UNSEEN UTTARAKHAND

a traveler’s delight By- Team Bech Ke Dikha

Srabana Chaudhuri

Praveen Bokil

KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research

Case Summary and Observations

Differenti-ation

Relevance Esteem Awareness0

5

10

15

20

Brand Asset Valuator(BAV) for tourism brands is India

Gujarat

Kerala

Uttarakhand

M.P

Brand Strength and stature

Uttarakhan

d Tourism

• Uttarakhand, the 7th most preferred destination in India, the only hilly state with least explored peaks and mountain ranges, full of scenic beauty

• Main attraction for tourists- pilgrimage circuit of the famous “Char Dham”,National parks like JIM Corbett National Park,44 ancient national monuments , adventure and health destination like Rishikesh

• 4 dhaam Yatra-starts from mid June to mid Oct, tourism strikingly low during rest of the year.• Tourism Revenue-80% from pilgrimage tourism,20% from tourism related to scenic beauty• Maximum Labor force available in Haridwar, minimum in Rudraprayag• Gender ratio-963 female per 1000 male• Population density-189 people per sq km having 69.45% living in rural areas.• Floods in 2013 has paralyzed the tourism industry which is expected to recover not before 3 years

from now• 2 main challenges for tourism at present-

• Dropping Tourism Revenue• Increasing unemployment(mostly seasonal)

Areas of Concern & Improveme

nt• Unemployment rises during non peak season ,hence the sector needs to

be diversified• Essential to purge away the notoriety from tourists to visit the state after

the calamity. • Marketing of Brand Uttarakhand• To increase the revenue from tourism, along with pilgrimage the state

needs to target other tourist segments as well.• Tourists looking for combination of two or more types,(like adventure

along-with pilgrimage)to be offered customized packages• Bringing economic growth and Earning foreign currency from new

avenues-dhabas, tea-stalls, restaurants, shops,, along the roadside• 8 worker per tourist is available. tourism considering the inflation rate of

10% & population growth, should grow by at least by 7% every year.

Current Perception about Brand Uttarakhand Tourism(Our Survey)

SWOT Analysis

Uttarakhand tourism

STRENGTHSWEAKNESS

OPPORTUNITIESTHREATS

Scenic beauty coupled with pleasant weather Bounded by the iconic Himalayan mountain range Variety of landscape-magnificent river network ,wild life

sanctuaries , established trekking routes Hospitable people One of the most widely known destinations for

pilgrimage tourism , in India and abroad Significant number of youth joining the labor force every

year Strongly linked to Hindu religion and culture Committed private sectors existing in hotel industry

Lack of proper infrastructural facilities-poor connectivity, insufficient quality accommodation

Seasonal unemployment and poor standard of living in most areas in the region

Lack of coordinated efforts by the state towards sustainable tourism –unplanned constructions

Uncontrolled and unaccounted flow of tourists every year during peak season

Lack of destination branding and marketing Improper spatial planning as well as human resource

planning Quality of workforce in terms of skillsets and training,

less engagement of women in labor force

Emergence of competitive tourist destinations in neighboring states and abroad with similar scenic beauty as Uttarakhand

Increasing dissatisfaction ,inconvenience among tourists-unmet necessities & expectation

Lack of tourism related information available Reluctance toward building infrastructural

facilities and marketing . Changing environment imposing a threat Continuous migration of local inhabitants into

neighboring states Degeneration of the state’s heritage and culture

Government and private sector spending to ensure seamless travel

Train the huge workforce to match tourist expectations Participating in international tourism events and

coordinating with foreign tour operator Exploring Leisure, Adventure and Eco-Tourism Offering customized tour packages at competitive

packages–appropriate mix of pilgrim, leisure, adventure and eco-tourism destinations

Community Based tourism-integrating rural communities into promotion and development of tourism

Developing self sustaining Model Villages through social entrepreneurship, lesser known destinations.

Segmentation and Targeting• Source of Revenue and Employment in Uttarakhand is the intangible service of Tourism.• Service Type- Leisure Tourism, Adventure Tourism, Pilgrimage Tourism, Eco-Tourism .• Proper marketing strategy for each of these types will eventually lead to better economic growth and

employment.

