Tap Indian tourism for revenue, urge experts

Indian Tourism can surpass IT industry with right interventions,” said Professor Jagdish N Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing at the Goizueta Business School of Emory University.

He was speaking on the concluding day of an international conference “Changing Paradigms in Marketing of Services with special focus on Tourism and Hospitality” hosted by University of Hyderabad (UoH).

M. Gopala Krishna, Chairman, INTACH and IIPA, Telangana Branch; Prof Furqan Qamar, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities (AIU), New Delhi; Prof V Venkata Ramana, Conference Director; Sr Professor, School of Management Studies, UoH; Shakti Sagar, Former Managing Director, ADP & Strategic Management Adviser and Prof B Raja Shekhar, Dean, School of Management Studies, UoH were present.

Prof Sheth said, “The Tourism Industry in India is worth $120 bn and as per government projections is expected to touch $270 bn by 2020, but the true potential of the Industry is $500 bn by 2020 with the right interventions.”

“Only 8mn tourists came from abroad, we have enormous opportunity to look outside the country to scale up. States should come forward to give incentives to Tourism Industry on the lines they did for promotion of IT sector.

Though tourism began with religion and later for trade, tourism today is going to be specialised, like healthcare, educational etc.,” he said.

He cited examples of China, Singapore, Dubai and other cities that involved in city-based tourism awareness. “This should happen in Indian cities, too,” he opined.

Adding to this, Sagar spoke of utilising social media for the cause. “Social media has become so strong that communities are marketing for you, that's the power communities hold, today.

Companies which succeed are the ones which are creating user generated information. That's the paradigm shift happening currently. Digital is the way forward, you can't escape,” said Sagar.