Karan Sehgal
Recently, a furore was created when a Facebook post complained that Goa was being marketed as a destination for cheap alcohol and casinos at Dubai Travel Mart. This has really disappointed tourism industry, which has been saying for a while that the government is not really handing over the marketing of tourism to professionals.
Most tourism stakeholders were of the opinion that marketing of tourism should be given to private companies, who excel at such tasks. Some of them were also against the idea of sending non-Goans to market the State in foreign countries. This is because Goa is a very different state than rest of the country and someone not from the State may or may not know much to market it.
Ernest Dias, chief operating officer, Sita Travels and TCI, said, “People who attend such travel marts should be professionals. We should not be sending government officers to such events. I think marketing of tourism should be done by a private party, who should be able to convert an agent into business.”
Francisco de Braganca, past president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), said, “The only way marketing of tourism can become professional is by handing it over to private stake holders and the Government restricting its role to supporting the organized and established local trade bodies and operators.”
Braganca further said that the government should not send government officers at all because they have no professional training in sales and marketing. Since government officers are still going for travel marts outside of India, it seems that the government does not realize that marketing of tourism is a niche job requiring expertise in the field.
It’s fine to say that tourism marketing should become professional, but, what does it really mean? Tour operators, who spend most part of their time in traveling to other countries, had an interesting take on it.
Sheikh Ismail, general manager, Concord Travels & Tours, said, “When the Tourism Department attends a travel mart, it should ensure that their public relations firm brings those agents to the stall, who are marketing India and Goa.”
Ismail continued, “If agents are not informed by the PR team that Goa’s stall is there, how will they get to know? You must also realize that there are several destinations at any travel mart. Agents can always go to other destinations, if they are not informed about Goa properly.”
The competition at such travel marts is cut-throat, wherein one destination tries to take the business of other destinations away. The time often is limited. By merely having a stall wouldn’t help. It is necessary that PR teams know which agents to contact even before going to a travel mart. Otherwise, the whole exercise is futile.
Interestingly, most stakeholders complained that the Tourism Department does not take them along at travel marts. Until few years ago, the government used to take local hoteliers and tour operators when it would go to other countries, but, it seems it is no longer happening regularly.
Braganca further said, “Only once some years back two members of the trade recommended by the TTAG were part of the Goa Tourism delegation. But, they had paid 50% of the cost. The stakeholders are willing to be a part of government’s delegation at their own cost, provided the government makes basic arrangements at travel marts and makes these members part of its delegation.”
Clearly, the government will have to collaborate with tourism stakeholders at events like travel-marts, road-shows and etc. This is because such stakeholders have wealth of experience, which should be tapped to improve tourism in the State.
Savio Messias, president, TTAG, said, “The government must realize that it was tourism stakeholders and not bureaucrats, who brought the tourists from Britain, Scandinavian countries and many other places to Goa.”
Messias further said that frequent transfers of people working in the Tourism Department badly affects marketing. When officers move out of Tourism Department frequently, foreign agents don’t know who to talk to in the department.
“Frequent transfers of people in Tourism Department are a huge deterrent to marketing of tourism. Suppose: a government officer goes to a travel mart and meets an agent there. If, after coming back to Goa, the officer is transferred, then it would make no sense for the foreign agent to get in touch with him. Just for example: In the last 4 years, how many Tourism Directors have we had?” Messias added.
A lot needs to be done about marketing of Goa Tourism. As a start, stakeholders think that a dedicated team should be assigned the task of marketing. Only those who know about tourism marketing should be brought in for the job. And then, frequent collaboration between stakeholders and Tourism Department will go a long way in giving a professional approach to marketing.
