India's state tourism boards are competing with each other, not with abroad
Domestic travel outgrew outbound and the positioning did not move. Most state campaigns are still arguing against a holiday nobody in the audience was considering.
State tourism advertising in India still carries the reflexes of a period when the competitive set was overseas: the sweeping monument, the heritage claim, the implicit argument that you do not need to leave the country. The traveller it is aimed at was not planning to leave the country.
The real competitor is three states away
The domestic traveller with a long weekend and a budget is choosing between four or five Indian options, and the deciding factors are practical and specific — how long the drive is, what there is to do on the second day, whether it is a good idea in this month. Almost none of that is in the advertising.
So every state runs the same beautiful film about heritage, and the traveller makes the decision on a forum thread.
What differentiates in a domestic set
- Season. The single most useful thing a state can own is being right in the months its rivals are wrong.
- The second day. The first day sells itself in every destination; the itinerary is what converts.
- Access. Drive time from the two or three cities that supply most of the visitors, stated plainly.
- The specific over the sublime. A traveller repeats a detail, not a landscape.
Every state is advertising the reason to come to India. The audience is already here, deciding between you and the state next door.