Segmentation

•Geographic-tourists from South, West, North , East region of India and abroad. Tourists from Tier I and Tier II cities as well as metros

•Demographic- •Age-35-50 years•Family Size-young married with children, older married •Income-Upper Middle income (2LPA-6lpa) higher income (6lpa above)

•Occupation-officers , executives , senior executives.•Psychographic-•Lifestyle & Personality-Outdoor Oriented, sports oriented, Outgoing , gregarious, travel loving

•Behavioral•Occasions-regular•Benefits-Quality , service, reasonably priced•User status-regular traveler, occasional ones•Attitude towards the service-enthusiastic, positive

Locations

•Lesser known upcoming locations-Munt Abott, Sitalkhet, Pangot•Hill stations such as Mussoouri, Nainital, Almora , Pithoragarh, Kausani

Targeted Services

•Activities like skiing, bungee jumping, adventure parks, sailing, boating, houseboat stay, water sports, rope way tours, mountain railways, luxury train journey round the year

Leisure Tourism Adventure Tourism

Segmentation

•Geographic-tourists from South, West, North , East region of India and abroad. Tourists from Tier I and Tier II cities as well as metros

•Demographic- •Age-15-30 years•Family Size-young unmarried, young married with children, single, kids•Income- Middle income (1.2-2lpa),upper middle income, higher income•Occupation-students ,businessmen, officers , executives

•Psychographic-•Lifestyle & Personality-Outdoor Oriented, sports oriented, Outgoing , gregarious, thrill and fun loving

•Behavioral•Occasions-regular, first time trips•Benefits-Quality , convenience , reasonably priced, thrill, living on the edge•User status-regular traveler, first time travelers•Attitude towards the service-enthusiastic, positive, adventurous

Locations

•Round the year trekking routes in Kumaun and Garhwal region-Chopta Tungnath trek ,Pindari glacier trek

•Short trek routes

Targeted Services

•Complete trek package starting from base camp including trainers (local inhabitants)to help new, first time hikers

•Contract with schools and colleges for complete adventure sports package for students such as Skiing workshops, river rafting camps, hiking

Segmentation and Targeting(Continued)Pilgrimage Tourism Eco Tourism

Segmentation

•Geographic-tourists from South, West, North , East region of India and NRI’s. Tourists from Tier I and Tier II cities as well as metros

•Demographic- •Age-35-50 years•Family Size-young married with children, older married•Income-Lower Middle Income, Upper Middle income (2LPA-6lpa) higher income (6lpa above)

•Occupation-officers , executives , senior executives, retired •Psychographic-•Lifestyle & Personality-Outdoor Oriented, spiritually motivated, religious

•Behavioral•Occasions-special festivals and events•Benefits-Quality , service, reasonably priced•User status-regular traveler, occasional ones•Attitude towards the service-enthusiastic, positive

Locations

•The 4 Dham Yatra•Hemkhund –pilgrimage center for Sikhs

Targeted Services

•Seamless Connectivity by Smooth Roads and Monorails services can be achieved

•Registered hotels, restaurants whose service and quality standards to be regularly monitored by Government Authorities

Segmentation

•Geographic-tourists from South, West, North , East region of India and abroad. Tourists from Tier I and Tier II cities as well as metros

•Demographic- •Age-20-50 years•Family Size-young married with children, older married ,single•Income-Upper Middle income (2LPA-6lpa) higher income (6lpa above) •Occupation-officers , executives , senior executives.

•Psychographic-•Lifestyle & Personality-Outdoor Oriented, sports oriented, Outgoing , gregarious, travel loving ,nature lovers, wildlife lovers

•Behavioral•Occasions-regular•Benefits-Quality ,service, reasonably priced•User status-regular traveler, occasional ones, first timers•Attitude towards the service-enthusiastic, positive

Locations

•National Parks and sanctuaries like Corbett tiger Reserve, Nandadevi Biosphere Reserve

Targeted Services

•Activities like bungee jumping, forest reserve tour, adventure parks, round the year ,more frequently during November to May

•Services like Forest Rest Houses, Guest House ,Tree houses to provide lodging•Delight for wild life photographers-Nature’s hamlets offering picturesque locations to be photographed

A Customized tour Package can be offered by tour operator or state tourism like:8 days ,2 person –approx. cost-30,000 per personMumbai to Uttarakhand via Delhi(by air)to Haridwar(by Train/Bus),Haridwar visit and then off to RishikeshRishikesh-river side camping, bungee jumping , river rafting , skiing.Rishikesh to Nainital followed by Nainital sightseeingReturn to Mumbai

Infrastructural initiatives•Initiatives by Government through public private partnership•All tourist locations to connected by reliable & robust transportation system•Mobile app to provide the real time information to tourists•Establishing well functioning call centers within the state where travelers can enquire n any tour related information 24*7.Local work force to be used for setting up and running these call centers.

