We are aware that the phenomenon of social media has created unlikely stars out of regular people, but it has also catapulted state heads to fame. Russia’s Vladimir Putin, for example, or the growing popularity of Donald Trump in recent times, thanks to social media. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi too has ‘broken the internet’ a few times during this decade-long tenure, but the recent row with the Maldives takes the cake. Could you have imagined some ten years ago that the Indian PM’s stroll along the pristine beaches of Lakshadweep or a dive into the Arabian Sea to offer prayers in the submerged Dwarka region, would be so widely celebrated on social media? Yes, in many ways, the top influencer of the country is advertising himself, but more importantly, what is also being advertised is the sandy beaches, avenues for water sports, and other alluring attractions of the islands.
Domestic tourism, which was swiftly gliding on the backs of the growth of spiritual tourism and weekend escapades, saw new vitality when several brands started placing their marketing might around the Prime Minister’s Lakshadweep visit after a feud erupted between India and Maldives. From Ease My Trip suspending all travel bookings to the Maldives with a print ad to Make My Trip flagging off their ‘Beaches of India’ campaign in promotion of Lakshadweep, most of the brands have started showcasing their nationalistic side. And oh, there have been results.
Love for Lakshadweep
Talking about the impact of PM Modi’s visit to Lakshadweep, Avinash Janjire, Vice President, Marketing Head, Thomas Cook remarks, “With the PM’s visit to Lakshadweep, we have witnessed an uptick in our searches for both domestic islands and beach destinations. Our search data for Lakshadweep indicates a significant jump of 10x compared to what was recorded in December.”
Janjire highlights that this has also led to an increased demand for other beach destinations in India and diversion of some of the Lakshadweep queries to other beaches due to capacity and connectivity constraints. “An unlikely benefactor of this trend is also a large cruise liner, which sails to Lakshadweep for a day. The product has witnessed a significant uptick and continues to ride the momentum,” he adds.
To keep up with this movement, various brands are upping their presence in the islands, and have launched promotions. From Swiggy expanding its services to Lakshadweep to the Tata Group preparing to open two resorts on the island, everyone wants to get in on the action before the travel boom to the destination begins.
As per the Digital Advertising Report 2024 by Dentsu and E4M, last year, tourism ad spends recorded a growth of 73.4% over 2022, and with the growth of domestic travel, the spends are expected to accelerate further. It’s evident that domestic tourism is skyrocketing, but experts claim that its growth has no linkage with international tourism, which is also seeing stable growth. A Booking.com and McKinsey study reveals that Indian travellers took 1.7 billion leisure trips in 2022, but only about 1% of them travelled abroad. The same study envisages that the trend will remain unchanged until 2030.
Looking into the marketing spends of his brand, Kunal Dubey, Chief Marketing Officer, ClearTrip says, “While domestic tourism forms the bulk of our demand, international tourism remains about a fifth of all domestic travellers in India. I will say that we are in line from a marketing spends perspective, and around 75% of our ad spends are designated to initiatives around domestic tourism.” He further adds that the number of domestic travellers will increase multi-fold from the previous year, and a big reason for this would be the flattish fares for the domestic market.
It’s also being said that factors like rising fares, the introduction of new taxes, long procedures, and difficulties in availing certain visas come in the way of international tourism. Moreover, considering the overall economic condition of our country, international tourism remains a distant dream for many.
Addressing his top priority, Dhruv Shringi, CEO and Whole-Time Director, Yatra Online Limited shares, “We foresee that 2024 will be a year where unexplored domestic destinations will gain prominence. Our major focus lies on promoting domestic tourism in India and hence, the majority of our budgets are being dedicated to supporting the same.”
Not very long ago, travel was a precious once-a-year affair. It has now become an extension of people’s personalities, with some placing its importance on par with necessities like food. Industry professionals observe that what makes international travel even more onerous is the long duration of stay. In comparison, it’s easier to spare a weekend for a trip to a nearby destination, thus, the seasonality associated with travel is disappearing.
