Tourism ministry's partnership with Netflix, YouTube can create wonders: Shekhawat

Tourism ministry's partnership with Netflix, YouTube can create wonders: Shekhawat

New Delhi, The Ministry of Tourism's partnership with private entities such as Netflix, Google, YouTube, and Air India can "create wonders" in promoting Indian tourist destinations, Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said on Wednesday.

He said this during an event held at the National Gallery of Modern Art here, which also marked the Netflix's ten years in India.

The OTT giant shot at over 100 locations across India for its various productions on Wednesday.

On World Tourism Day last year, the ministry entered into a "non-commercial" MoU with Netflix Entertainment Services India to promote the country's tourism destinations globally through cinematic storytelling.

Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos, who is visiting India, joined the Union minister for a fireside chat on the transformative role of storytelling in promoting India's cultural heritage, tourism and creative economy.

Asked how storytelling vehicles hosted on digital platforms can contribute to India's cultural diplomacy, he said that India's strength lies in its "continuity of civilisation" and the "incredible diversity."

Shekhawat, who holds both culture and tourism portfolios, said India has many things to offer to the rest of the world.

"Films, serials and different platforms, like Netflix, can play a pivotal role in taking this entire idea, and the stories of India to the rest of the world. What I feel is that these partnerships can create wonders," he said.

The minister said partnerships of such nature can play a key role in promoting Indian tourism, not only showcasing India to the rest of the world, but also encouraging Indians to explore the country's diverse regions.

On the occasion, an 'As Seen on Netflix' section on the 'Incredible India' portal, developed as part of the current collaboration between the two sides, was also launched.

The initiative is aimed at allowing global viewers to discover real locations, cultural traditions and authentic experiences featured in Netflix India's films and series, the ministry said.

Sarandos said that for Netflix, one of the challenges of their team while creating content is to "be authentically local", as sometimes even within India, local has a different meaning.

"Our team here in India … they are constantly looking to capture that diversity of storytelling. No one story can represent India, and that makes it difficult, but it makes it very rewarding as well. And so, I think as we continue to do this over the last 10 years, we have filmed original productions at over 100 places in India," he said.

The executive emphasised that it is not just the diversity of the geography that gets showcased through these films and series, but also the diversity of the people, the stories, the history, food, music and fashion, which all define a culture.

Sarandos said that many a time people "discover" tourism destinations featured in a film production or a web series.

He said Netflix India has produced about 200 original productions in these ten years and spent about two billion dollars on content.

"And when I look at this opportunity, I look at a very young population. I look at a very young, very tech-forward population, a population of creators who have embraced the possibilities of AI at a rate faster than anywhere else in the world," Sarandos said.

He cited the case of the series 'Musafir Cafe', which, he said, is "very successful right now and I love it so much."

"But it exposes a part of India that many people have never seen, even inside of India. So, you think about, and, and now we're hearing all these great stories of people who want to go to the location where it was filmed in Mussoorie ... even though that cafe is fictional," Sarandos added.

Shekhawat, later interacting with the media, said Netflix is watched by millions of people globally for billions of hours, and in its presence in India in the last ten years, the platform has garnered a loyal audience numbering in lakhs.

The Ministry of Tourism has, over the past few years, partnered with various platforms, organisations, industry stakeholders, and airline companies relevant to its operations.

"And, whatever agreements we have entered into, we have either with Netflix or with... the recent ones we did with Indigo, with Air India recently, and we have done with YouTube also, and with platforms like Google, we did with technology platforms. They're all non-commercial. We're not paying them anything for this," the minister said.