Branding India

A case history of the remarkable transformation in Indian tourism in the last seven years. In 2001-2002, after the destruction of the World Trade Centre, the war on Afghanistan and the attack on Indian Parliament, tourism was down in the dumps in India. It was at the peak of this crisis that the Incredible India” campaign to position India as a tourist destination was launched. This is the story of how that campaign triggered the take-off of Indian tourism, and how support sectors like aviation, hotels and infrastructure grew in tandem so that in 2008 India got 5.38 million visitors compared to 2.54 million in 2001. The author, Amitabh Kant, played a key role in this phenomenon as joint secretary in the Union ministry of tourism. He writes a scholarly book that is full of personal insights into a remarkable growth story “