Promoting Tourism

Editorial:-
Tourism, like any other commercial product in the market, is as much about the hard-sell as it is about the quality of the product itself. There is little more that Sikkim can do to enhance the product that it has to offer in the tourism market. Apart from improving on the infrastructure and paring down on the paperwork involved in visiting the place, the State’s more than handsome natural endowments are enough to attract interest. We do after all sit on the most peaceful state in the country, can guarantee a view of the third highest Himalayan peak from just about every nook, have the tallest statue of Guru Rinpoche, a magnificent Buddha Park, a grand Char-Dhaam, an international border outpost open for visitors, the nation’s highest lake, a cold desert, wondrous trekking options etc. All that the State still needs is a consistent and coherent tourism policy and clear targets. It also needs to talk more about its potential and with it secure assistance for promotion. It needs to tie up the right packaging and exposure in the right places to pack in the dollars that everyone in the travel industry eyes.
Yes, the numbers suggest that tourist inflow has been increasing save the September 2011 hiccup. Yes, the crowds during “season” are impressive and business brisk, but the sector despite having more associations than it did a decade back, is still largely disorganized and uncoordinated. No one expects the tourism sector to be uniform and regimented, but the stakeholders need to synchronise their promotion of Sikkim as a tourist destination. Tourist arrivals to Sikkim might be multiplying handsomely when counted in percentage format, but in sheer numbers, the State is still dealing in slivers of what the nation’s other ‘destinations’ attract. This means that the kitty for promotional activities is that much tighter which requires that the budget is deployed well. This requires better collaboration and clearer planning. The policy makers and the stakeholders need to ask themselves how well have they promoted Sikkim as a destination. Nepal, with its troubles and infrastructural collapses, should have lost its prospective guests to Sikkim since the State offers itself as the obvious choice for tourists given the fact that it offers similar attractions here. The in-bound numbers do not suggest such a development. To secure these visitors, Sikkim needs to perhaps start publicity campaigns in Bangkok which is recognized as the gateway to the East. Most western tourists land in Bangkok and then plan their foray into the rest of southeast Asia. Timing a Sikkim info gala in Bangkok with the tourist arrivals there should reap more profits than what is spent on the exercise. Sikkim has been attending tourism and travel fairs across the country and abroad quite consistently, but it should now do more than just book a stall at these events. Stalls, even travel agencies can book, but when it comes to a State, it should invest more. The Department should host dinners for the big names from the travel industry at such events, book halls for audio-visual presentations on the State. In short, do everything that will impress Sikkim’s professionalism on the people who direct tourist traffic in the country and the world.
Tourist festivals are still held in Sikkim in confused fits and starts. If the Department is serious about making such festivals about tourist and developing them as attractive tourism events, it needs to start preparing well in advance. Last minute announcements, which are currently the norm, will not do because such events require a year’s promotion in the least and then positive word of mouth. Whenever, and that is always, the department waits till the last minute to finalise tourist fests, it, at best, manages to entertain the locals and the tourists who are already here. Tourist festivals should achieve more than that. They should attract people who decide on Sikkim after hearing about the event. What properly directed advance publicity also achieves is that it creates a buzz around a place, gives the impression that the place is “happening,” and that is an impression that every tourist destination wants to create. Why shouldn’t Sikkim?