The 'Incredible India' Campaign: Marketing India to the World

Others felt that it would have been better to build the necessary tourism infrastructure before launching the marketing campaign, especially as, according to them, much of this infrastructure was on the verge of falling apart. Still others were of the view that India was not on the itinerary of millions of tourists not so much because the country was unable to market itself, but more because of poor connectivity, exorbitant taxes, visa problems, unsanitary conditions, and shortage of affordable, good quality accommodation. Some of them even argued that the future of the Indian tourism industry depended more on solving the infrastructure problems rather than on an extravagant communication campaign.

A country like France, six times smaller than India, attracted around 20 times the number of tourists that India managed to draw (Refer Exhibit II for the world's top ten tourist destinations). That this was the case in spite of France not being able to offer the sheer variety in terms of geography, cuisine, culture, and experiences that India could, was perhaps an indication of the extent to which previous governmental efforts to promote tourism had been unsuccessful. However, in 2002, the tourism ministry made a conscious effort to bring in more professionalism in its attempts to promote tourism. It formulated an integrated communication strategy with the aim of promoting India as a destination of choice for the discerning traveler.