THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Passengers at the central railway station here were in for a pleasant surprise Tuesday — Rajdhani, India’s super-fast train connecting state capitals with New Delhi, fully wrapped in Kerala colors.
A novel initiative by the southern state’s tourism department, the fully upgraded and branded Rajdhani Express train was flagged off by Tourism Minister Kumari Shelja from New Delhi Sunday.
The train carrying a new tagline ‘Go Kerala’ arrived in the state capital on its maiden trip, covering major cities of ten states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
Kerala Tourism hopes that its brand will get exposed to 30 million people on the train’s trail from the national capital to the country’s southern tip. All the train’s 17 coaches are painted with its unique products like beaches, backwaters, hill stations, wildlife, coconut trees, houseboats and traditional art forms.
“The train will now showcase the God’s Own Country across the length and breadth of the country,” said Kerala Tourism Director M Sivashankar who flagged off the train from here on its return journey Tuesday evening.
The Kerala Tourism is also offering a unique ‘shoot & tweet Contest’ for Twitter users in India, wherein they can take pictures of the train, upload it on the Internet and win exciting prizes. Every contestant can send as many as 30 entries for the contest.
“We are also promoting the Kerala Tourism-branded Rajdhani using new technology media like mobile phones,” the official said. “The train will journey through the heart of India for a period of six months till June 2010 when the contract ends”.
The new-look Rajdhani also promises a better travel experience as well. There is a full-fledged professional facility management and housekeeping agency that will supervise the train throughout the journey with onboard housekeeping services sponsored by Kerala Tourism.
“Kerala is the first tourism destination to use train branding to promote the state in what will be one of the most visible and high impact campaigns ever undertaken by Kerala Tourism. It’ll offer a delightful travel experience for passengers,” Sivashankar said.
The images for the vinyl graphics covering the exteriors of the coaches were shot extensively over a period of 25 days and eight to ten images were stitched together to form a composite picture for each coach.
The state tourism department is spending Rs12mn on the branding exercise conceptualized by the city-based Stark Communications. The costs cover proper upkeep of the interiors of the train, including the toilets.
The strategy is to attract domestic tourists in a big way in the wake of the apprehensions about the decline in international tourist arrivals due to recession. A three-month campaign, Kerala Tourism Partnership Meet, will also be kicked off in Chandigarh February 1.
The state has also signed with Jet Airways to bring more tourists to the state with special offers. It also tied up with Google a few months ago to market the state as a tourist destination. Malls in different cities are also being used to drive home the brand message.
The arrival of domestic tourists touched 7.5 million in 2009, a growth of 15 percent over the previous year while the international arrivals went up marginally to around 750,000.