Talking about the changing trends, Asif Riaz, Vice President, Marketing Head, SOTC Travel remarks, “Travel is no longer restricted to a particular season or 1-2 holidays in a year. Indians are now taking multiple short trips coupled with 1-2 long holidays every year. Thus, our domestic marketing spends are skewed towards digital mediums targeting varied audiences with a special focus on short breaks, week-long trips and spiritual journeys. Compared to last year, our domestic marketing spends have increased by three times owing to the strong demand for Indian holidays.”
According to data released by the Ministry of Tourism, pilgrimage tourism earned over INR 1.3 lakh crore in 2022, as compared to INR 65,070 crore in 2021. With the consecration of Ram Temple in Ayodhya, it is being claimed that moving forward, the focus will extend to other pilgrimage locations like Kashi and Mathura. Certain other factors are also causing this upshift.
Sharing her insights, Travel Influencer Archana Singh, who is famously known as TravelSeeWrite, voices, “While pilgrimage tourism is a major factor behind the growth of domestic tourism, there are other segments like adventure tourism and culinary tourism that have fast-forwarded the growth trajectory.”
The Ayodhya Factor
The Ram Temple was inaugurated on January 22, which led to a surge in demand for destination Ayodhya. Experts find that customers are displaying high interest in exploring these locales associated with the life of Lord Ram, and this heightened interest is observed across diverse customer segments, reflecting a shift in travel preferences.
Therefore, brands across sectors and sizes came forward to join the Ram Mandir celebrations, dedicating a significant chunk of their ad spends to the initiative. As travel grows, brands too are joining the bandwagon, aiming for destinations where footfalls have increased. Parle is one such brand that centres its marketing strategies around places of high interest, including pilgrimage destinations like Ayodhya. The FMCG giant, besides holding several on-ground activities in Ayodhya, increased its supplies across the length and breadth of the city.
Talking about it, Krisharao Buddha, Senior Category Head-Marketing, Parle Products says, “A majority of our spends goes into television. But the spends that we keep for on-ground initiatives, places of high interest, are almost as much as 30% of these spends.” Further, addressing the results that Parle has achieved because of these initiatives, Buddha shares, “We are extremely delighted with our results. In terms of regular retail sales, there has been an increase of about 25-30% in the Ayodhya sales in January.
Reliance Industries actively participated in the revelry around the temple’s inauguration, with Jio introducing new upgrades and features, and Jio TV and News telecasting the event with real-time updates and analysis. Additionally, the company engaged in on-ground activities and promotions and even formed kiosks.
To ensure that devotees savour every element around the Pran Pratishta of the Ram Mandir online, ShareChat came up with a campaign called #AyodhyaKiTicket. Commenting on the app viewership during the inauguration, Gaurav Jain, Chief Business Officer, ShareChat and Moj says, “On the day of the inauguration, we saw participation from 14 million ShareChat users and recorded over 50 million shares on ShareChat and Moj, 1.5 million user-generated content and over 4 billion views. The ceremony was streamed live with 376K Moj Live sessions attended by 3.3 million users.”
Notably, the newly built Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya with complete road infrastructure, airport, and multiple options in railways and roadways is offering possibilities for advertising and distribution. It became the high point for brands and advertisers during its opening month and has a promising future.
While travel brands like ClearTrip and Yatra launched offers on Ayodhya packages, international giant Thomas Cook is offering personalised-premium tours to Ayodhya. Many travel brands also recorded a huge spike in searches and demand for pilgrimage trips, and this phenomenon is not just limited to Ayodhya. Asif Riaz reckons, “SOTC’s range of spiritual journeys, including temple visits and darshans, have witnessed a 90-100% month-on-month growth with a corresponding increase in our forward bookings.”
Experts are pointing to the fact that the renovation of Kashi Vishwanath Dham in Varanasi saw a rising footfall, attracting at least around 70 million visitors in 2022, which was a dramatic increase from roughly 8 million who visited in the preceding year.
