerala Tourism. Kerala Tourism. To further understand the destination, Kerala Tourism conducted ‘Carrying Capacity Studies and Environment Impact Assessments’ to ascertain the long term sustainability of the destination. In the late 1990s, inspired by the Kerala experience, other Indian states such as Goa, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu began taking steps towards branding and marketing themselves as tourist destinations. Madhya Pradesh The state which is in the heart of India is diverse in its wildlife, heritage and natural resources. Surprisingly, the state did not realise its untapped potential until four to five years ago. Post 2004, the state government decided to market its tourist attractions aggressively. The result being increased profits with every passing year. According to official statistics, last year 1.41 crore tourists visited the state and there has been an increase of an annual average of 40 per cent from 2007 to 2008. According to Ashwini Lohini, Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (MPTDC), the increase is a result of a focused, growth-oriented strategy. Currently, MPTDC promotes its archaeology, Khajuraho, wildlife and pilgrimages. Rajasthan The state which claims to be the ‘incredible state of India’, until now, promoted its culture and heritage to lure inbound tourists. The marketing efforts of the state nationally and internationally, to promote Luxury Tourism via exquisite palaces , ‘Palace on Wheels’ and the city locales through various cultural festivals has put the state on the global map. Rajasthan spends huge sums of money for infrastructural developments to build new tourism circuits. The arrival of foreign tourists to Rajasthan has seen a quantum jump from 0.6 million in 2003 to 1.4 million in 2007, a whopping 100 per cent plus growth in four years. Likewise, the arrival of domestic tourists has also doubled from 12.5 million to 26 million from 2003-2007. Gujarat The Gujarat government is promoting tourism in the state through fairs, festivals and also Medical and Business Tourism. During the recent Navratri Festival, Gujarat Tourism organised packages of four nights/five days and three nights/four days covering different circuits of various segments of Religious Tourism, Heritage Tourism etc. In tune with the national goal to promote India as the most favoured Medical Tourism destination, Gujarat has aggressively adopted the concept to promote tourism using Vibrant Gujarat. As part of its Navratri Celebrations, the government of Gujarat took the opportunity to promote its world-class medical facilities and medical expertise making Gujarat a preferred destination for Medical Tourism for Non Resident Indians (NRI) and specifically Non Resident Gujaratis (NRG). Recently, a website was launched to tap the large NRG segment for Medical Tourism. The website includes information on medical facilities in Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Baroda and Surat. Gujarat’s medical expertise and the strength of its facilities are considered to be better than those of some of the South East Asian nations and Gujarat hospitals are working a lot harder to sell medical facilities abroad. Branding for niche segments In the current scenario, when tourists are becoming more specific about their needs and wants, the industry players are coming up with new ways of attracting consumers via new products and offers. In India, the four different zones, i.e North, South, East and West are working as four different groups to increase the number of tourist arrivals to their particular zones. The tourism boards of all the North Eastern states are working together with the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) to sell the region as one whole package. Similarly, Southern states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are promoting each other through Joint Ventures and participation in various trade fairs. The term ‘destination’ and ‘product’ are often confused. The former is often considered to be a tourism product in itself, but industry players argue that the destination is simply a geographical unit within which any number of differing products can be purchased and experienced. The product can be seen as the total tourism experience which comprises a combination of all the service elements, which the tourist consumes from the time they leave home to the time of return. Hence, the total product is much larger than the destination itself, and usually embodies several tourism products. There are certain states which are pioneers of Medical Tourism and there are others which are ideal for MICE and Business Tourism. The partnership between such two states can increase the experience value of the tourists to India as well as tourist traffic to both the states. |
Friday, January 30, 2009
