Indian Tourism's New Hope?

No these aren't misplaced ads from the Incredible India campaign but maybe they should be. Early in April, Macy's (its a major American retail chain for those fortunate to never have been exposed to this wallet-lightening temptress) held its annual flower show and chose a rather banal slogan Imagine India. But then they went ahead and spent thousands of dollars doing up the interiors to look like an ornate Indian wedding hall bedecked with thousands of beautiful flowers. And they installed a giant Ganesh-ji right above the main entrance on Union Square. Along with a five-storey poster of an anonymous Indian woman in full Technicolor. The whole thing had a bit of an exotic (and cheesy) feel to it...in the Bay Area, I think this isn't necessarily a bad thing from a tourism promotion point of view. A mention of India, here, usually evokes a vision of masses of software engineers huddled in a maze of cubicles. Not exactly something that will start a stampede to the travel agents.

Not sure if Macy's did this in all their stores or just the flagship outlets. If they did it at all outlets, then over the fortnight that the flower show lasted, the campaign probably got as many eye-balls across the US as the Incredible India campaign ads have over the last couple of years. Maybe the Tourism Authority of India should just pay Macy's to keep the theme every year! Hey they could even donate a tiger or two to keep in a display window - they'll probably be safer there than under the auspices of Project Tiger.