Public Relations and Promotion in Travel and Tourism

Public Relations and Promotion in Travel and Tourism

Assignment 1

Introduction

Tourism industry is growing with a rapid pace all across the world. The region or destination which has been chosen for this report is India. Tourism sector of India is also rapidly growing and it is playing an inevitable and indispensable role in enhancing the overall economy of the country. The tourism sector of India is categorized by its different regions such as East, South, North and West Indian tourism. Each tourism region of India is offering identifiable tourism experiences to the tourists. The tourism sector has been classified in wellness tourism, medical tourism, adventure tourism, religious circuits, caravan tourism and cruise tourism which have helped in widening the overall profit of tourism industry in India (Ministry of Tourism, 2013, p. 36). There has been growth in the inbound tourism and travellers from all across the world are choosing India as their tourism destination. Thus, the tourism profile of India is showing incredible growth. According to the research of Ministry of Tourism (2011), it has been observed that the number of FTAs i.e. Foreign Tourist Arrivals within India has been increased to up to 5.78 million which represented the growth rate of almost 11.8 percent. Hence, Indian tourism industry is growing with a rapid pace.

There are several incredible destination characteristics or attributes and attractions in India which is attracting more tourists. Attractive religious structures, ancient ruins, diverse landscape and exotic cities in India are ensuring incessant collection of attractions in tourism industry of India. Attractions of India include Kerala backwaters, Lake Palace, Virupaksha Temple, Palolem, Kanha National Park, Harmandir Sahib, Jaisalmer, Ajanta Caves, Varanasi and Taj Mahal. Current market segment of Indian tourism industry represents that people from different countries, cultural backgrounds, age, gender and religion come to India for different purposes such as for business purpose, for holidays and leisure, for treatment purpose and others. Thus, current market segment of Indian tourism industry is wide.

Task A

Role and scope of Public Relations as a Promotional Tool in Indian Tourism Industry

Tourism sector of India is promoting its business through the use of different public relation tools and techniques. Public relations facilitate communications of organizations which help in building good and strong relationships with the public of organization such as stakeholders, legislators and consumers. Public relations obtain favourable publicity, build up enhanced corporate image and handle unfavourable events, rumours and stories (Kakkar, 2012, p. 71). In highly competitive and complex marketplace, public relations and marketing plays a significant role in improving the position of organization in the market.

Public Relations Defined

Public relations both reactive and proactive help in boosting the profile of organization in positive and effective way. Hence, PR is considered as the strategic communication process which helps in building mutually favourable relationships among business organizations and their publics such as consumers, legislators and stakeholders.

Scope of Public Relations in Indian Tourism Industry

As the basic purpose of the tourism industry is to stimulate the desire ...