Tourism boards think of marketing beyond movies

Hong Kong Tourism chose a novel to highlight its diversity for young travellers because of their predilection for reading

Difficult times call for innovation and foreign tourism boards are doing just that. While India is high on the radar of the tourism boards as Indians are big spenders on their foreign trips, the recent rupee shock has put a dampener on holiday planning. These boards are now taking novel steps to woo the tourists, some literally.

In its latest marketing drive, Hong Kong Tourism commissioned the author Durjoy Datta to write a romantic novel set in the city. We had already seen the Hrithik Roshan-Katrina Kaif movie Zindagi Na Mile Dobaara highlight the different tourist spots of Spain. The Malaysian tourism board had earlier produced a music album featuring a Malay princess and the singer Kumar Sanu to promote its scenic locales.

"We hope this (novel) will draw some attention to the destination's diversity, particularly from young travellers in India. Seeing Indian's passion for books, we decided to go for an unusual way this year to attract more Indian visitors to Hong Kong. We are collaborating with Whistling Woods International Institute to create a short film based on the novel," says Cynthia Leung, general manager, corporate affairs, Hong Kong Tourism Board.

South Africa (SA) Tourism has involved the cricketing icon, its brand ambassador, Jonty Rhodes to promote new attractions in the Indian market. Popular for his super-quick reflexes on the field, Rhodes penned travel guides during his sight-seeing trips.

"While safaris have always been a part of tours in South Africa, we asked Jonty to explore some of the lesser known safari options such as a veterinary safari, centred around our animal conservation programmes," says Hanneli Slabber, country manager (India) of South Africa Tourism. She says that the guides have seen an increase in the number of repeat visitors to the country, and an increase in the length of their stay as well, with tourists adding more experiences to their wishlist.

The Mauritius Tourism Authority and Singapore Tourism Board have stepped up their marketing drives as bookings dwindled in the last two months. Michael Sik Yuen, tourism minister of Mauritius had said his department will roll out incentives for MICE (meetings, incentive, conference, events) tours and weddings. Yuen it might foot the bills for the dinner banquet or the fireworks at such weddings.

The Singapore Tourism Board will offer special tours, exclusive access to attractions and shopping vouchers.

Bollywood movies, of course, remain as sure-shot tools even to this day. "The biggest USP of a destination associating with a film is that it reaches to a wider audience," says Lubaina Sheerazi, country representative of Oman Tourism. It tied up with Once Upon A Time in Mumbai Dobaara which was partly filmed in the Gulf state. "Earlier, Oman was looked at by Indians only for its business prospects, but this perception has slowly changed. Oman is becoming popular with outbound tourists from India,"she adds.