Evaluation of Tourism Marketing in Indian Environment

EVALUATION OF TOURISM MARKETING IN INDIAN ENVIRONMENT

Dr.S.Yuvaraj

Lecturer in Commerce

University of Madras

The marketing principles facilitate a breakthrough in the tourist system. It helps the tourist organizations in establishing an effective communication system with actual and potential tourists. This makes it easier to know the likes and dislikes or the taste and preferences which make the possible conditioning of the supply position in tune with the changing demand position.

It was in the early 1950s that the Government of India decided to promote tourism but it had no clear objectives in terms of marketing. However, the development took place since in most of the European countries, the tourist dollar earned from the Americans helped in re-building their war-torn economies. At the early stage, the image problem was at peak which obstructed the normal flow of development. It is important to quote that in the entire western world, India had the image of an exotic country. The English projected this image just for their own benefits, conveniences and comforts. The projection of a new image could be possible after the end of the decade 1950s. For the projection of a new image, a good number of overseas offices were opened in some selected countries like USA, UK, West Germany, France and Australia. Essentially, the overseas offices were meant just for transmitting information.

The first task in this context was to project a new image and the overseas tourist offices with the co-operation of local experts acted in the direction of innovating the promotional strategies. The image of India was projected as a land of Himalayas, the Ajanta-Ellora, the Taj Mahal, the Mahabalipuram etc. Here, it is important to mention that during this period, the cultural tourism relating to monuments and Indian civilization attracted the world tourism, specially from the western world.

The beginning of the decade 1970s, opened new avenues for the development of marketing concept in the tourism industry. But by that time, the magnitude of competition was found at peak. Moreover the tourist organizations could not project image of India as a holiday country. It was in 1970 that the capacity of Indian Airlines was increased since Boeing 737s were included in the Indian Airlines and some world class hotels were opened. The sophistication in the communication facilities could also be found by mid of the decade 1970s. Thus, it is right to mention that during 1970s, a number of steps were taken to project a new image of India but so far as the intra-regional movements of tourists is concerned, there could not be some impressive developments.