A critical appraisal of Tourism Promotion in Kerala –

A case study on God’s own country campaign

1.Background study:
‘Tourism is the sum totality of the relationship and phenomenon arising from travel and
stay of strangers, provided the stay does not imply the establishment of a permanent
residence and is not connected with a remunerated activity.’(Hunziker and Krapf)
“A traveler is active; he wanders and moves out strenuously in search of people, of
adventure, of experience” Batra K.L; problems and prospectus of Tourism; print well
publishers, Jaipur (1990) P.8.
Our veteran national leader and the first prime minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru had
said ‘welcome a tourist and send back a friend’. Amitkumar and PrashantTandon,
‘welcome a Tourist and send back a friend’, The Economic Times (28-9-1999) p.12.
“The world is becoming a global village in which people of different continents are made
to feel like neighbours. Modern transportation has removed the obstracles enabling
people to appreciate each other, engage in the exchange Of ideas and commerce.
Tourism can help overcome real prejudices and faster bonds. Tourism can be a real force
of world peace.’Sharma K.K; New Dimensions in Tourism and Hotel Management; Scrup
& Sons;New Delhi (1998) vol.III.P.4
Tourism is an activity that probably attracts little conscious thought beyond recollecting
the enjoyment of the last holiday, and deciding where to go for the next time. This
seemingly simple process is yet impacted by the behaviour and tourism development
efforts of national governments, tourism businesses and society at large. Tourism
industry, while being one of the largest, in the world, is also one of the fastest growing
industries. This trend is also expected to continue in the future as increasing number of
countries' seek tourism development for earning more foreign exchange, creating more
employment and accelerating the growth in their economies.

India's vast geographical diversity provides a wealth of outdoors adventure. all tastes
are catered for from the gentlest to the fast placed and there is something for every
level or competence the beginner and the expert. Not only does India have an immense
variety of outdoor thrills, but price here are extremely low by international
standards.The immense potential of the tourism sector to act as a catharsis of economic
and social development has been acknowledged in national and international forums.

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 A critical appraisal of Tourism Promotion in Kerala –
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Almost all the states in India have placed tourism on a priority platform, making efforts
to exploit the tourism resources and potential offered by the state.

‘A foreign tourist is a person visiting on a foreign passport and staying at least 24 hours
in India.’Bhatia A.K; International Tourism; Sterling Publishers Pvt.Ltd.NewDelhi (1991)
P.51.
The growth of tourism across the world has been spectacular – in the last 10
years, tourism industry recorded a growth of over 10%, accounting for 10% of the
world’s economic activity and is one of the main employment creating sectors. UNWTO is
predicting over 1500 million international arrivals by 2020, over double the present
level. UNEP and UNWTO have encouraged policy makers to adopt strategies, policies and
tools of sustainable development. In summary, these are about strengthening the
benefits through tourism while minimizing the costs. There is also the realization that
tourism can play a role in addressing poverty, by bringing sources of income closer to
some of the poorest communities. Governments have to play a leading role in the
process of sustainability – as the authority of regulation, the body responsible for public
assets and resources affected by tourism, and as policy makers. (Documentation of best
practices Adopted by the state governments for the development of tourism, November
2005)
“Tourism is being considered as an agent of social chance bridging gaps among nations,
regions and people and helping them to open up.It is a promoter of development-
material and spiritual both at macro and micro level” Vijay Kumar A; ‘New strategy of
India Tourism Industry Southern Economist Vol;37.No.10 (1-10-1998)
Kerala has recorded remarkable levels of growth in tourism arrivals in recent years.
Kerala recorded 6.5 million domestic tourists and 4.28 foreign tourists arrival in the year
2006, the average annual growth in domestic tourists is more than 18 % over the past
decade. The annual growth rate for foreign tourist arrivals is over 20%, and over 5%
for domestic tourists. Government has recognized the potential of tourism to provide
employment, to raise resources and to become a prominent economic sector in the
state’s economy. Improvement in infrastructure, better air connectivity and innovative
marketing has resulted in the boom in the tourism sector.