Speaking about his efforts around pilgrimage tourism, Rajiv Dubey, Senior General Manager and Media Head, Dabur India Ltd. notes “For Dabur, all points of the congregation offer possibilities for promotion and distribution. We identified Varanasi, Chitrakoot, Amritsar, Ujjain and Katra in 2022, and started with the branding of boats, wall paintings, and OOH media, among others. For Ayodhya too, we have ensured that we have a strong presence of our products in retail stores and we keep people updated through out-of-home media and several ground activation initiatives.”
Even the state tourism bodies have taken several steps to support pilgrimage tourism. Whether it’s strategy changes or infrastructure growth, the tourism boards are trying different ways to support domestic tourism. Department of Tourism, Government of UP, shares, “Our approach encompasses digital outreach, partnerships, cultural exchanges, targeted promotions, branding at key points, infrastructure development, and media engagement. These strategies collectively aim to position UP as a premier international travel destination with a particular emphasis on its unique spiritual and cultural offerings.”
State Tourism Boards Make Their Move
Brands are not the only ones who are increasing their ad spends, as state tourism boards are doing the same. Dr. B.N. Patil, Director, Directorate of Tourism, Government of Maharashtra says, “Our spends designated for publicity and advertising have jumped from around 6cr in 2019-2020 to over 50cr in 2022-2023. We have shifted our focus towards a diverse range of advertising channels including newspapers, magazines, and television.”
To ensure that its message reaches the largest number of people possible, and that too in unique ways, state tourism boards are actively indulging in brand collaborations, organising events and changing the way they showcase their offerings. Last year, Mastercard revamped the ‘Priceless India’ programme in partnership with Invest India and under the guidance of the Ministry of Tourism, aiming to deliver meticulously curated experiences spanning travel, gastronomy, and wellness, among other passion points, showcasing India’s cultural richness.
Throwing light on some of their partnerships, Julie Nestor, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Asia Pacific, Mastercard says, “Deep diving into India’s rich cultural heritage, Mastercard delivers specially curated experiences to its cardholders covering the country’s rich history, cuisine, wellness, and more. In line with the government’s vision of tourism contributing USD 1 trillion to India’s GDP by 2047, Mastercard launched its Priceless India programme last year under the guidance of the Union Ministry of Tourism.”
Field experts believe that the state tourism boards are attempting to take a multi-faceted approach that maximises visibility and engagement across various platforms, ensuring a well-rounded and impactful presence in the tourism promotion arena.
Mentioning some interesting ideas in the pipeline, the Department of Tourism, Government of UP commented, “We are excited about our recent and upcoming marketing initiatives that aim to captivate audiences and showcase the unique aspects of our destination. While specific details are often unveiled closer to launch, we can hint at immersive virtual experiences, innovative storytelling through various mediums, and collaborations with renowned artists and influencers.”
As per a Statista report, the travel and tourism sector in India contributed around 5.9% to the total GDP of the country. This amounted to over 15,687 billion Indian rupees. Similarly, the Maharashtra Tourism Board highlights that tourism and related industries consistently contribute significantly to the state’s economy, supporting livelihoods and fostering growth in both urban and rural areas.
Official sources from the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Board maintain that along with commercials, the board also actively uses social media platforms and paid campaigns for promotions. The sources add that the board also forms partnerships with prominent newspapers, magazines, yearbooks, and coffee table books throughout the year, as part of its marketing strategy.
Normal campaigns vs Tourism campaigns
While the underlying goal of any campaign is to create awareness and appeal for the offering, there are ostensibly some changes in the procedures and strategies that go behind it.
Talking about agency-state board partnerships, Dr. B.N. Patil elucidates, “The process begins with identifying agencies that align with our objectives and have a proven track record in tourism marketing and promotion. Once selected, we thoroughly discuss project goals, target demographics, and desired outcomes. Through close collaborations, we develop strategic plans and creative concepts that leverage the agency’s expertise and resources to communicate Maharashtra’s unique tourism offerings effectively.”
Ogilvy is one definite name that comes to our minds when we think about state tourism campaigns. Be it the famous campaigns for Gujarat, or the recent one for Madhya Pradesh, the agency has seen evolution within the field.
