With Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving a clarion call to Indians to postpone non-essential foreign travel for a year, travel industry executives said this is a perfect opportunity to renew the 'Incredible India' marketing campaign and attract more overseas travellers that could help the country earn precious foreign exchange.
In an interview to PTI, travel booking aggregator ixigo's Group CEO Aloke Bajpai said until the West Asia crisis gets resolved, "there will be some impact on the international business for flights, for everyone".
He observed that the Prime Minister's austerity call was a huge opportunity because while Indians were going abroad and spending on international travel, the country was not getting enough foreign exchange from inbound tourism.
Bajpai called for a marketing drive to woo more overseas travellers to India, including efforts like a fresh push to the Incredible India campaign.
"Our marketing budgets are abysmally low right now, and I think at some point we have to amp that up to bring in more tourists, just like our Southeast Asian neighbours are doing," he said.
Echoing similar sentiments on boosting inbound tourism, Rajnish Kumar, Group Co-CEO, ixigo, shared, "I think there's a huge potential. I think we have done a lot. I think visas, visa processes become much easier with an e-visa".
ixigo on Wednesday launched the new AI-native version of its app and the revamped AI Travel Assistant chat-bot TARA at an event here.
"We believe the future of travel will be agent-led, with AI that can understand intent, take proactive actions and assist travellers seamlessly before, during, and after their trips," Kumar stated. PTI