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 A critical appraisal of Tourism Promotion in Kerala –
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According to World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report, Travel and Tourism in
Kerala is expected to grow at the rate of 11.4% per annum in real terms between 2004
and 2013. (Documentation of best practices Adopted by the state governments for the
development of tourism,November 2005)
A light industry and there is no other industry which would yield foreign exchange in
such a short time with so little capita investiment (excluding investiment on infracture).
If the community can attract a couple of dozen tourist a day through out the year it
would economically be comparable to acquire new manufacturing industry with can
annual pay roll of US $ 1.00.000 Lickerish L.J and Karshaw: The travel trade
London.P.12
Moderate climate, rich art, colorful festivals, diverse natural and cultural attractions with
a physical quality of life comparable to developed nations are all causing tourism
industry to flourish in Kerala. Nowhere in India can a tourist experience such a
geographical diversity within the smallest area possible. Beaches, backwaters, wildlife
sanctuaries, evergreen forests and diverse flora and fauna make Kerala quite distinct
from the other states of India. It is this distinct quality of destination which the state
highlighted as part of promoting the destination vigorously in various international and
domestic markets with the 'gods own country' theme Priority areas identified were
infrastructure development, human resource development for tourism, marketing and
product development (GOK, 1995).
The vision statement of 2002 tourism policy reflected:
"To make Kerala, the God's Own Country, an up market high quality tourist destination
through rational utilisation of resources with focus on integrated development of
infrastructure sector conserving and preserving the heritage and environment and
enhancing productivity, income, creating employment opportunities, alleviating poverty
thereby making tourism the most important sector for the socio-economic development
and environment protection of the State."
The new policy aims to make tourism Kerala's core competency sector and gives special
emphasis on enhancing the productivity and employment potential of the sector. Apart
from reiterating the role of the Government as a catalyst and facilitator for the growth of

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 A critical appraisal of Tourism Promotion in Kerala –
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tourism industry, it has also identified specific objectives for the State and department
for developing tourism.
Kerala is one of the earliest Indian states to announce industry status for tourism in
1986 and announce various incentives and subsidies to attract investment. The state
government views tourism as one of the few alternatives available to develop the
economy, especially in the context of limited prospects of the manufacturing sector,
problems in the agricultural and traditional sectors, and the uncertainties facing the
expatriate employment in the Persian Gulf. Tourism has emerged as a lead sector of the
Kerala economy, with its impact increasing in terms of economic growth and
employment generated Kerala’s share of international tourists coming to India has
increased from 5.54% in 1994 to 10.26 % in 2004, making it a leading state for tourism
in the country.
Review Literature
“Marketing in tourism is to be understood as the systematic and coordinated execution
of business policy by tourist undertakings whether private or state owned at local,
regional, national, or international level to achieve the optimal satisfaction of the needs
of identifiable consumer groups and in doing so to achieve an appropriate return”.
(Hunziker and Krapf, 1942)
“Marketing to design a product/service combination that provides real value to targeted
customers, motivates purchase, and fulfils genuine customer needs.” -James Makens et
al., Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 1999

‘Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and group obtain
what they need and want through creating, offering and exchanging product of value
with others. The importance of marketing is becoming widely recognized with in the
tourism industry’ (Philip Kotler)

Another outstanding book titled ‘Tourism Dimension’ is brought out by Tewari S.P
(1994). The book present a comprehensive survey of modern tourism it seeks to
establish that the scope of further growth and expansion of tourism, both domestic and
international is immense with necessitates its integrated planning development and
planning, development and management. Instead of treating tourism solely as an

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 A critical appraisal of Tourism Promotion in Kerala –
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‘industry’ the book seeks to lay emphasis on recognizing it as a human activity in the
light of the Manila Declaration world Tourism.
One definition useful for understanding the marketing process in tourism is given by
Mills and Morrison (1992): ' tourism is the term given to the activity that occurs when
tourists travel. This encompasses every thing from the planning of the trip, the travel to
the place, the stay itself, the return,and the reminiscences about it afterwards. It also
includes the activities the traveler undertakes as part of trip, the purchases made and
the interactions that occur between host and guest'. In sum, it is all of the activities and
the impacts that occur when a visitor travels . This definition recognises the importance
of pre and post trip activities as well as what takes place at the destination, and has the
implication for understanding the total consumption process tourists go through, rather
than simply concentrating on the travel journey and destination.

