| Coming in on a wing and a theme | | | / Business Standard October 30,2001 | | | |
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| Coming In On A Wing And A Theme | |
| / BUSINESS STANDARD Oct 30, 2001, 00:00 | | | | | |
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Theme destinations create and manage effective experiences from start to finish
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Efforts for tourism development in India have been founded on the belief that a visitor is a passive onlooker attracted by bizarre places and always ready to be packaged into tours and circuits.
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The truth is that today’s visitor is educated and demanding with little time to waste on less than optimal experiences. He thirsts for fresh engagements. In addition, the need for learning and personal growth drives him to explore places and cultures.
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Economic prosperity, advanced telecom connectivity, faster means of transport and a progressively cosmopolitan outlook are enabling these travellers to venture out more frequently, contributing to increase in travel demand.
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Worldwide, the tourism industry contributed more than Rs 1,26,000,00 crore to the world economy accounting for 12 per cent of the world GDP and almost 20 crore jobs in 1999. This contribution is expected to double over the first decade of the new millennium. However, the industry contributed only Rs 90,500 crore to India’s GDP (5.9 per cent) and supported 1.8 crore jobs accounting for 5.8 per cent of total employment.
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International tourist arrivals in India have shown indifferent growth in recent years. The duration of their stay and spend per trip has also remained at 5 days and Rs 60,000 per trip respectively.
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The reasons are not hard to find. There is a lack of destinations offering an integrated hassle-free experience. Poor infrastructure for travel and stay, poor customer service, inadequate promotion, lack of civic amenities and cumbersome procedures constantly harass tourists.
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The central and state governments have been apathetic towards the tourism sector. No new measure for the promotion of the industry has been included in the recent Budget and even the draft Tourism Policy has been on the anvil for about two years now.
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The private sector has also been myopic, concentrating on just garnering additional tax incentives. Recently, state government-industry interactions for promoting tourism were organised by the CII, PHDCCI and FICCI. These interactions were also used for seeking greater fiscal concessions, cheaper power and enhanced air connectivity. Tourism in India lacks a strategic vision for development.
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Looking for a possible solution, this article espouses a public-private initiative for tourism development focusing on the development of theme destinations and promoting experiences. It argues that sensitive treatment to visitors, flexibility to respond to the dynamic context and need to offer fresh engagements in addition to provision of adequate infrastructure are key to the successful development of tourism in the country. It underscores our stake in tourism development and highlights the role we can play in promoting tourism as citizens.
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Traditionally, places having some intrinsic attributes have attracted visitors. Overtime, these places have developed additional infrastructure to become major attractions. These attractions have then been packaged in a circuit to a traveller who has been expected to visit them for “sightseeing”. Agencies have tried to pack maximum number of attractions in such packages in limited time.
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A package thus tends to offer a whirlwind passive view of the place without engaging the visitor long enough. The visitor experiences a sense of deja vu about the place reducing the chances of a repeat visit. This model of tourism development thus fails to engage the visitor long enough resulting in lower revisits and little word-of-mouth publicity.
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Theme destinations are modelled differently. These are places — parts of a city, a city, a region or whole countries — developed consciously to offer unique experiences with engagements tied up in distinct themes. They attract more visitors, engage them for longer duration offering avenues for spending money and beckon them back in larger numbers.
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Theme destinations create and manage effective experiences from start to finish, customising these experiences and renewing them for generating everlasting memories. An example of such a destination is Las Vegas. Las Vegas does not just hold customers captive in the casinos; it offers huge entertainment complexes where one can shop, eat and drink.
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Gambling may still be the chief reason why people visit Las Vegas but they can gamble online if they choose. It’s about delivering the Las Vegas experience. Disneyland is another case in point. People at Disney understand what consumers expect to experience and they replicate it flawlessly on a daily basis.
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In India, efforts have been made to create a theme destination at the Special Tourism Area at Tirupathi, where meditation areas, leisure parks, rest facilities and gardens have been planned around the theme of Lord Venkateshwara. However, the plan lacks unity of development and creative planning of engagements.
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Creating a theme destination requires meticulous planning, sensitive execution and stakeholder participation. It requires the identification of a central theme unique to the place. All engagements are built around this theme. Different experiences are then woven into these engagements. These are then orchestrated in a premeditated and controlled manner.
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While the theme serves to create the brand for the destination, the engagements are continuously refreshed for retaining people’s interest, so that there are repeat visits. For instance, Hong Kong has adopted the theme “City of Life” and plans to build engagements around this theme — Ocean Park, Convention City, Madame Tussaud’s Museum, Ridley’s Museum, Disneyworld, and organises special cultural events to woo tourists. Tourism in Hong Kong is about selling fun, business and cultural experiences.
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A theme destination can only be fashioned by a team effort of several agencies — government bodies, industry associations, local tour/travel agencies, hotels/restaurants and the local community — coordinated and directed by a representative Area Development Authority.
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The government’s role in creating theme destinations would be to facilitate the development through enabling regulatory approvals and clearances and tying up with a nodal developer. The nodal developer would bring in innovation and creativity in addition to managerial efficiency and funds for the development. He would also tie up with other anchors for various engagements.
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The local community, though not directly involved in the management, also plays an important role in making experiences memorable. Today, we as citizens are not so sensitive to the needs of a tourist nor do we realise the benefits that accrue to us because of the development of tourism. Mass media campaigns in public interest can be organised for creating this awareness and sensitivity in addition to the formal training of tourism personnel.
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Hassle-free infrastructure in the form of transit facilities, boarding and lodging, comfortable transport, information (signage, kiosks and help-desks in addition to information on websites) is critical to creating memorable experiences. The development of adequate infrastructure for the Vaishnav Devi shrine has resulted in a spurt in tourism to the place.
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Creating theme destinations would appear to be a capital-intensive process. It is not. It just involves a creative presentation of existing resources and efficient resource allocation. A tourism promotion budget of Rs 6 crore was available for Rajasthan, Rs 45 crore for Andhra Pradesh and Rs 46 crore for Kerala last year.
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People are selling lifestyles: Home Store, Shopper’s Stop, Ralph Lauren create specific lifestyles for their customers. They are taking these experiences down to the personal level and marketing them to the individual. What needs to be sold is the experience not just the destination.
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