One of the
earliest campaigns of the Modi government elected in 2014 was the Incredible
India campaign. It was an attempt to draw tourists from across the world into
exploring different facets of India. The facets are not merely historical
monuments but would extend to wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, beaches,
old temples, historical places, snow clad mountains, trekking routes, mountain
drives, river rafting, island exploration, cultural exploration, sartorial
tourism, to just sample a few. It again was not merely about few landmarks but
drawing across the country from the snow clad mountains of Kashmir, Ladakh,
Himachal Pradesh to Uttarakhand to the hill stations in the Himalayas to the
Nilgiris, from the beaches of West Coast to the distant beaches of the East
Coast to just sample a few. The campaign was of course a moderate success, yet
its success could be measured only in the long run. The shift in consumer
preferences take quite a bit of time. what added to the woes was the current
pandemic crisis induced by the pandemic caused by the Chinese virus. Given the
low cost medical destination, India might well encourage with some vaccine
tourism in the months ahead.
Tourism in India
no doubt would be a great export earner given the diversity of offerings available.
Furthermore, the spill overs are tremendous. Yet, the tourism, is more centred
towards what is termed as the golden triangle. The golden triangle comprises of
the cities of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur. Most of the tourists who land up in India
travel to these three cities. There is of course a natural reason for the same.
Most tourists who would land in India would arrive in Delhi. Having done a
sightseeing of Delhi, they would obviously go to Agra. Like or not, Agra is
something that has captured the mind space of the tourists coming across the
country. The next destination would obviously be Jaipur which would perhaps
include a trip to Ranathambor or Sariska for tiger watching. To any tourist,
there is a tradeoff. The trade-off is in terms of the time to be spent in India
given the vacation leave available. Within the given time, they have to sample
India. The best way would be to compress into getting a taste of different
features that India presents on the anvil. The golden triangle is something
best suited for the same. Thus without doubt, the golden triangle becomes the
best seller and in a way forms the Pareto’s principle in Indian tourism.
Yet India is far
beyond the golden triangle. Without doubt, there is tourist attraction towards
Goa partly driven by the beaches and in the earlier days, the drugs and nudism
on beaches. There is of course some interest in Kerala drawn by its image of
God’s own country. Bangalore or Mumbai attract business tourism thanks to
economic activity underway there and thus the spillover would be some
sightseeing across nearby places. In the 1960s and 1970s there was of course
considerable interest in Rishikesh driven by the growing Western interest in
spiritualism. There is of course some tourist attraction in Darjeeling or
Kashmir or Himachal Pradesh thanks to the mountains and the hill stations. Yet
while these are significant, still there is considerable potential for the
industry.
What India
misses perhaps is the exploitation of the Long Tail if one might call it in the
context of the tourism industry. While few tourist destinations would attract around
80% of the tourists predicating on the Pareto law, there exists a significant
tourist attraction that can cater to the niches. This is exactly what India
needs to explore. This could be its festivals for instance. The celebration of
Diwali in Ayodhya or Dev Deepawali in Varanasi, the Kumbh Melas across the four
centres or the Holi at Vrindavan or the Puja pandals of Bengal or Garba nights
of Gujarat or the Ganesh mandaps of Maharashtra and Northern part of Karnataka
or the Pongal celebrations in Tamil Nadu or the Dushera of Mysore or
Chattisgarh or the Bihu of Assam or the Baisakhi of Punjab, India offers a huge
potential for tourists to enjoy. This might not be appealing to the purists who
might feel the loss of religion in the process of secularising festivals but
some trade-offs are inevitable if one has to draw attention to the Hindu
culture and religion among the tourists beyond the spiritual offerings that
attracted the tourist to Rishikesh once upon a time.
If this is not
sufficient there are enough folk games and sports that keep happening from
Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu or Kambala in Karnataka to folk lore in Punjab or
Assam. There are numerous cultural festivals that keep happening from Hampi
Utsav to their corresponding ones across other parts of the country. The temples
of Khajuraho or Konark would be great as would be the caves of Ajanta or
Ellora. In fact, Taj Mahal achieves its fame for its ability to market itself than
anything to do with the monument itself. There numerous beaches away from Goa
or Kerala with a long tail of hill stations in itself ranging from Madikeri to
Panchmari. India is of course a very vast country with each region have its own
unique sets of heterogenous celebrations. While the Incredible India was some
kind of mother brand, there would have to be numerous subsets of child brands.
Each state or perhaps each region in a state would have to brand itself and
seek to position as a destination for some occasion or the other. Each tourist
would come in a certain season and these seasons would differ for each
individual. The positioning would have to be for those tourists coming in that
season. There would be very few spots which might attract all season tourists
but what would be of interest to create occasions which would attract tourists
for the specific season. The long tail of tourism would bring about significant
revenues in cumulative terms .it would not be an instance wherein the golden
triangle would lose its patronage. What would happen is its share in total tourism
revenue directly or indirectly would reduce and cede space to others. This is
what should be the future for Indian tourism industry.
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