From Dubai to Bastar: tourism boards embrace influencers to attract travellers

Tourism boards of countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Japan, as well as Indian states like Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar, are offering free familiarization trips (FAM trips) to influencers—sometimes paying them, too—in an effort to convert followers to tourists.

The influencer push by state tourism boards comes in the backdrop of domestic tourism shooting up 45% to 2,509.63 million in 2023 from 1,731.01 million in 2022, according to the India Tourism Data Compendium 2024 by the ministry of tourism.

“Content creators are redefining how people discover destinations, using authentic storytelling to inspire travel," said Amiya Swarup, partner, marketing advisory at consulting firm EY. “Indian state tourism boards have a unique opportunity to tap into this creative power and showcase their hidden gems to the world."

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Take Shiva Yadav. The Mumbai-based creator gave up his sales job at an IT giant two years ago to create content full-time. Today, he has more than 33,000 followers on his Instagram handle @shivatells where he explores some of India's remotest areas through his travel diaries.

Yadav was invited by the district collector's office of Bastar, under Chhattisgarh Tourism, in October 2024 to experience their Dussehra celebration and create content around it. He shared footage of the celebration, waterfalls, forests, tribal culture, and local cuisine, including the making of their local alcohol ‘Mahua’, while narrating folktales and lesser-known facts about the region infamous for guerilla warfare. 

Yadav, who's known to create content around lesser known places, said while it takes longer to highlight India's hidden gems, he's happy to carve out a niche for himself. “Plus, regional folktales and tribal cultures are fading due to modernisation, so someone needs to take the initiative to document and share them with the world," he added.

Ram Narayan Tiwari, tourist officer at the Chhattisgarh Tourism Board, told Mint that Bastar has hosted at least 50 influencers in the past two years on FAM trips sponsored by the board, especially during the monsoon season, to transform its image from that of a hotspot for Maoist (Naxal) insurgency and violence to a tourist destination.

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“Influencers visit Bastar and engage with villagers and tribals to showcase their rich local art and culture," Tiwari said. “By highlighting the region's stunning natural beauty, they aim to dispel myths about Maoism and extremism in Bastar, encouraging tourists to consider Bastar as a viable tourist destination."

Similarly, Rohtas district in Bihar was another Naxal and dacoit-affected area that didn't have any tourism, even local visitors, a decade ago. But now, thousands of people visit it for its natural beauty and historical relevance, as Sher Shah Suri, the ruler of Bihar who built the Grand Trunk Road, was born in a small town in the district called Sasaram, according to Ashish Kaushik, a Patna-based influencer with close to 60,000 followers on his Instagram account @callmekaushik.

“The government of Bihar is working on the state's development and promotion of tourism and needs influencers to spread the word about it," Kaushik said. “The government is incentivizing content creation and now even pays creators to make social media content about Bihar, leading to a spike in Bihar-related travel posts recently." According to Bihar's social media policy of 2024, influencers can earn up to ₹10 lakh per post based on the number of followers they have.

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In August 2024, the Uttar Pradesh government also approved a social media policy for influencers and creators to potentially earn up to ₹8 lakh per month by promoting the state's policies, including tourism-related content.

International opportunity, too

Even international tourism boards are not missing the opportunity to tap into Indian influencers to boost tourist inflow from India. Shivani Kapila Tyagi, a parenting and entertainment influencer with over 1.4 million followers on her Instagram handle @littleglove_aka_shivani, was hosted by the Saudi Arabian government along with two other Indian influencers for a FAM trip this February.

“Saudi Arabia was never on my bucket list, and when I got this opportunity, I freaked out and started reading the rules and regulations to pack accordingly. But what I saw there was completely different. I saw women in shorts as well as abayas; there weren't any restrictions," Tyagi said, adding that the influencers experienced the country’s modern cities with skyscrapers as well as the old charm in remote villages and deserts during a six-day trip.

“We tried their local cuisine, went date hunting in local markets, and I even drove a quad bike in the desert," Tyagi said. “Our requirement was to upload five to six stories a day about the places we visited and tag them."

Apart from Saudi Arabia, other countries like Japan and UAE are also taking initiatives to work with Indian influencers. The 4th Joint Working Group meeting on tourism cooperation between India and Japan, held in New Delhi on 8 April discussed leveraging influencers to boost tourist flow, according to a press statement by the ministry of tourism.

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Prajakta Koli, an influencer with more than 8.8 million followers on her Instagram handle @mostlysane, is now an ambassador from India for Abu Dhabi Tourism.

“The Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) has officially partnered with Prajakta Koli to create a bespoke itinerary showcasing the emirate's diverse attractions to Indian travellers," Gurpreet Singh, co-founder of One Digital Entertainment, that manages Koli told Mint. “This announcement was made a week ago in Mumbai."

As India's outbound tourism expenditure is on the rise, ranking it eighth globally according to the World Tourism Organisation's 2024 data, the global tourism industry is keen to attract Indian visitors, especially Gen Z.

“Tourism boards want creators to promote them because India has one of the largest travel industries in the world, and the digital economy is currently at the centre of its promotion," said Komal Chhaniara, co-founder of talent management agency Yin Yang Creatives, which manages a few travel creators who often get opportunities to promote tourism. “Additionally, Gen Zs are proactively looking for more physical world experiences post-covid, giving a further boost to India's tourism industry."

“Not just governments, even the private sector employs influencers to promote the travel and hospitality industry. Earlier, only hotels, travel aggregators, and airlines used to employ influencers; now even homestays want to collaborate with them through barter arrangements," Chhaniara added.

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