Tourism dept to spend Rs 3 crore on hoardings in 11 Indian cities

Panaji: At a time when questions are being raised about the safety and quality of service provided to tourists, the tourism department is spending Rs 3 crore on a 45-day outdoor campaign across 11 Indian cities to attract domestic tourists.

Through the advertising campaign, the department is pitching the state as a year-round destination for weddings, corporate events, spiritual tourism, heritage, adventure and beaches, even as complaints about poor hospitality and tourist-unfriendly attitudes continue to dog the state’s image.

The department is eyeing Lucknow, Prayagraj, Patna, Thiruvananthapuram, Pune, Nashik, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat and Hyderabad as it targets high-population markets of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Telangana, which have growing middle classes and spending power.

The move to woo domestic tourists comes just as the state grapples with the violent attack on a group of men at Calangute, which left one man with head injuries. A tourist was also stabbed to death on Saturday because of a dispute over money.

Department officials said that given Gujarat’s large and affluent business community, a campaign in Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat could help bring in wedding and MICE segment tourists to Goa.

The campaign pitches Goa as a 365-day destination, a messaging strategy the department has attempted before with mixed results. The department is in the process of selecting an agency to execute the campaign, said a senior official of the department.

Whether outdoor hoardings alone can shift perceptions of a destination that has faced sustained criticism over taxi behaviour, beach shack licensing disputes, poor infrastructure and a perceived indifference to tourists remains an open question, said a hotelier from Arpora.