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Incredible India tourism campaign gets a face-lift
Indo-Asian News Service

New Delhi, Sep 28 (IANS) India has launched a number of promotional campaigns to give a boost to the ongoing Incredible India campaign with an overall target of attracting five million tourists from overseas by the next year.

On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, Tourism Minister Renuka Choudhury unveiled a number of projects at an event here Tuesday night such as co-branding of Incredible India campaign by state-run carrier Air India and Microsoft.

"According to this plan all the Microsoft desktop computers will have the option for displaying the Incredible India logo as a screensaver with a catchy theme tune," a spokesman for the ministry said.

As part of another deal, the Incredible India logo would be displayed in 25 aircraft of Air India. This apart, 25 tourist cabs in metro cities have been painted to showcase major tourist destinations of India, the spokesman added. 

In collaboration with Prayas, a non-government organisation (NGO), the ministry will also take underprivileged children to different tourist destinations in the country as part of the efforts to encourage domestic tourism.

To start with, orphans from various parts of the country will be brought to the national capital for sightseeing. They will also be taken to attractive tourist destinations in Rajasthan and Uttaranchal. 

The coverage of this scheme will be subsequently broad-based after identifying partner NGOs in different states, officials said.

In an attempt to promote rural tourism, the ministry is launching a new website with information about Indian rural life, its artistry and craftsmanship and other major attractions that are ready to be explored.

Last year, the Indian tourism industry earned record revenues of Rs.55 billion ($1.2 billion) and 3.3 million tourists visited the country. While there was a 27-percent growth in the tourist inflow, the revenue growth was 36 percent.