'Khushboo Gujarat Ki' lures Gujaratis more than anyone else

More than 70% tourists in Gujarat are originated from within the state itself

One of the most talked about tourism campaigns of recent times, “Khushboo Gujarat Ki”, seems to have lured Gujaratis themselves the most. Data shows that the share of tourists originating in Gujarat has remained consistently high at over 70 per cent of overall tourist footfalls in the state.

The campaign featuring actor Amitabh Bachchan went on air in 2010, and as such the tourist flow growth has increased. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of tourist flow during the five-year period between FY06 to FY11 was 13.11 per cent, while the CAGR of tourist flow during the last five years (FY11 to FY16) has been 14.1 per cent.

In fact, data from the Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Limited (GITCO) shows that the tourist flow has grown by over 258 per cent compared to 2005-06.

However, while the numbers grew from 17 million tourists in FY10 to 38.3 million tourists in FY16, a deeper look at the figures reveal that about 73.6 per cent of these tourist are actually people from Gujarat. For 2015-16, number of tourists who originated from within Gujarat were 28.1 million or about 73.6 per cent of the total footfall.

Other Indian states contributed 9.39 million tourists visiting Gujarat during FY16, with a share of 24.5 per cent of the overall tourist footfall. In fact, Gujarat does not feature in the top 10 Indian states, when it comes to attracting domestic tourists. In terms of domestic tourist visits (DTVs), the top spot in 2014 (the latest data available with Tourism Ministry) goes to Tamil Nadu.

Industry insiders claimed that the rank had moved up during 2011 and 2012, when it captured the ninth spot in attracting domestic tourists, and went a notch up to rank eighth in 2013. “The aggressive campaigning on television with a star like Bachchan asking tourists to visit Gujarat had hit a chord with tourists nationally. The improvement in ranks is a result of that. However, prohibition along with accompanied by lack of development of beach tourism, and lengthy travel between spots, eventually acted as a dampener as word of mouth publicity did not work in favour of Gujarat,” said a leading Ahmedabad-based tour operator, who did not wish to be named.

The share of tourists arriving from other states, however, has steadily increased. From 6 million in FY14 (or a 21 per cent share) to 7.4 million in FY15 (22.8 per cent share) to 9.39 million in FY16. In comparison, growth in NRI and foreign tourist arrivals have been relatively marginal. From a 0.7 per cent share in FY14, foreign tourists account for 0.8 per cent of all tourist footfall in Gujarat in FY16. NRI share has actually gone down marginally from a 1.2 per cent share in FY14 to 1.1 per cent in FY16.