Tamil Nadu tourism looks at new packaging for state

Sangeetha Neeraja - Chennai

Dr M Rajaram IAS, managing director and director of tourism, TTDC

The state of Tamil Nadu is taking a focused and professional approach in order to leverage more opportunities and take tourism to newer heights. Expounding on this is Dr M Rajaram, IAS, managing director and director of tourism, Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation. He believes that diversity comes with its inherent advantages and disadvantages and to take tourism further, and one needs to identify the USP of the place. "One needs to conduct market research to calculate the demand, expectations, the target audiences, etc to package and market the product well. This should be a continuous process that should be done from time to time, so that a destination maintains its freshness and focus," he says.

The state has come up with the tagline 'Experience Yourself'. Rajaram says that a state like Tamil Nadu, which can boast of a varied ecosystem, healthy infrastructure and rich culture and fine arts, can easily play with idea of offering a complete tourist experience by giving them the holistic feel of having lived in Tamil Nadu.

To strengthen this campaign, the state board has taken a lot of initiatives in terms of development and promotion. Publicity and marketing meetings were held in different cities in India like Delhi, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata and other metro cities. Participation in all international travel marts to showcase Tamil Nadu is also part of this initiative. "Eco-tourism is also being given a lot of emphasis this year and we planted 1,000 tree saplings as part of our eco-tourism drive. Muthukadu Boating has become a model to be replicated and Muthaliyar Kuppam has been renamed 'Raindrop Boathouse'. We have realised the need for training and have therefore conducted programmes for tourist guides, auto drivers, etc," he adds.

Talking about the strategies devised to showcase Tamil Nadu as the destination of choice, he says, "These are exciting times for Tamil Nadu tourism. Phenomenal changes are happening here. Growth is seen in almost all sectors. Medical tourism is also catching up. We are actively promoting rural tourism, heritage tourism, pilgrim tourism, beach tourism, and showcasing Chettinad culture as part of heritage tourism. At the convention exhibition pavilion, an LCD screen will be running continuously screening the various tourist treasures of the state, giving travel agents across India the opportunity to see for themselves the magic of Tamil Nadu."

He believes that there is lot of potential and opportunities for women in the field of tourism and hopes that this potential is tapped.