Anurag Agnihotri, Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Mumbai, who has worked on campaigns for Madhya Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Daman and Diu, shares, “For state tourism campaigns, we are selling a different product, but the process is the same. You want tourists to visit your state and attract businesses. Depending on the objective, you talk about the features, which can be about the uniqueness of the places to visit or how the government is facilitating entrepreneurship.”
Experts observe that while there are ample similarities between the general and tourism campaigns, the brands in their commercials promote a product or a service with or without being tied to a specific geographical location, but travel campaigns have everything to do with that place.
Along similar lines, Vibha Singh, Director - APAC, ETML says, “State tourism campaigns and general campaigns differ primarily in their focus and objectives. State tourism campaigns are specifically designed to promote and attract visitors to a particular region or state, showcasing the unique attractions, culture, heritage, and experiences that the state has to offer. On the other hand, general campaigns may have broader objectives and target a wider audience. Their communications would focus on bringing sales or revenue directly rather than promoting culture or tourism.”
Previously, Television and Print were the two main pillars used for state tourism-related marketing initiatives. However, as per industry professionals, Digital and its branches are also seeing heavy adoption in this space. But regardless of the medium, the prime goal remains to be creative.
Sumanto Chattopadhyay, Former Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, 82.5 Communications, Ogilvy Group who has been associated with several tourism campaigns, while talking about his successful tourism campaigns, remarks, “For state tourism in any advertising pitch, the slogan that you come up with is very important. When I worked on the Bengal tourism pitch, we came up with the slogan– ‘Bengal, The sweetest part of India.’ It was that slogan that won us the business at that time.” Chattopadhyay also mentions that even state tourism boards are looking at Digital because of its cost-effectiveness and reach.
Role of Influencers
According to a Statista report, the influencer marketing industry is all set to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 25% over the next five years. By 2026, the report predicts that the industry’s market value will amount to 28 billion INR. At such a time, the role of influencers in the travel segment is unparalleled.
Industry professionals find that earlier people used to travel in groups, but the emergence of Air BnBs and the spontaneity-filled younger generation has helped turn the wheels in favour of solo trips or trips involving a handful of people at random times. People are travelling to unique corners and documenting their trip, not only inspiring others but also showing them what can be done at such places. Naturally, this is raising curiosity among Indian travellers, nudging them to explore domestic destinations.
Delving deeper into the rising role of influencers, Jagdish Acharya, Founder, Cut The Crap states, “Media shared on social media of places visited would be the most powerful tourism campaign today, as it is segmented and targeted. Influencers are very important in terms of micro marketing today. Influencer marketing is helping promote particular areas of interest to a small group of people but in an effective manner.”
UP Tourism board informs us that collaborations with reputable celebrities and influencers are carefully curated to align with the essence and values of their destination. As per the board, these partnerships serve as powerful conduits to connect with diverse audiences and leverage the influence and credibility associated with the respective collaborators.
Sharing her insights, Archana Singh, voices, “Earlier people used to refer to brochures and journals to know about places, but now, people have started saving reels of travel influencers. Influencers are helping people plan trips to offbeat places and also suggesting the dos and don’ts of that place.”
Brands Speak
“While domestic tourism forms the bulk of our demand, international tourism still remains about a fifth of all domestic travellers in India. I will say that we are in line from a marketing spends perspective, and around 75% of our ad spends are designated to initiatives around domestic tourism.”
Kunal Dubey
Chief Marketing Officer, ClearTrip
“At Yatra, we foresee that 2024 will be a year where unexplored domestic destinations will gain prominence. Our major focus lies on promoting domestic tourism in India and hence, the majority of our budgets are being dedicated to supporting the same.”
Dhruv Shringi
CEO and Whole-Time Director, Yatra Online Limited
“Travel is no longer restricted to a particular season or 1-2 holidays in a year. Indians are now taking multiple shorter trips coupled with 1-2 long holidays every year. Compared to last year, our domestic marketing spends have increased by 3x owing to the strong demand for Indian holidays”
Asif Riaz
Vice President, Marketing Head, SOTC Travel
“We are extremely delighted with the kind of results that we received. In terms of regular retail sales, there has been an increase of about 25 to 30% in the Ayodhya sales in January.”