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 The travel and tourism industry in India is being exposed to the need and opportunity of Accessible Tourism. While this aspect was touched upon in the previous cover story, the important step forward, once the awareness is created, is for the industry to start formulating and implementing plans to tap this segment. However, the moot question which arises is, are we ready to provide services for this particular segment? The needs of Accessible Tourism, broadly defined as a set of services and facilities for individuals with specific needs that may include the disabled, elderly people, pregnant women, parents with children or people with temporary disabilities, has been voiced by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) India and various Non-Government Organisations (NGOs) like Samartayam (a civic body and National Centre for Accessible Environments), AccessAbility (Universal Design and Disability Employment Specialist), Svayam (organisation for people with reduced mobility), National Association of the Blind, etc. These NGOs have been working with civic and government agencies and various other corporate houses to press home the needs of this segment and to create the required infrastructure. “Currently there is no national policy on Accessible Tourism in India. Other than tentative measures being undertaken in metropolitan cities, rest of the nation is sans accessible transportation be it the railways, roadways or airways. The country also has a largely inaccessible infrastructure in the built, as well as external public infrastructure. Today initiatives are underway in some of the metropolis cities but it still leaves a lot to be desired,” informed Kavita Agrawal, Assistant Manager, Svayam. In India, the first step towards Accessible Tourism will involve making public infrastructure accessible to people with reduced mobility. According to Hector D’souza, President, L’Orient Travels, the infrastructure does not exist. “We can offer packages to People with Disabilities (PwD) but hotels, restaurants and tourist sites do not have the requisite infrastructure. Each hotel having one accessible room is not enough as it’s of no use while dealing with group travellers,” stated D’souza. Clearly infrastructure needs to be first put in place if the tourism industry is to reap the benefits of tapping this segment. Hospitality sector The Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has listed some amenities for the disabled as criteria in order to obtain four-star or five-star classification for hotels. These include, one room for physically challenged, easily accessible lifts, four-star and above hotels should have bathrooms for physically challenged, ramps with anti-slip floors and handrails at the entrance, wheelchair access with suitable table in at least one restaurant, facilities for visually impaired persons, public rest rooms to have low height urinal (24 inches maximum) and exclusive parking for PwDs near the entrance. According to Shivani Gupta, Director, AccessAbility/Free2Wheel.co.in, the facilities for the disabled amount to only five points (out of 100 points) in the rating system for classification of hotels. In a survey conducted by Gupta, for her website Free2Whee.co.in (web portal for disabled tourists in Delhi), she discovered that most hotels in Delhi did not have accessible restaurants. Amongst the exceptions are Taj Group of Hotels and ITC Welcomgroup of Hotels. ITC Welcomgroup has employed 120 PwDs in the past 18 months. “We have realised that a barrier free environment is a crucial ingredient for inclusion and therefore, we have done access audits to incorporate accessibility improvements in our existing infrastructure. All our future hotel properties will be based on principles of Universal Design (a way to ensure that all environments and products are useable by all with comfort),” said P P Srivastav, Chief Engineer, ITC Welcomgroup. There are no budget hotels that have accessible rooms or supporting infrastructure. MoT will soon make provisions for the two-star and three-star hotels to be accessible as well. However, information is lacking and it is always word of mouth, which the disabled community has to depend on. Hotels with accessible features should provide this information on their websites. Transport sector “Inaccessible railways, road transportation, airways and transit infrastructure is a deterrent not only for travellers with disabilities but also for the elderly, children and travellers with temporary disabilities like a fractured leg or arm, etc.,” stated Kavita Agarwal. According to Anjlee Agarwal, Founder, Samarthyam, foreign disabled travellers and senior citizens like to travel independently and are not comfortable with the physical assistance provided in India. “Indian carriers do not allow two wheelchair travellers to sit together, refuse to take responsibility for the disabled travellers, charge travellers for stretchers and ambulifts and lack in developments like seat numbers in Braille, etc. Such lack of infrastructure can discourage tourists for repeat visits to India,” stated Anjlee Agarwal. According to Dipendra Manocha, Director (IT and Services), National Association of the Blind, a visually impaired person, Indian airports are not well equipped to help PwD travel independently. “The airports in India need to have some kind of landmark system, audio warnings, escalator warning, warning tiles, Braille signs for directions, etc., for the visually impaired,” said Manocha. He also spoke about the need for training the airport and airline staff in terms of communication etiquette with PwDs. The Railway Ministry has announced projects for provision of world-class facilities at metro railway stations. The new design concept will have all the Universal Design features in place that will make railway stations accessible to people with reduced mobility. Even local transport like accessible taxi services, trains are needed. However, efforts are being