At the destination level, the marketing effort is further complicated bycertain aspects
which represent the challenges faced by the destination marketers. This refers to the
various marketing dimensions within which the
total tourism industry operates.

Marketing the tourism product at the destination involves differentiating and positioning
a destination with strong destination image, developing and marketing a tourism brand
and looking for new or niche markets. To achieve this, companies involved in the
tourism sector need to come together to integrate their market focus and offerings. For
this, a strongly integrated tourism service needs to evolve and strengthen overtime
before an appropriate brand can be developed based on the overall market positioning of
the tourism service product.A fully extended product experience for a tourist will include
a long and often sequential path. First, a potential tourist will choose a location from a
wide variety of locations in a specific region. Each location will offer a
wide range of services and different prices ranges. Promotion and communication
activity will be most successful if there is a joint investment in marketing by all parties
involved delivering tourism product.
According to Gilmore (2003), service marketing dimensions for the tourism sector reflect
the range and the multidimensional nature of tourism service products, managing the
tourism product, importance of effective and consistent service delivery and the
communication message and region's image. These dimensions are illustrated in the
folllowingTable :

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Service Dimensions for Tourism Marketing Source: Gilmore,2000

Range and nature Managing the Effective and Communication
of services Tourism product consistent service message and
delivery regions image

Geographical area Differentiation and Physical Public and press

Unique sites positioning infrastructure Messages
Manmade facilities Destination image facilities and service Branding
Destination facilities Developing/ market People involved in Image building
Accessibility ing tourism brand the
Images Looking for new service delivery
Price range markets

According to the United States Chamber of Commerce:

‘Tourism promotion is the key operation to any regional, state or community
development programme. Basically, there are three ways in which to bring new money
and business in to a new given area. These are agricultural development, industrial
development and tourist development. Tourist development is probably the quickest,
least difficult method of the three. This new trend in the development of communities
and here to fore developed area, gives rise to the interest and increase of business a
payroll for the spectacular growth tourism allows’.
“Marketing the tourism product at the destination involves differentiating and positioning
a destination with strong destination image, developing and marketing a tourism brand
and looking for new or niche markets.” Manoj Edward ‘A Study on The Quality Attributes of
Kerala as a Global Tourism Destination’
Benchmarking is another method used for improving quality at the destination level.
Benchmarking is defined as a process of measuring the performance of a company - in
terms of the products and services offered and the processes employed - against its best
competitors. It is important to determine how the best competitors achieve their
performance levels in order to introduce changes to the practices of the company
(Camp, 1989).
Benchmarking helps to focus resources on the performance targets with various areas of
improvement as compared to the company's best competitors. In tourism, the use of
benchmarking is more common in quality improvement efforts in the hotel industry At
the destination level also benchmarking is applied. Kozak and Rimmington (1999) have
argued that there exists a considerable potential for improving service quality in tourism
by means of benchmarking, not only within the small- and medium-sized tourism sector,
but also across tourist destinations. They suggest that consumers (i.e., tourists), too,
may benefit from a clearer indication of the services to be offered so that their