Krisharao Buddha
Senior Category Head- Marketing, Parle Products
“On the day of the Ram Mandir event, we saw participation from 14 million ShareChat users and recorded over 50 million shares on ShareChat and Moj, 1.5 million user-generated content and over 4 billion views. The ceremony was streamed live with 376K Moj Live sessions attended by 3.3 million users.”
Gaurav Jain
Chief Business Officer, ShareChat and Moj
“For Dabur, all points of the congregation offer possibilities for promotion and distribution. We identified Varanasi, Chitrakoot, Amritsar, Ujjain, Katra in 2022, and started with branding of boats, wall paintings, OOH media etc.”
Rajiv Dubey
Senior General Manager and Media Head, Dabur India Limited
“With the Prime Minister’s visit to Lakshadweep, we have witnessed an uptick in our searches for both domestic islands and beach destinations. Our search data for Lakshadweep indicates a significant jump of 10x compared to December.”
Avinash Janjire
Vice President, Marketing Head, Thomas Cook
“Deep diving into India’s rich cultural heritage, Mastercard delivers specially curated experiences to its cardholders covering the country’s rich history, cuisine, wellness, and more. In line with the government’s vision of tourism contributing USD 1 trillion to India’s GDP by 2047, Mastercard launched its ‘Priceless India’ programme last year under the guidance of the Union Ministry of Tourism.”
Julie Nestor
Executive VP, Marketing and Communications, Asia Pacific, Mastercard
Agency Speak
“For state tourism campaigns, we are selling a different product, but the process is the same. You want tourists to visit your state and attract business. Depending on the objective, you talk about the features, which can be about the uniqueness of the places to visit, or something like how the government is facilitating entrepreneurship.”
Anurag Agnihotri
Chief Creative Officer, Ogilvy Mumbai
“When brands grow bigger, they make sub brands; there are classifications and segmentations, and these strategies help grow the brand. The same has to be applied to domestic tourism.”
Jagdish Acharya
Founder, Cut The Crap
“General campaigns may have broader objectives and target a wider audience. Additionally, their communications majorly focus on bringing sales or revenue directly rather than focussing on promoting culture or tourism.”
Vibha Singh
Director - APAC, ETML
“In our experience, post-COVID, the government is focusing more on press releases than on campaigns. And the information available on the internet is fragmented, making it difficult to quantify the reach.”
Sneha Iype
Founder Partner and Executive Producer, Nirvana Films
“It’ll be interesting to see how travel brands continue to build on these campaigns in the future, whether they are looking for spikes around current events, or adding character over time that supercharges their brand growth.”
Prashant Gopalakrishnan
Founding Partner & Business Strategy Lead, Talented
What more is required?
While the growth trajectory of domestic travel is on the rise, nonetheless, it is also being said that there is still scope for improvements in terms of content and strategy. Sneha Iype, Founder Partner and Executive Producer, Nirvana Films states, “In our experience, post-COVID, the government began focusing more on press releases than on campaigns. And the information available on the internet is fragmented, making it difficult to quantify the reach.”
Experts are claiming that state tourism boards should focus on a particular area of interest, rather than coming up with generic communication around the whole state. Along similar lines, Jagdish Acharya says, “When brands grow bigger, they make sub-brands, there are classifications and segmentations, and these strategies help grow the brand. The same has to be applied to domestic tourism.”
As per a Statista report, the travel and tourism market in India is predicted to generate a revenue of US$23.72 billion in 2024. Domestic tourism is on the rise, and its growth is no longer a mission undertaken by just the government and its bodies.
Prashant Gopalakrishnan, Founding Partner & Business Strategy Lead, Talented says “It’ll be interesting to see how travel brands continue to build on these campaigns in the future, whether they are looking for spikes around current events, or adding character over time that supercharges their brand growth.”
