#IndiaForBeginners Goes Viral on Twitter and Facebook

KOCHI:
The strong social media presence of Keralites was put to good use on Friday when #IndiaForBeginners – the hashtag campaign initiated on the sidelines of the ongoing International Conference on Tourism Technology (ICTT) – ‘trended’ on multiple platforms.
The innovative campaign was kicked off by Dr Venu V, Principal Secretary (Tourism), and P. Bala Kiran, Kerala Tourism Director, at 10 am at the Le Meridien here. Within hours of the launch, the campaign began trending and was in the first position by 5 pm.
The campaign, which aimed at promoting Kerala Tourism, garnered more than 50,000 impressions on Twitter. The total social media reach of the hashtag was above 2 lakh.
The three-day conference, being organised by Association of Tourism Trade Organisations, India (ATTOI) and supported by Kerala Tourism, hosted an engaging workshop on the #IndiaForBeginners campaign featuring live tweets, Facebook posts and photo-video capturing.
“Social media platforms have become potent tools for networking and customer engagement, but India is yet to make a substantial impact in this particular domain,” ATTOI President Anish Kumar P.K. said.
The conference, now in its second edition, followed the performance of the hashtag campaign on a real-time basis and analysed the results and content produced.
“Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, has also supported event and promoted our campaign,” Anish added.
In July 2016, ATTOI hosted a similar campaign titled #Daivathinde Swantham Nadu, which had similarly trended on Twitter. Dr Shashi Tharoor MP had kicked off that campaign with a tweet and was soon picked up by travel enthusiasts across the globe.
The second day of ICTT 2017 saw a number of important issues highlighted at seminars and discussion sessions held throughout the day, including strategies on blogging, utilising the potential of Snapchat and Whatsapp as well as digital payment gateways.
Australian technology expert Donna Moritz highlighted the importance of the right content on digital platforms. Ms Moritz asked tourism stakeholders to step into the shoes of domestic, international and even local tourists to understand their respective needs. She also spoke on the opportunities afforded by Instagram Marketing.
C.S. Ramachandran, Director of Revenue Account Management at a leading hotel spoke during a seminar titled ‘How to get best out of Online Travel Agents? For new and existing hotels’
He highlighted the importance of hotels gaining a prominent presence on online travel websites. “Most travellers prefer to visit online travel agents because of the ease of access and the number of choices they provide. Moreover, these OTA websites reinforce and validate the choices of the customers,” Ramachandran said.