Innovating Incredible India

A success story, which put the country on the global tourism map, the `Incredible India’ campaign launched in 2002 by the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) was the first marketing initiative and branding exercise. Conceptualised with an objective of creating a distinct identity of the country in international source markets and domestic markets, the campaign with its iconic `Incredible India’  logo using the exclamation mark as the “I” of India was highly effective. The country registered an increase of 16 per cent in tourist traffic in the first year of the campaign, which was run through print and television advertisements.    

Over the years, the campaign evolved and started focusing on highlighting specific segments. Spiritual Tourism was the thrust in the second year (2003-2004) which resulted in 28.8 per cent increase in tourist traffic. In 2006-07, the diverse cultural spectrum of the country was highlighted through the `Colours of India’ campaign, which was launched globally in 71 leading newspapers and magazines.