Now, London buses promote Kerala tourism
Kerala Tourism is currently enjoying a huge visibility on the streets of London, especially Central London, thanks to a new mode of branding launched by the state tourism department – ‘Bus branding’. Five big London double-decker buses, with alluring visuals from ‘God’s Own Country’, are now running across the city, and will continue to ply the routes till end of March.
The new tourism policy, a tourism official pointed out, has clearly proposed focused campaigns and new marketing strategies. Red Buses in London, being experimented for the first time, has already caught the attention of the commuters and general public in London, the tourism official said.
The Double-Decker buses, operating from five depots in Central London, have on display the picturesque Kerala backwaters and famed houseboats on one side and that Kathakali on the other. The wrap titled ‘#Go Kerala’ also provides the link to the official website – keralatourism.org.
The department, a couple of years ago, had branded Kerala on taxis in the United Kingdom covering three cities London, Birmingham and Glasgow which had been a great success. The branding was a part of new marketing strategies adopted in Kerala’s major source markets like the UK, one of the traditional and steady foreign markets which tops the list for several years with more than 1.5 lakh visitors.
The year 2016-17 had also witnessed promotional activities in the Middle East, which included branding on cabs in Dubai, besides translites in airports in Saudi Arabia and Oman and television campaign through BBC World and Al Jazeera channels.
“Last year, we put up static displays at 20 tube stations in London, targeting the commuters. They were huge displays on panels on both sides of the stations. With a minimum of four minutes of waiting time for trains at these stations, the visibility we could achieve was huge,” the official said.
Realizing the importance of innovative marketing tools and methods in the tourism sector, the government has been sanctioning crores of rupees for campaigns in both national and international markets, the official said. The domestic market has already witnessed campaign through TV channels, cinema halls, radio, airport translites and OTT (over the top) channels.
