Samenvatting

This research has been conducted in order to find out how the Indian government can use marketing expenditures effectively to increase tourism from Millennials in the Netherlands. The travel and tourism industry is the largest service sector and one of the most important sources of income for India. Within this particular industry, the Millennials cover a large part of all international tourists. They are an interesting generation due to their love for travel; they tend to spend more money on holidays, they prefer longer vacations and are open to new travel experiences. Therefore, the youth travelers can make a significant difference in the growth of the tourism sector.
India has been put on the world map, as a travel destination, by the marketing campaign ‘Incredible India’ which is responsible for promoting India aggressively by various marketing tools such as advertising. That has been a success since numbers have risen in the Indian tourism sector. However, no specific marketing tools are used for any specific target group. The great position in the Asia Pacific region, the various forms of tourism and the price competitiveness, despite of all these major strengths, India is still behind and underperforms on a few very critical aspects such as safety and security which is the most important criterion for the Millennials to choose their holiday preferences on. The generation Y lives in a digital era wherein the Internet and connectivity are highly essential since sharing content is a must even whilst traveling. However, India’s ICT readiness is still not up to the mark. Remote – and rural areas are more preferred than the large cities by the youth traveler, yet infrastructure remains a major issue.
Increase of government expenditures in the tourism market is a positive sign. It is suggested to spend the budget effectively therefore the weaknesses need to be tackled first. It is recommended to invest more in police deployment in order to create more safety and security. Also, improvement of infrastructure (ground, port and air) is much needed to increase the accessibility to certain areas. Brand awareness can be gained by reaching out to the target group putting the right content on various social media platforms, since this generation is frequent users of several social media channels and influences also their decision making in choosing a travel destination.
The implementations should be able to put India in a better position in the T&T industry and also to connect more and attract the youth traveler, who can change the travel scene for India positively.