Marketing strategy for Gujarat tourism

Abstract

The genesis of this study emerged from the repeated media reports and feedback from the tourism stakeholders in Gujarat state about the lack of marketing efforts by Gujarat Tourism over the years. Gujarat Tourism unlike other state tourism boards has quite often been criticized that it does little in terms of marketing itself. In many of the conferences/seminars held on Gujarat Tourism, experts/speakers have deliberated on this aspect on brand building of Gujarat Tourism. This aspect gains more relevance in the light of other states like Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh releasing their TV commercials all over the country. Gujarat being an industrialized state, tourism per se as an economic activity had taken a backseat. Although over the years the Government of Gujarat has tried to follow several marketing strategies for promoting Gujarat Tourism, there is a need to review the strategies, to get a clear view of the direction of the marketing strategy. In this context this research attempts to study what kind of marketing strategy should Gujarat adopt, which will contribute to increase in both domestic and international tourists to the State. . The study starts with outlining the history of tourism in Gujarat till the current date, analyzing the secondary data to evaluate the marketing strategy of Gujarat. There is a comparison with other leading states like Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in terms of their marketing efforts. Also international case studies of Malaysia and Canada have been studied to understand how they have been able to market their tourism. Feedback from the leading tourism stakeholders in Gujarat has been taken on their views and ideas about how Gujarat Tourism can market itself effectively. Based on their feedback, the findings have been enumerated in terms of two well known marketing models which look both at the consumer side and supplier side. Lastly recommendations have been given for the Government based on the above findings and secondary data. The recommendations recognizes that the brand Gujarat Tourism has not yet evolved and proposes a systematic time frame and action plans as how the brand building can take place systematically. Brand building is not a one day exercise but is a continuous process, which the Government may adopt