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expectations can be matched more closely with performance that in turn, will increase
their satisfaction with the destination.Destination can use benchmarking surveys based
on tourist satisfaction for gaining competitive advantage (Kozak, 2002). Tourist
satisfaction is regarded as a customer-driven measure of destination performance, with
the customer remaining the main source of information for identifying those standards
that must be established to close potential performance gaps. The latter can in the main
be identified through quantitative benchmarking endeavors at the level of the
destination.
Aggressive advertising campaign like "Incredible India" by the government has also had
contribution in changing India's image from that of a land of snake charmers, and
sparking new interest among overseas travellers (Shailaja, 2004).
One of the important concepts used in understanding tourists' behavior in the tourism
marketing is the destination image tourists have towards destination. Understanding the
image development process and the nature of image offers tourism and destination
marketers to position their destination effectively in target market segments. Tourist
perceptions are important to successful destination marketing because they influence
the choice of a destination, and majority of tourists have experiences with other
destinations, and their perceptions are influenced by comparisons among facilities,
attractions, and service standards (Ahmed, 1991).
Developing a competitive position among tourism destinations is usually accomplished
by creating and transmitting a favorable image to potential tourists in target markets
(Gartner 1989)
Destination image is tied to the positioning of the destination. Positioning is the process
of establishing a distinctive place for a destination in the minds of the travelers in the
targeted markets (Crompton, Fakeye, and Lue 1992). The development of a positioning
strategy includes (1) identifying a target market segment's images of a destination, (2)
comparing these images with those of competitors, and (3) selecting destination
Attributes that meet the needs and wants of travellers and differentiate a destination
from its competitors (Ahmed 1991). This means, nature of the image indicates the
differentiation potential of the destination. This is very important from the destination
positioning point of view, because if a destination is not differentiated from similar
destinations, then the likelihood of being considered and chosen in the travel decision
process is reduced (Mayo and Jarvis 1981).
Market segmentation has become in recent years an element of considerable importance
in the marketing strategy of firms in the travel and tourism sector. This is basically due
to the intensified competition in this type of activity and the existence of an increasingly
exacting and segmented demand, seeking a provision of services adapted to its specific
requirements.
Concept of market segmentation is rooted in the idea that, in order to satisfy the needs
of their customers more successfully and reach them in the most effective and efficient
way, marketers should identify groups of customers with homogeneous characteristics
and behaviors and try to adapt their offer as much as possible to the unique needs and
desires of the segment members (Kara and Kaynak, 1997).

Bhatia A.K.;Tourism Development–principles and practices (1983) pp.193.194.

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Tourism Today – An Indian perspective tells ‘effective management of tourism will

involve a range of techniques including marketing and publicity. Information and
interpretation as well as planning control and traffic management (English Tourist Board
1981-82).This means tourism involves people, places and planning a facilities in
harmony with its environments.
Bhatia.A.k.(1983) in another book ‘Tourism Development’ makes a detailed coverage of
tourism psychology motivation for travel, organisation of tourism, measurement,
planning and development, tourism marketing and promotions and economic and social
significance of tourism.
Bhatia A.K (1991) in this book ‘International Tourism reveals that : ‘like any other
industry, that tourist industry is also subject to rigours like planning, marketing and
promotion. Marketing assumes a rather’ special significance because of the competitive
nature of the tourist industry. The need for trained manpower in the tourism sector
assumes a grater importance to maintain high professional standards’
Bhatia A.K (1991) op.cit. p.IX
Clare .A Gunn. (1994) in his book on ‘Tourism planning Basics, concepts, Cares’ opines
that ‘ both a regional plan and a continuous regional planning process are need if
tourism is to be developed properly. A specific plan renewed periodically can document
strengths, weaknesses and desired action at the macr4o scale. However because both
markets and supply side development are dynamic, such plans must be accompanied by
on going planning from all public and private decision –makers’
Tewari S.P, (1994) op.cit.
The 1995 Tourism Policy of Kerala stated as its main aim “.to serve as a guiding force to
make maximum use of Kerala’s tourism potential and also to make it an ideal
instrument of social and economic growth”. The policy aimed at fulfilling the state’s
tourism potential through the four-fold approach of enhancing investment into the
sector, developing the tourism products, deploying human resources more efficiently
and emphasising effective marketing of the state. As underlined by WTTC in its Kerala
report, “The 1995 tourism policy remains the basis for much of the state’s progress over
the last eight years, whether in terms of infrastructure and product development or
tourism performance.” Kerala’s Approach to Tourism Development: A Case Study
Ministry of Tourism & Culture, Government of India pg.no.17,Source: CRISIL Analysis
THE CHANGE DYNAMICS: WHAT KERALA HAS DONE
The National Tourism Policy of India, 2002, has underlined the ‘6 S’ of tourism
development, the six key result areas of swagat (hospitality), soochna (information),
suvidha (facilitation), suraksha (security/protection), sahyog (cooperation) and

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sanrachna (infrastructure development) These six areas comprise both ‘hard’ and ‘soft’
elements of tourism, and encompass all positive initiatives and measures.