made, though on a small scale and on a private level like Tata Group working with Samarthyam to provide low floor buses in Delhi, Chandigarh, Indore, Ahmedabad and Mumbai. “A beginning has been made but it’s not the right time to make huge investments in this segment .We have to weigh our costs as there will be no instant results,” opined D’souza. Tourist sites “Unfortunately all the tourist attraction sites, as well as historical monuments remain inaccessible to most people with reduced mobility. Historical monuments because of their status of protected monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India were never really considered for incorporating changes to make them accessible to all,” stated Kavita Agarwal. Qutab Minar is one of the tourist sites in India which has ramps for tourists on wheelchairs. “Currently, we are not adequately equipped in terms of infrastructure. First, we need to make all the major tourist sites like Taj Mahal and the ones in Golden Triangle accessible as they attract a lot of foreign tourists and then gradually cover other tourist sites,” said P N Narayanaswamy, Travel Scope (India) Pvt. Ltd. A general overview shows us that most of our beaches, heritage sites, religious sites and other tourist sites lack accessible infrastructure, which is limiting the growth of Indian tourism both domestically and internationally. There is no database maintained by government agencies of the accessible tourist spots in the country. There is a growing demand, for the tourism industry to improve its services to PwDs. “As travel agents and tour operators we can educate our staff and try to provide for accessible vehicles. But if we look at the current scenario, nothing has happened yet by way of infrastructure or policies, it is just the beginning. We need to gear up first and only then can we introduce new products and packages in the market,” said N S Rathor, Head, Garha Tours & Travels and Executive Committee Member, IATO. “Universal Design is the need of the hour, especially in countries like India. With India on the brink of exponential growth in infrastructure development this is the right time to take up the issues related to barrier free and inclusive public infrastructure and transportation. This will not only promote tourism in India but also provide means of generating sustainable revenue for the tourism industry,” concluded Kavita Agarwal. |
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 Have you ever had a sprained ankle and found it impossible to climb the stairs? Ever had an aged parent and wanted to go on a holiday but changed plans due to lack of facilities? Ever had a disabled sibling who wanted to dine at a fancy restaurant but could not due to lack of infrastructure? If you have faced any of the situations mentioned above then you have been discriminated through design. This discrimination is not intentional, it happens due to negligence of needs of people, who are too less in number to be considered. But today, this number, which also includes people with disabilities and elderly people is growing and smart entrepreneurs in the industry have noticed the need of Accessible Tourism. Accessible Tourism is about making travel and tourism easy for all people (irrespective of their age, gender or physical status). It is a set of services and facilities for individuals with specific needs that may include the disabled, elderly people, pregnant women, parents with children, or people with temporary disabilities. Different people have different needs, which need to be catered to through adoption of ‘Universal Design’- a way to ensure that all environments and products are usable by all with comfort. “People travel for relaxation but it becomes difficult for the disabled and family members as there are no proper services provided by airlines, hotels or the tourist destinations,” said a source with a disability who attended a seminar on `Inclusive Tourism’ organised by American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) India in association with Ministry of Tourism (MoT) in Mumbai recently. The government of India is focussing on increased revenue growth through tourism to strengthen its economy. Inbound tourism figures for India last year were 4.97 million and 150 million for domestic tourism. These figures can see further growth if the country starts catering to PwD (People with Disabilities), which constitutes 20 per cent of the population. Current situation in India Travelling and taking tours is supposed to be a luxury for a person with disability in India. The nation might be witnessing a construction boom but it fails to make buildings accessible to all. While the government is trying to increase revenue growth mostly through inbound tourism, international tourists are getting more concerned about accessibility for PwD and others who are part of the Accessible Tourism segment, within the country. This is also a major concern in most developed countries like US, UK, Europe, Japan and Germany, which have a large ageing population. These relatively prosperous travellers want to explore different parts of the world over long vacations, which are far away from their home. The same group of people, irrespective of where they come from are also likely to have reduced mobility, impaired vision or hearing. Their demand is for required assistance and efficient services at the desired destination. The Indian