NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has tied up with Discovery Channel, to air the prestigious international TV campaign called Incredible India.

The campaign which is slated to be Discovery India's first international advertising campaign in 2003, will highlight India as an incredible tourist destination all over the world.

According to a press release, the channel will feature the two month long campaign worth over a million dollars from 15 January 2003. It will run on all the 16 feeds of Discovery in Asia, Africa,Europe and exclusively on Discovery's Travel Channel in the United States, it adds.

Discovery was the 'preferred channel' because of the' Time Band programming' strategy that it implemented in 2002. The channel divided the hours of the day into time brands, which gave audience the choice of viewing programmes at times convenient to them. So if programmes for women are part ofWomen's Hour (12 to 1 PM), programmes for adults are aired between 10 PM to 12pm during Late Night Discovery. Other time brands are Sunrise Hour, Healthy Living, Discovery Kids, Amazing Animals andFamily Time.

Banking on the award winning, new programmes which premiere on the channel, the tourism ministry is hopeful that it would strengthen their position and provide enhanced value to both viewers and advertisers.

" The high quality viewership and tremendous reach of the channel will help actively promote India as a preferred tourist destination to an international audience," Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, Joint Secretary, Amitabh Kant is quoted as saying in the release.

The channel will premiere The Blue Planet, an award winning series on the history of the mysterious marine world this month and Bismarck - James Cameron's three-week expedition, unraveling the mystery around the destruction of Bismarck, Germany's fabled battleship in World war II in February 2003.