An organisation in many ways is like an army battalion. There is a leader, The General or CEO. There are commandants such Brigadiers and Captains or Managers, and there are the Soldiers, the troops or the mass of stakeholders. In our case the tourism industry, we have a Tourism Minister as a General, the Secretary of Tourism and his officers as the Commandants and they have us, the frontline tour operators, travel agents, guides and others as the troops.
No war can be won if the troops are not equipped with the right weapons. No battle is worth fighting if the troops are demoralised. No plan will work unless everyone is on the same page. At the recent IATO annual convention, I was on a panel on reviving tourism, and I made a few suggestions. Some maybe simplistic, but sometimes the solutions lies in simplicity.
8 suggestions for the Ministry of Tourism to consider
Number 1 – Be Authentic
The Ministry must recognize that the Indian inbound tourism industry has been severely damaged, and in many parts irreversibly. They should directly acknowledge to the troops what the reality is and listen to us express our pain. A key part of grief management is talking. Two-way communication & sharing. Barring a handful of association leaders, the industry has heard nothing nor has been given an opportunity to talk. Leadership is about being present. It is about engaging with your people. Call a town hall. Spend a day to start the healing process.
Cost – tea-coffee over one meeting in Ashok hotel where everyone is invited. Cost, Rs 1500 x 2000 pax. Time – Do this as soon as the pandemic allows.
Number 2 – Get smart
At least now create a cross sector Crisis Management task force. Bring together a group of stakeholders who have credible real-life experience to help strategize, create response documents and help guide everyone else when the chips are down. We sometimes act like a real banana-republic where we miss the most basic of things. The troops have no one to look up to. No direction, no common messaging, no wisdom. Everyone is running around with blinders.
Cost – Nothing. You simply need to ask 20 qualified industry stakeholders to volunteer their own time and effort. Time – this can be done in under 30 days.
Number 3 – Talk to those who can make a difference
Our association leaders are all my friends, and I have great affection & respect for them. But they no longer represent the true face of the troops. You have created a cult of ‘Yes Men/Women’ who filter what they are told, and filter back what they are given. A degree of censorship and secrecy has evolved leaving the troops suspicious, nervous, and divided. The Ministry needs engage stakeholders with serious business interests who drive actual numbers to and within India. Stop filling committees only with elected officials. Merit has to prevail.
Cost – Nothing. Time – immediate.
Number 4 – Stop flogging a dead horse
The Ministry needs to reset all their old systems and policies. Look at the world afresh. Pretend the Ministry is starting afresh. You most certainly would not start with the old ways of operating. Create a cutting edge competitive and merit-based environment. This is a unique Ministry as it promotes the soul of our nation. So, it should not operate on archaic larger practices of governance. Take an honest look at your schemes. Does even one of them work? MDA is defunct. Marketing support is never given. Promotion is old fashioned. Trade show participation is lacklustre. We cannot expect different results from doing the same thing again and again. Why can’t we go back to the drawing board?
Cost – time of re-writing the schemes and policies. Time – 6 months or less if we all work together.
Number 5 – Re-imagine
Retire ‘Incredible India’ and restart afresh. We desperately need a new brand. Incredible India no longer carries the charm or credibility it once had. The negative media coverage from India’s second wave tore off our veil and exposed us in ways we cannot accept. The world has changed. Let’s start afresh with something that captures the imagination. Using a two decade old set of cliches will not get us anywhere. We should have used the down time to come up with a new vision that is relevant to the new younger traveller.
Cost – issue a global tender to get the best minds to pitch for a revitalised brand identity. Set Rs. 25 crores as budget. We know the ministry can afford it. Time – 6 months
Number 6 – Be present
Dovetailing into the above few points, we need immediate reputation repair and management. We have become a pariah in many source markets, simply because we did not follow the basic tenants of crisis management and control the narrative. We let the media loose and we will pay for that. We need better, stronger, and consistent publication relations. Otherwise, everything we do will be burning money.
Cost – PR costs money. Probably we need a global company and set a budget of five million dollars of this right. Time – 6 months
Number 7 – Re-tool
The Target Audience has been changing over the years and the pandemic has accelerated that change. All our marketing tools are no longer relevant. We are very old fashioned and stuck to the same old vision of India which is boring and irrelevant. We need to recognise who our competition is, do a deep SWOT analysis, and go from there. We need new collateral, new videos, new images. We need to use new world communication like social media to capture the imagination of the consumer. Let’s match what social media demands and be energetic because we need to get eyeballs.
Cost – New images – Rs. 2 cr to send 10 budding photographers across India to shoot an exclusive photobank for the industry. Rs. 2 crore to get new collateral designed. Rs. 50 cr for social media activation. Time – Start ASAP and get this done in in 6 months.
Number 7 – Recognise who are the troops
Recognize that Indian tourism’s biggest and most faithful Sales Force is our Inbound Tour Operators and DMCs. This is a group of people who spend months of the year traveling around the world selling India. We are knocking on doors, pounding pavements, spending our own money in national interest. We are fighting, begging and convincing people to sell and promote India. You will not have a stronger sales team than this. And the government will never have the market penetration we do. Yet, we are a most ignored lot. A most unsupported lot. For the next 24 months do a few things.
- For the next 2 years give every MoT recognised inbound operator unrestricted air tickets to invite 4 international travel agents per year to India to experience the destination. At an average of Rs 80,000 per ticket (some will be cheaper, some more) x 4 per year x 800 recognized tour operators that is just about Rs. 25 crores a year, and the scheme falls with the passages scheme the ministry currently has. No event we will ever do in India can generate these number of buyers.
- For the next 24 months, none of us will have the marketing power we did as we have all run out of money. So, support all inbound agencies with a scaling support system. The current MDA scheme is unfair and penalises those who are more successful in selling India. Open it to all companies. Bigger companies are bigger because they have invested more. We all need some support, no matter how much it is. Look at this as an investment, not an expense.
- Create on a war footing a world-class online India Specialist training program and collateral tool kits (images, media, designs etc.) that we as inbound players can offer our partners. Outsource this in a global tender to get the best in class. Give us tools to excite our customers.
Cost – Rs. 8 crores
What is the cost of my suggestions? I know some thoughts are simplified, but none of unrealistic or illogical. I have been very generous with my estimates because I know much of this can be done cheaper if as private sector company has to do them for themselves. These are some things that the Ministry of Tourism can do itself. Sometimes the solutions are just in front of us. We just need to open our eyes & ears and listen. Think differently. Act differently. Be inclusive. Be ready to experiment. Be ready to take risks.
Happy to get feedback and thoughts on this issue. rajeevkohli@creative.travel
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