government must focus on this segment for ensuring growth in terms of revenue in the tourism sector where service, quality and accessibility will play a major role in improving the image of the country as a favourable tourist destination. As per reports from the Department of Tourism along with growth in the number of foreign tourists, there has been great growth in the number of domestic tourists over the years, with the majority of them travelling long distances by rail. Indian families with disabled relatives have been demanding access to national heritage sites and accessible transportation for long. Hence, there is a combined demand for Accessible Tourism from within and outside India. The country may also find Accessible Tourism to be an effective means for implementing the Persons with Disabilities Act of 1995. Commenting on the travel services available in the country, Prof. Ketan L Mehta, Founder, Nina Foundation said, “Only major airports in the country provide for services for people with disabilities, railway stations and trains are not accessible, there are a fleet of low floor buses but awareness about the bus timings and stops is unavailable.” In the current scenario there are no provisions for disabled friendly vehicles on hire or mobility, aids for the physically challenged and elderly at places of tourist interest like beaches, religious sites, heritage sites, etc. The major obstacles in using the existing modes of transportation includes movement between levels (bus depots, railway stations, airports and harbours), procedures (ticketing, immigration, check-in, transit, and baggage), information displays, services (passenger assistance, retail outlets, money exchanges) and toilet access. Even the most desired destination in the country ‘Taj Mahal’ is inaccessible for many. State tourism boards are investing in luxury trains like ‘Palace on Wheels’ to attract foreign visitors but due to its limited services it fails to maximise its reach.  Accessibility improving business Accessible Tourism will provide for a larger pool of potential customers. The travel and tourism industry will gain all the economic benefits by promoting itself as a ‘fully inclusive’ destination at a national, as well as international level. It will help in creating a positive image of the country as a destination, hence attracting repeat customers. Many disabled people are keen to travel to India, but often get discouraged by negative word of mouth publicity. “Do not look at our disability, look at our wallets. We want the travel industry to understand our preferences and purchase decisions,” stated Craig Grimes, AccessibleBarcelona-UK at the seminar. Adding to it, Rajeev Kohli, President, ASTA India Chapter said, “We shouldn’t rely on government for everything. The aim is not to preach that please build this, that, etc. We want people to know that this is a business opportunity for the industry. It makes good business sense.” The question asked is, how do we improve accessibility? The common problems faced are difficulty in physical movement, lack of understanding of the disabled, different staff attitude and unfavourable organisational policies or procedures. The airlines, hotels, travel agents need to train their staff in communication etiquettes and how to provide services to the disabled. Initially, the industry needs to identify key tourist sites for both domestic and international tourists, which will provide for accessible features to start with. Similarly, tourism boards at state and regional level can do the same. Nilesh Singit, Co-ordinator of Disability Rights Initiative, Bombay at India Centre for Human Rights and Law said, “Incorporating access features at the planning phase costs only an additional two per cent of the entire project cost.” Solutions offered in the ‘Inclusive Tourism’ seminar in Mumbai are: disabilities component should be added in tourism courses, tour operators should encourage tour packages for this segment, government should give concessions and incentives to encourage disabled tourists and PwDs’ should be allowed employment in the tourism industry. Also, the websites of travel agents should show that they cater to people with disabilities. “Half of those who travel (51 per cent) use the internet to book their trips. Almost half (43 per cent) of travellers say that they search the Internet for accessible facilities to support their disability-related travel needs. They surf the Internet for finding and booking accessible hotels, finding accessibility information about airlines and finding accessible activities, tours and attractions at their destination. A good agent must assess each client’s needs correctly, understand what tools are required and know what challenges each destination will have” said Jani Nayar, Executive Co-ordinator, Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality (SATH). The future of Indian travel industry depends on the strategies and designs it initiates today. There is a need of high degree of awareness and will to implement `Universal Design’ features. It can be done by training designers and architectures to improve the implementation process. Though the model of accessibility and barrier free environments has begun to take shape, the development of `Universal Design’ from a conceptual idea to a regular practise in India is yet to take place. |
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