Soon, Hollywood actors such as Richard Gere, Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie could be the face of the Incredible India 2.0 campaign, a rebranding of the current marketing policy of the tourism ministry.
"Over the years, Richard Gere has done a lot to promote Buddhism across the globe and he could be approached to promote the Buddhist circuit. I see no reason why Julia Roberts or Angelina Jolie could not be the face of the campaign," tourism minister KJ Alphons said. Gere, a close friend of the spiritual leader Dalai Lama, has been part of religious congregations in India for years.
Alphons said that the idea of the refurbished campaign was to market the India experience with targeted campaigns across regions. He said that NRIs formed a huge chunk of inbound tourists, however was quick to add that the ministry will not let go of home-grown faces for domestic campaigns.
"A Bollywood face could be the face of the domestic campaign," said the ministry. Actors Aamir Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Amitabh Bachchan have earlier been brand ambassadors for states.
In 2017, 90.01 lakh foreign tourists visited India; a 15.6% increase over 2016. In the same period, the foreign exchange earnings from tourism measured at Rs1,60,865 crore, a hike of 16.9% from the previous year.
Holly ambition
According to Tourism minister KJ Alphons, actor Richard Gere has done a lot to promote Buddhism and could be approached to promote the Buddhist circuit in India.
