Incredible response to Incredible India campaign

The tourism sector witnessed substantial growth in the first half of 2007, with foreign tourist arrivals rising by 12.7 per cent and foreign exchange earnings (in dollar terms) reaching $9.16 billion in October, a growth of 17.72 per cent over the corresponding period in the previous year.

Foreign tourist arrivals during the year till October 2007 reached 3.89 million. The ministry of tourism attributes the growth to the positive image created by India through the successful advertising and branding campaign run by the ministry has led to the image of the country as a tourist destination as ''Incredible India''. Further, India was unanimously elected chairman of the executive council of the UNWTO (United Nations World Tourism Organisation) for the next one year.

The tourism ministry sanctioned 225 projects and utilised Rs460 crore in the current financial year to upgrade infrastructure facilities at important tourist destinations.  It is now focusing on destinations / circuits of national importance, identified as mega destinations / circuits and projects for Nalanda-Bodhgaya- Rajgir, Varanasi-Sarnath, Agra, Charminar (Hyderabad), Delhi, and Kurukshetra have already been sanctioned.

Increasing tourist inflows have also resulted in growing demand for hotel accommodation. Out of the total estimated requirement of 240,000 hotel rooms, the current availability is just 90,000 rooms leaving a requirement of 150,000 additional rooms to be provided. While meeting this demand is one of the major challenges facing the industry, it also offers opportunity to investors and entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry.

Media campaign and ''country marketing''
The international Incredible India campaign, run through leading print and electronic media showcasing India's rich and diverse heritage and tourist attractions was supported by companion campaigns in the global and domestic markets, which include:           

• International media campaign (2006-07 – phase II) was launched in January 2007 in major print and in-flight TV channels targeting European audience. The campaign was launched to coincide with World Economic Forum at Davos and the International Tourism Bourse 2007 (ITB-2007), where India participated as partner country.
  
• Focused print and TV campaign in the UK market from July to September 2007 to provide publicity for the 'India Now' events, an India-centric celebration organised by the mayor of London between July and September.
  
• Four major print and TV campaigns in the international markets, Asia Pacific Region, Europe and the Americas region and a global online campaign from October 2007.   
  
• A print media campaign was launched to coincide with the Singhe Khabab –Sindhu Darshan Festival organised at Ladakh during June 2007.
  
• Domestic media campaigns, Sare Jahan Se Achcha to celebrate 60 years of India's Independence and fourth Phase of  atithi devo bhavah through major   TV channels, print publications, FM radios  and cinema halls to cover the entire country.                  
• Branding India as an ideal destination for niche segments of wellness and medical tourism, adventure and youth tourism, business tourism as the partner country at the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) 2007, held in Berlin from the in March 2007.
  
• Incredible India@60, a mega event organised in New York in September 2007, to celebrate 60 years of India's independence and to coincide with the UN General Assembly Session.
  
• Ensuring a visible and effective presence for the country at the World Travel Market (WTM) 2007 held in London in November 2007 with participation of 20 state governments and union territories and 70 travel trade representatives as co-exhibitors in an India pavilion.

The effectiveness of ''country marketing'' through these and other global tourism events ensured that:

• India was named the winner of three top awards at the World Travel Awards 2007 - (a) the world's leading destination marketing campaign (b) Asia's leading destination and (c) Asia's leading tourism and convention destination.
  
• The prestigious Conde Nast traveller readers' travel awards for 2007 named India as the favorite country of the year
  
• The ministry of tourism won the PATA grand award for marketing for 2007
  
• TTG Asia Travel Group chose India as the destination of the year in the 18th TTG Travel Awards 2007.
  
• Presspace (French National Syndicate for Print Advertising) selected the Taj creative of the Incredible India international media campaign 2006-07 as the best foreign advertising creative in French newspapers.
  
• Incredible India TV Commercial received Das Goldene Stadttor-2007 award during ITB-2007 at Berlin, Germany

The tourism ministry has announced several initiatives to provide incentives for development of hotels in luxury as well as budget category: It introduced the 'Incredible India bed and breakfast scheme', which was launched all over the country to provide budget home stay facilities to tourists and augmenting incomes of urban middle class having surplus housing accommodation. 

The finance ministry has backed up the tourism ministry by announcing  a 5-year tax holiday under Section 80-ID (1) of the Income Tax Act for new budget hotels coming up between April 2007 to March 2010 in the national capital region.

Tourism being a multi-sectoral activity, with tremendous potential for income  and employment generation, the ministry of tourism has undertaken initiatives to remove the existing bottlenecks through inter-ministerial consultations. These efforts are aimed at bringing about the enabling regulatory and policy framework that can ensure that tourists get a world class experience.