Eyes Wide Open: Tourism Travails

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Mainak Dhar offers a marketing plan to promote tourism in the ‘kidnapping capital’ of India.

One idle Sunday, I started thinking of what would happen if I opened my own consulting firm. A firm that promised to take on seemingly bizarre or impossible clients and cases McKinsey wouldn’t dare touch. Clients and cases that would really open anyone’s eyes to the shams, scams and shenanigans that are a part and parcel of our society. Here is another such case.

My mind wasn’t on work, as what I was really looking forward to was a well-deserved vacation to Singapore. My wife and I had been planning it for weeks and I was glad to get a break from the curious mélange of characters that usually made up my client list. However, as if to prove the point that things seldom work out as planned, I got a call from a new client just one week before we were meant to fly out for our ten-day break. The caller had been a Secretary in the State Government of one of India’s largest states, so I figured that my new assignment had something to do with the government. What precisely it would involve was something I was to find out the next day when I met my client at a hotel.

My client turned out to be no less than a Cabinet Minister in that State. As someone whose work has had little to do with the government, I had not met too many politicians, but he seemed to fit the description of the stereotypical politician. His sparse hair was oiled and slicked back, he wore thick rimmed glasses that must have last been in fashion before man reached the Moon, and he wore the de facto uniform of Indian politicians, khadi kurta and pyjamas. As I walked in, he offered me a paan, and when I refused, popped one into his mouth and began speaking.

I wasn’t sure how I could help him, and honestly was thinking more about my upcoming vacation. He must have sensed my impatience, as he got straight to the point.

‘Despite being one of the largest States, we barely get any tourists from abroad.’

He paused before continuing. ‘The new Chief Minister saab is very keen on modernising things and keeps asking me to get more tourists. I hired an ad agency and they took so much money for a new campaign but we had no better results.’

When I asked to see what the campaign was, he showed me a glitzy and very well produced multimedia campaign that showcased the history and cultural heritage of the State and beautiful natural vistas. The Minister told me that he wanted me to recommend a plan to boost foreign tourist inflows to his State. I was on the verge of refusing, saying that I was planning to go on vacation, when he said the magic words.

‘I would like to see how a tiny place like Singapore (he pronounced it more like Singapur) can get so many tourists, but our great State can’t.’

My wife wasn’t too happy about me mixing business and pleasure, but with my airfare and accommodation billable to my new client, it seemed a fair trade-off. The trip to Singapore was awesome, and after coming back, I spent a week in the Minister’s State, doing research on what ailed his tourism department. I met him at his party office in Delhi; armed with what I hoped would be a watertight recommendation.

‘So, Mr. Dhar, what do you have for me?’

He was chewing on paan again, and once again speaking and chewing at the same time. I faced the delicate balancing act of sitting close enough to be heard, but not close enough to catch any paan splatters that came my way when he spoke.

‘Mr. Lal, the first conclusion I have for you is that you do not need a new advertising campaign, so you certainly don’t need to engage a fancy advertising agency again.’

He look a bit miffed, perhaps caused by the recollection of the amount of money he must have paid his agency for the last campaign.

‘In fact, my conclusion is that there’s nothing wrong with the promotion campaigns you’ve tried, but in the product itself that you’re trying to market.’

‘You mean my State!’

‘No Sir. Not your State, but the experience that awaits tourists there. It’s a classic Marketing problem- a mismatch between the imagery and promises of the advertising and what the consumer actually experiences on trying the product or service. If there are major issues or problems, not only do you turn off those who have tried your product but also chances are that they also create bad word of mouth, which dissuades other potential consumers. That’s exactly the problem you have on your hands.’

When he asked what I meant, I told him that there were three basic problems he needed to solve if he really wanted to get more tourists to visit his State, especially as I benchmarked to success stories like Singapore. The first was of basic tourism facilities. There was a handful of Five Star hotels with exorbitant rates, and many shady small hotels, but little in between. Transport, sightseeing, foreign exchange and other conveniences critical for tourism were either disorganized or in the hands of a few operators of dubious credibility, leaving tourists at the mercy of touts. I asked the Minister to either police these more or open them up to private firms.

He seemed to be deep in thought and then shook his head slowly. When I asked him why not, he told me that licenses for those had been given to people close to his party, and he couldn’t afford to do anything against them. Seeing his shifty eyes, I guessed that the bidding process for these licenses must have involved substantial amounts of money coming the Minister’s way.

I told him the second issue was of basic law and order. His State was well known to be the ‘kidnapping capital’ of India, and safety was a huge concern for tourists, especially women. Far from helping, the police usually just turned a blind eye to these mafias. Once again, he shook his head quietly. This time, he explained without any prompting from my side, saying many of the supposed offenders were MLAs or MPs or their relatives, and so not much could be done.

I could see where this was headed, but lay out the third issue- that of infrastructure. Poorly maintained roads, crumbing historical monuments and old forts and palaces did not do much to attract tourists. To my shock, he told me that the State’s infrastructure budget had increased twenty per cent and was already overspent. I didn’t bother asking him where the money had gone.

He asked me for some other recommendation, since he did need to go back to the Chief Minister with a plan. Initially I was at my wit’s end, but as I thought about it, I realised that perhaps there was a solution for this unique client that might just work. So I spent a few days hammering out a plan and visited him after a couple of days. I don’t think he had really expected me to come back, since he seemed pleasantly surprised to see me back.

‘Mr. Lal, I think I have the perfect plan for you. Since we cannot change the product or experience we’re trying to market, the answer is to change the way we market it.’

He looked on eagerly as I continued. I told him that my proposal was to reposition tourism in his State as not something that hinged on discovering ancient culture or history, but something that fit better with the experience that awaited any foreign tourists who visited there. When he asked me what that was, I said it could be summed up in two words.

Adventure Tourism.

We would target thrill and adventure seekers, and position the State as an alternative to bungee jumping in New Zealand or a wildlife safari in Africa, instead of targeting families in search of peace and quiet. I had several ideas for him- an ‘urban safari’, where tourists would be taken around in an open jeep, and shown illegal arms factories, major kidnapping locations and in short, live the thrill of surviving in such an unique environment. The tourism fees would include a ‘surcharge’ that would be used to pay the mafias to ensure the tourist jeeps were not targeted. Another idea for attracting foreign tourists was to tie up with a TV show like Survivor, where people are put in exotic locations and compete to survive. He wouldn’t have to spend a paisa on improving infrastructure or improving law and order. If anything, we would celebrate and leverage their sorry state as our USP. His grin revealed paan stained teeth and told me that finally I had a plan that he liked.

The weeks passed, and one day I was pleasantly surprised to see a new campaign on TV that was very much like what I had recommended. Next week came the announcement that the latest season of Survivor was to be shot in the Minister’s state. I’m not sure whether tourist inflows increased, but certainly his state was getting much more international exposure than ever before. I’m guessing the Minister must have been pleased with the results, since he sent a big box of sweets to thank me.

I’m not sure he’s as happy now. Last night’s news headline was that the entire cast and crew of Survivor had been kidnapped.

Printable Version | published Nov 27, 2007

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