2.Formulation of the Research Problem:

Each destination in the country or state has its own geo socio cultural id entity.
Therefore it demands specific tourism development plans and actions within the
umbrella of an overall tourism perspective for the country.

Tourism has emerged as one of the few economic alternatives to develop the kerala
economy. It has been recognized as an important sector for the development because
of its potential for generating income and employment. Thus tourism is likely to be the
engine of growth giving a big push to Kerala’s economy in the coming years. Kerala has
immense potential for the ever-expanding Tourism industry in India.

Kerala is an endowed with many equally rewarding cultural, natural and

manmade tourism attraction and that are largely undisturbed.Tourism industry is one of
the few industries in which Kerala has a lot of potential to develop. Its importance has
grown considerably over the years. According to WTTC (2002), Kerala is one of the
fastest growing destinations in the world, attracted 2.32 lakhs international tourists in
the year 2002, and is expected to grow at a rate of 11.6percent per annum over the
coming decade. Kerala, with its wide range of attractions and 'gods own country' theme,
is trying to project as quality destination, which can offer tourists a unique experience.

The impressive achievement of Kerala in the tourism sector is largely due to the
ambitious destination development and marketing activities undertaken by the
government in partnership with the private sector. But despite the growth and the
relative importance of tourism to the State economy, there are only few researches
carried out on tourists' perception and satisfaction with Kerala as a tourist destination.

The studies conducted by the tourism department pertains to basic statistics

related to tourism in Kerala, which is inadequate and does not lend itself to
development of sound management and marketing strategies for tourism in the
State needed as part of proper destination planning and development.

There is a growing awareness at the governmental level for the improvement of quality
in tourism as reflected in the tourism policy of Government of Kerala (GOK, 2000b). For
this task, among others, it is necessary to have more information about the market.
Attaining the quality objective depends largely on carrying out systematic and

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comprehensive research into trends in the marketing of tourism industry and tourist
perception of destination facilities, services, attractions and what other destinations have
to offer. Kerala can further improve its position as a leading tourist destination in India,
especially when there is an overall predicted trend of international tourism shifting more
to south Asian region. At the same time, Kerala will also face intense competition, as
other destinations also compete for the leisure customer. With limited resources, the
need for focused marketing efforts will increase.

This study is a step in this direction to analyse the gods own country campaign and its
success to provide better information for understanding tourists and thereby can be an
input for the destination development strategy.

3.Objectives Of The Study:

The objectives of the study are:
1. To assess the perception of tourists on the specified attributes of Kerala as a tourist
destination.
2. To analyse the latent destination image dimensions generated ‘Gods own country
campaign’.
3. To measure the level of impact of destination image dimensions on the tourists'
overall holiday satisfaction.
4. To study the tourist’s preference for various benefits and activities they seek in their
trip to Kerala
5. To analyse the destination attractiveness using Importance - Performance matrix.
6.To analyze the promotional initiatives specific to Kerala tourism.
7.To examine the existing tourism demand and supply
8.Suggest ways in which the natural resources are utilized for the tourism Promtion of
kerala.
8.To analyze major opportunities & challenges for tourism promotion in Kerala.
9.To recommend new strategies for further Tourism Promotion in Kerala.

4.Selection of study area section:

5.Research Methodology and Data Sources:

To fulfill the objectives, following methodology would be adopted. It would entail a
sequential approach of defining the data requirement, identification and collection of
relevant data analysis with the help of appropriate statistical techniques and
interpretation of the results.

