Abstract
The State of Uttarakhand is the 27th State of India, and is popularly known as 'the abode of the Gods'. Tourism forms one of the major contributors to states economy. The state is world known for its historical, cultural and natural attractions. The two regions of the state namely: Garhwal and Kumaon regions offer unique natural and cultural tourism assets in areas of natural landscape, pilgrim destinations, adventure tourism, health tourism and other forms of tourist attractions. The key entities managing the tourism affairs in the state is looked primarily by the Department of Tourism, Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB), and two regional entities namely: Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN). Tourism brings direct effect on social, cultural, educational and economic sectors. The tourism branding has become utmost importance to key stakeholders like: tourism ministries / departments, city agencies, private sector operators/ agencies, and other community based organizations. It is commonly observed that there is a varied level of inconsistency both in terms of tourism content information as well as its delivery channels. The role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), internet and other forms of delivery channels has become very important to multitude of stakeholders like: visitors, travellers, and researchers. The web analytics has become one of the preferred tools for measuring business and market opportunities through internet data and web traffic. The paper provides a web content analysis of tourism sector from Garhwal and Kumaon region and highlights the key issues related to tourism content. The web content analysis includes but is not limited to tourism product analyses, internet delivery channels, user interfaces, institutional system, branding strategies and among others. The paper identifies the key gaps and opportunities towards strategizing an integrated institutional approach for tourism branding in the state. The paper explores the tourism web analytics results of official tourism websites from Garhwal and Kumaon by using online analytic tools and discusses on tourism content, delivery channels, user interfaces, levels of sophistication, level of information & access to visitors / travellers and among other tourism aspects. The paper compares the tourism web content and web analytics of two regions and provides a model for business development based on the lessons learnt from two case studies and perspectives from selected international regions.