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BBC World News embarks on a voyage to India’s best tourist destinations
For the Travel India series, BBC World News has roped in the Ministry of Tourism
BBC World News has come out with a six-part series, Travel India. In partnership with the Ministry of Tourism, the series serves as a window to the best tourist destinations of India. It is being hosted by well known cricket commentator, Harsha Bhogle.
The series is an extension of the association that BBC World News enjoys with the Ministry of Tourism. Speaking to afaqs!, Seema Mahapatra, director, advertising sales, South Asia, BBC, says, “The content on our platform has lot of value, in the nature of news that we carry. BBC World News attracts lots of travellers with its premium shows. So, it makes perfect sense for Ministry of Tourism, India to align with us in their attempt to reach out to greater number of people across the globe. In the past, we had carried the ministry's Incredible India campaign on our network. The new series, Travel India is the next step marking our long term association.”
Bhogle has been roped in to impart an informal, but curious, tone to the show, something that would have been difficult to do, if the show were to be anchored by a seasoned traveller.
The series will be telecast on BBC World News across Europe, Asia-Pacific, South Asia, West Asia, Australia and UKTV. To promote the series, in-flight advertisements are being carried in BBC World News programmes on all the United Airlines and US Airways flights.
Elaborating on other supporting initiatives by BBC World News for the Ministry of Tourism, Mahapatra adds, “Five 30-second films will be broken in November, highlighting the vibrant and colourful facets of the country. A survey conducted by us revealed that ‘Colours’ is the most often thought of word, when one conjures up images of a country as mysterious as India. Vibrancy and humdrum of the country comes wrapped in colours that we see around us. It will be a thematic campaign. As part of Incredible India too, we made a couple of films on wellness and yoga for the ministry.”
Seema Mahapatra |
In an official communiqué, Leena Nandan, joint secretary of Ministry of Tourism, appreciated the partnership by saying, “India will be showcased on BBC World News, a medium that has the credibility and reach to influence travellers across the world. A series like Travel India will successfully showcase not just the glorious past and the dynamic present that all Indians take great pride in, but the varied facets of India that can be explored, enjoyed and experienced.”
Interestingly, BBC World News attracts 78 million viewers a week. It is available in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide, reaching 283 million households, in addition to tourists across the globe, as the channel is available in more than 1.6 million hotel rooms.