•Tourism awareness program for immigration officers, taxi drivers and local people exploiting the higher literacy rate of 80%•Improve infrastructure to exploit the potential of scenic places in different districts•Initiate Ropeway projects that can generate revenue as well as employ the natives•Luxury train service can be initiated to lure upper class tourists from within as well as outside India

Market the less know-a complete holiday destination•Ropeway tours•Ropeway from Rambara to Kedarnath for convenience of pilgrims•Ropeway service right from base station to peak of the mountain to facilitate tourists to enjoy scenic beauty of the place, as well as attract sports enthusiasts for activities such as skiing, skydiving

•Redevelop hill stations and market as complete holiday destination for the whole family•Mountain railway to enjoy the beauty of nature, like Pilatus, Switzerland,Mountain Cycling rallies at national/international levels•Organize Melas, like Kumbha Melas; festivals like flower festival in the valley and branding for the same•Engage in contracts with tour operators from outside India ,mainly U.S since most foreign tourists come from U.S, North America

Safety of Tourists•Keeping a track of tourists, especially pilgrims using unique identity. Leverage Adhar card facility and use biometric checkpoints for accounting the number of tourists entering and exiting the state . Such setup can be established and run by using local labor force.

•Medical facility centers at every small location driven by paramedical staff in the ambit of nearby hospital. Social entrepreneur could take a lead to train paramedical staff to create employment.

Employment Generation•Develop supporting industry like handicrafts , which would be active in the non-peak season so as to sell products to tourists in peak season and also to export it within as well as outside India, for example Gahrwal is famous for Saris, could employ people to make saris in non-peak season. The region can become a hub for clothing industry by backward integration such as setting up textile mills by sourcing raw material from nearby states such as Haryana and Punjab

•Self help groups can be formed to motivate economically backward but capable of producing valuable products which can be sold to tourist or exported.

•Employment generation through infrastructural projects in non-peak season

Way Forward-Initiatives to be taken

Brand Building•Rebuilding the image by advertising through social network, hiring bloggers who will write about initiatives taken by government, about new destinations, safety as well as sharing tour experiences with public to attract more tourists

•Celebrity endorsement: Char dham yatra by a celebrity to purge away the threat among the potential pilgrims, endorsement by Sportsman for adventure tours in the similar lines of Incredible India campaign, Kerala’s God’s Own Country campaign

Marketing•Marketing eco tourism and leisure tourism for October to June•Offering complete travel package of combination of tours among leisure, pilgrimage, adventure and eco tourism to attract demographically different segments according to their needs.

Social entrepreneurship•Social entrepreneurship by sons of the soil can help developing “Model Village”-which may include renovating houses of localities to use them as home stay service for tourists . Home stays will ideally provide food along with lodging at premium price

•Yoga centers in Rishikesh can be used to train local unskilled workforce so that they can in turn set up Yoga centres near their home and earn their living. Engaging women in the workforce through these kind of service offerings will result in improvement of lifestyle of the entire household.

Brand Building & Conclusion

CONCLUSION• Segmenting the tourists according to their

demographic, geographic backgrounds, would help to target the right customers at the right time and in right way

• From the table, Rs. 60000 per capita per year is the income for available working population, which is dependent on tourism. The number of tourists should increase so as to keep tourism economy in shape.

• To keep this work forced employed in tourism industry, government must ensure the inflow of tourist to increase every year by around 10%

• Besides, diversified tourism is necessary to nullify seasonality factor

• The Government, through PPP should create new attractions and market the places in order to attract tourists

2012 2017 2022Total Tourists 30333288 39873832 51305152

Indian tourist 30206030 39706548.32 51089910.22

Foreign tourist 127258 167283.6823 215241.7843Labor force 3874703 4984229 6413144Tourist per labor 7.82854531 8 8

Spending per tourist

Indian tourist 758 1220.76658 1966.056785

Foreign tourist 798 1285.18698 2069.806483

Average days spend 10 10 10Revenue earned (Crore Rs.) 22997.72262 48687.418 100891.1735

Indian tourist 22896.17074 48472.42719 100445.6646

Foreign tourist 101.551884 214.9908104 445.5088406Earnings per worker (Rs) 59353.51077 97682.94756 157319.3639

THANK YOU

References

• http://www.questia.com/library/journal/1G1-337816393/tourism-practices-and-approaches-for-its-development

• http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/india-draws-tourists-with-deep-pockets-114021700042_1.html

• http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Peg-Uttarakhand-tourism-ind-rev-loss-at-Rs.120bn-PHDCCI/5716577174

• Interim Report Uttarakhand, by IL&FS Infrastructure