Incredible India on an Online Overdrive

By Pratul Sharma

The Tourism ministry will launch an online media campaign to attract foreign tourists who have been shying away from coming to the country after the 26/ 11 terror attack.

The ministry decided to launch the campaign on country- specific web portals after the success of hosting video clips of Incredible India on popular website YouTube . The campaign will promote India as a safe destination.

The government, which has already announced 2009 as Visit India Year, believes the next year would be tough for the industry, which is feeling the heat after the terror attacks in Mumbai and the recession.

The move came after major players in the tourism industry asked the government to aggressively market Brand India abroad. Officials said the online campaign will be comprehensive, covering major portals and websites in the countries that register the maximum visits in India.

“ This year, the thrust has been on selecting region- specific portals. Some of the portals which will be featured in the current campaign are project India as a safe destination MSN , Yahoo, Google, orange. fr , t- online, libero.com, baidu.com, zuji.com, news. com. au, khaleejtimes.com, wallstreetjournal.com .

The campaign will stress on how large India is geographically and would highlight its varied products,” said an official.

The ministry currently has seven international media campaigns running in Europe, Americas and Asia Pacific.

Some of the important publications covered under the print media campaign include the Financial Times , Economist and Sunday Magazine in Australia; China Daily; News Week Asia, Nikki Business Magazine in Japan; Sunday Times in the UK; Le Monde in France; Geo Magazine in Germany; Travel & Leisure and Conde Nast Traveller in the US; and Proxima Viagem in Brazil.

Under the Visit India Year, foreign tourists would get free holiday packages for 2010 and 2011. The ministry is also working on special packages on rural India, eco- tourism, and adventure tourism.

Officials claimed the tourism offices overseas have also been advised to liaise with the media and travel trade in their respective regions and examine the possibility of organising familiarisation tours to Mumbai and other regions of the country.