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6.Identification of Data requirements and sources:

Secondary: The data sets necessary for this study are tourist arrival statistics, tourist
facilities and infrastructure, attractions, other support facility. These would be collected
from the sources such a Tourist statistics of Govt. of Kerala, travel trade associations
and related sources. Some socio-economic attributes of the local communities would be
required and the required shall be collecting from the district census hand book. Other
important data pertaining to coverage of destination Kerala, in the promotion
campaigning of the central and state govt. will be collected from published brochures
and other promotional literature. A Profiling of Kerala in the internet will also be
attempted.
Primary Data:
This study is largely primary data based, where in perception of tourists about
destination Kerala & major attractions ,about actual perception of the industry
stakeholders an the development political of the destination and necessary steps to this
direction are to the generated from audience.
Separate questionnaire will be designed for the tourist and the other industry
stakeholders. It will be self administered in order to ensure reliability of the data to be
collected. A total of 400 tourists of both domestic and foreign origin will be interviewed.
Total industry establishments proposed for coverage are 100. This shall be spread
across hotels, travel agents /tour operators / transport operators, house boat and other
facilities.

Sample frame

Tourist Tourist establishments

Domestic Tourist Foreign Tourist Hotels, travel agents /tour

200 200 operators / transport
operators,House boat etc.
100

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7.Sampling procedure scheme:

To ensure a fair representation of the diverse study population, a stratified

random procedure would be adopted. Stratification of tourists will be adopted on the
basic of domestic and foreign first and then on the based on socio-economic
background. It is important to have proper representation of tourist respondents in the
sample and education and income levels equally relevant to consider. Because better
education levels of respondents are also expected equip them with in depth
understanding of various attractions and products of the places they visit. It is proposed
to interview respondent at place of stay so as to ensure diversity.
For establishment stratification would be made first on the basis of their types.
Afterwards, size of the segment would be gauged after collecting the numbers from the
secondary sources. The numbers from the secondary sources. The sample size of
establishments shall be decided on the basis of portions.
Sampling shall be earned out in the state of kerala, preferably during the main
tourist season. To cover the sample size proposed, it is expected to take about two
months.
8.Population of the Study:
The population can be defined as the total group of persons or universal collection of
items to which the study relates (Steyn et al 2003:16). In this study the population
constitutes the tourists visiting in Kerala and the tourist establishments in the State.

9.Analysis and interpretation of data:

Keeping in view the objectives of the study, the data collected through
questionnaires is analyzed and interpreted with the help of statistical tabulations
methods using average and percentage approach where ever needed, though analysis
and interpretation of data are done by manually, computer facilities are also used to
translator relevant empirical information in to illustrations in the form of diagrams.

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10.Limitations of the Study:

Obviously all studies and researcher have their own limitation. A researcher is
bound to encounter many limitations while working on a topic like this. Due to lack
literature on tourism in Kerala, primary information has been collected by field visits.
The results of the study may have some specific constraints when it comes to replication
of finding. Still, the overall theoretical framework could be useful for generalization in
similar kind of studies.

11.Proposed Structure of the Thesis:

The proposed structure of the Thesis would be as follows:
Chapter-1 Introduction
Tourism industry in Kerala witnessed considerable growth during nineties, and this
growth is expected to continue into the future. This growth occurred in the backdrop of
the opening up of the Indian economy and the general global trend of increasing tourism
activity seen across the countries in the Asian region. However, it is also the concerted
efforts from the government and industry that made Kerala one of the best performing
tourism states in India. This chapter provides a brief review of the tourism scenario in
India since 1990s, and then outlines the issues pertinent to the tourism development in
Kerala in the area of tourism planning, marketing and product development. Finally, the
chapter concludes with future perspectives of growth in the tourism industry in Kerala.

1.1 Growth of Tourism in India

Tourism is one of the important industries contributing to the growth of the Indian
economy . In India too, growth of tourism, is a significant part of the global expression
of the new service economy. The forecast for Travel & Tourism Demand is estimated to
grow 4 .5 percent per annum between
2005 and 2014 (WTTC, 2004). A notable feature of international tourism growth has
been the gradual shift in the preference for destinations, form Europe and North America
to South Asia (CII, 2003). India as the main south Asian tourist destination, with the
diversity of natural beauty coupled with
its range of tourism products can certainly expect to exploit this trend to its favour.

