By-passing the state-level marketing and promotional committee’s approval, The Tourism Department’s has allegedly spent Rs.10 crores on ad campaigns as per reports
The tourism department of Goa has reportedly spent a gross total Rs 10 crore on the production of tourism promotional films under the television campaign. This was done by without consultation of the state-level marketing and promotion committee, the prime body that evaluates and recommends all marketing and promotion-related proposals of the department. Some members of the marketing committee voiced that this particular proposal was never presented before them.
This decision of the tourism department to unilaterally decide this proposal by sidelining the committee is not even in agreement with the statement of Tourism Minister Manohar ‘Babu’ Azgaonkar that all the proposals of his department would be directed through the state-level marketing and promotion committee. The recommendations of the members of the committee are supposed to be mandatory for clearance of these proposals.
Two Mumbai-based advertising agencies – MX Advertising Pvt Ltd and Network Advertising Pvt Ltd were given the work orders in September / October 2018. These work orders state that the ‘selected agencies are requested to submit the creative concept/ script for the television film and the TVC to present the same before the state-level promotion and marketing committee/ government, for final approval.’
This directly exposes the proposal in that it wasn’t put up before the committee when issuing the work order. Post that, the tourism department has even made multi-crore payments about two out of the three bills. As per the information provided by the Tourism Minister to the state legislative assembly, Network Advertising Pvt Ltd is supposed to have run the campaign on Zee Network from September 27, 2018, to October 25, 2018, and received payment of Rs 2.47 crore for the same.
“The same agency ran another campaign-related to television film/ commercial by preparing a film, but has not submitted bills amounting Rs 2.96 crore,” the House was informed.
The written reply further states, that MX Advertising Pvt Ltd previously ran a campaign for Goa tourism on BBC World News and received an amount of Rs 3.98 crore.
All proposals of the tourism department necessarily needs to be put up before the state level marketing and promotion committee and receive its approval
No foreign road-shows. Focus to be on domestic tourism
Goa tourism will give foreign road-shows a skip as per statements of Tourism Secretary at GITM briefing
According to Tourism Secretary, J Ashok Kumar, this year, the state government is trying to revive the number of tourist footfalls this season, by changing its marketing strategy.
He said that instead of spending money on international roadshows, the tourism department would concentrate on participating in domestic fairs and festivals. “Last year we participated in several international events and travel fairs. This year, we have cut down on foreign trips and changed our strategy. We will also take to social media to promote tourism in the state,” said Kumar.
He also mentioned that as of now, the tourism department has no international roadshows on the agenda in the remaining months of the year. “The 2019 season will hopefully be better, as we are changing our marketing strategy. It is not that we will not participate in any international roadshows; but future participation will only be done after assessing the cost and the outcome,” said the tourism secretary.
Kumar also said that the new strategy would also be looking at the charter flight segment that had witnessed a drop in 2018.
After five years, the Tourism Department is hosting Goa International Travel Mart (GITM) along with GTDC. The GITM was last held in 2014 and before that in 2011, said Kumar, who was the main speaker at the launch of the event.
He said that GITM is part of the new marketing strategy where the Tourism Department is eager to offer a platform to local travel companies, hoteliers, tour operators etc to interact with their international and domestic counterparts. They expect to reach out to travel associations, airlines, travel agents, tour operators, spice plantations through GITM.
For the domestic market, the tourism department is coordinating with IATA for the event.
“GITM, which is a B2B event, will result in a good number of business opportunities,” hoped Kumar. He noted that the three-day event, to be held from October 23-25, has two days allocated exclusively for discussions between Goan tourism stakeholders and their international counterparts.
125 international buyers have confirmed their participation at the event. The tourism department has contacted international buyers from 50 countries including USA, UK, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Scandinavia, Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Australia, New Zealand, and Croatia.
Apart from showcasing Goa, the event is also expected to boost the tourism investment potential of the state, as it will promote various segments of Goa that reflect the multi-dimension facets of tourism in the state.
GITM is also well supported by renowned associations in the industry like TTAG, TAAI, TAFI, ADYOI, ATTOI and IATO.
