Advertising India is the top priority for the new tourism minister Chiranjeevi. “My efforts would be to make tourism India’s main economic and political agenda taking all state governments, union territory administrations and stakeholders on board and establish India as round the year destination,” he has said. 

Launched at the recently concluded World Travel Market 2012 in London, the new campaign has been created by Ogilvy and Mather. The creative agency had launched the campaign for the first time. “The core message of Incredible India remains but the overall campaign has evolved,” says Piyush Pandey, executive chairman and national creative director, Ogilvy and Mather.

The tourism ministry this year has earmarked a fund of Rs 267 crore for promotional activities around ‘Incredible India’. The ministry is also likely to hire a private media planning company for devising its strategy for a print-online-television-radio campaign.

Travel industry however is not so impressed. While the campaign itself has been received well, travel and hospitality companies are more concerned with on-ground activity.

Tourism ministry is trying to come up with measures to improve infrastructure by supporting the development of tourism circuits, taking up the clean India campaign and investing in skill development of people employed in travel trade.

Government has been allocated Rs 1,210 crore for 2012-13 aside of the marketing spend for all other activities including infrastructure development. “We are hoping that next year more funds will be allocated for these activities. We are focusing on a holistic development of the tourism sector starting with the campaign,” a senior tourism ministry official told.