Given the outstanding wealth of natural resources and rich cultural heritage, India is
blessed with tourism destinations and products catering to the tastes and preference of
tourists of all ages and economic backgrounds.
Despite this, India has failed to realize tourism growth matching to its potential. While
China and India used to attract the same number of foreign tourists way back in 1978,
today while more than 27 million international

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tourists visits the former annually, India manages only around one fifth of the above.
Tourist arrival in India is 2.75 million a year. It is nothing compared to what other, even
much smaller countries with fewer attractions,
get. For example, a tiny nation like Singapore gets nearly 7 million visitors. Another
problem is the presence of low spending tourists: an average tourist's out of room
expenditure is barely $40 a day in India, whereas for,Singapore it is $250 (CII, 2003).

Chapter 2 Information Search: Review of Literature

There is a desperate need for new research that will advance destination promotion and
Marketing strategies methodologies in the Tourism industry in Kerala. This
comprehensive review of the theories and methodologies reported in destination
promotion and marketing strategies studies cited in the Tourism literature provides
suggestions for future destination promotion and Marketing strategies research in the
tourism field. First, the theoretical and methodological issues will be critically reviewed.
Next, major developments in destination promotion and Marketing strategies research
methodologies are to be discussed. The concept of importance and its role in behavioral
models are included as they have been recently applied in tourism destination promotion
and Marketing strategies research. The final section of this study would be devoted to
developing and proposing new directions for future destination promotion and Marketing
strategies research in the Tourism industry in Kerala.
Chapter-3 .Influencing factors in Growth of Tourism in Kerala
Customer satisfaction in tourism is greatly influenced by the way in which the service is
delivered and the physical appearance and personality of the business. It is critical that
these elements be communicated in the best possible manner to convince people to
come and experience what your business or community has offer. Equally the important
is the ability to generate repeat business because of your efforts. Thus marketing
becomes the method to reach potential tourist. It is a vital part of tourism management
and can be done effectively and well, with sophistication and tact.
Chapter-4. Role of Government agencies for Tourism promotion in Kerala

Marketing is a management philosophy which, in light of tourist demand makes it

possible through research, forecasting and selection to place tourism product on the
market most inline with the organization purpose for the greatest benefits. The view of

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many organizations and individuals in the industry and the community, as such, the
process is much more complex than that carried out with in a single firm. Because of the
number and diversity of the stakeholders involved in the crafting of the tourist
destinations in Alappuzha, the value systems brought to the process can be greatly
different, even to the point of being diametrically opposed. As such, the task of reaching
consensus and obtaining endorsement of the destination vision is a challenging and
often delicate task. Too many communities attempt to market themselves as tourist
destinations without accurate information’s about their
resources(facilities,services,staff)imagine (projected vs. actual),and how well their
customers satisfied .Without this information ,it is difficult to make other decisions in the
planning process.

Chapter-5.

“ Gods Own Country” Campaign-An Analysis

Chapter-6. Marketing Strategy for Tourism Promotion in Kerala –An analysis

An analysis will be conducted based on the study.

Chapter-7.Analysis of data & Interpretation

Chapter-8. Summary of findings and suggestions

12.Conclusion:

The impetus for the study arose from a preliminary scanning of the literature which
revealed that despite the importance of Marketing Strategies for the development of
Tourism destinations in Kerala. Hence the problem that is faced by many destinations in
Kerala is not recognized or marketed. This study can be further used as a resource for
tourism Promotion in Kerala state.

13.References:

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A case study on God’s own country campaign

14. Timeline for the Work:

On Approval of Synopsis the timeline for the work follows:
Work Area Time Frame
Literature Review 3 Months
Secondary data collection 2 Month
Questionnaire designing & Printing 2 Months
Survey 3 Months
Data cleaning & feeding 3 Months
Data analysis 3 Months
Writing the report 4 Months
Report Finalization & submission 3 Months

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