TOURISM

Question 1) What Is Tourism Product and Services? State Its Types And Forms Of
Tourism.

Answer:

Tourism Products and Services

In relation to tourism, very often you will come across terms like tourism products
and services. Here we attempt to define them.

The purchase of a tour is a speculative investment by the tourist, who anticipates

the pleasure the consumption of such a product will result in. Tourist consumption
and anticipation are related to services that after the basic necessities and
comforts are provided, leisure activities are also organized. However, it has often
been said that selling tours is similar to selling dreams. For example, a tour is more
than buying a mere collection of services like an aircraft seat, a hotel bed, meals
and the opportunity to see the Taj Mahal. The tourist is buying, temporarily, a
strange environment including unique climate and geographical features and
intangible benefits like bargain, luxury service, hospitality, atmosphere, a culture
and heritage.

The tourist product is therefore both, a physical as well as a psychological

construction which is challenged to transform dreams into reality. The problem in
meeting such a challenge is that different cultures have different priorities and
codes but the global tourism professional requires a universal (often termed as
western ) standard of satisfaction. Apart from the problem of quality control there
is always the element of chance which can destroy the most well organized tour.
This can be due to natural or man-made reasons, accidents or sudden and
unforeseen circumstances. Risks are higher in tourism services because these
services are considered luxuries and often not given the same attention as
essential services. Local people often express hostility to tourism because they see
it as an expression of Five Star culture, extending the gap between their life style
and that of the tourist.

For the product of the service there are also risks. Travel services are consumed
en route and at the destination. They cannot be tested, seen, sampled or
compared in advance. They depend on a reputation earned by the satisfaction of
previous users and on advertising. Services are also created in a particular
historical and social context and are affected by a work culture. Moreover, the
supply of services is fixed and created in advance and the risk of
underconsumption has to be borne by the producer because room cannot be
stored. For example, an unused aircraft seat or an empty hotel room cannot be
carried over to another day or time or place. It has a value where and when it is
offered for use. Thus, the carrying capacity and demand for a service have to be
carefully assessed and estimated. For example, it is often claimed that one of the
constraints for tourist movement in India is the shortage of airline seats. To make
up for this air taxis were introduced. However, they have displaced 20% of Indian
Airlines traffic rather than meeting the shortage or generating new demand. This
creates a crisis situation for both, Indian Airlines as well as air taxi operators along
with a loss of 6.5 crores in foreign exchange.

In tourism demand is often irrational and trends also change rapidly. But the
building up of services often requires a lead time. Once a capacity is offered, the
hotel and transport service for example, it often lasts longer than the demand
time for it. This requires great ingenuinity on the part of the producer to ensure
that the service remains profitable.

In developing countries the risks cannot be carried from one tourist season to
another. Apart from the demand-supply constraints and social-political factors,
operators and providers of service are also affected by weather conditions (like
hot weather and the monsoons ). They are also constrained by a lack of capital to
invest in marketing. In many cases they depend to a large extent on the informal
sector or what is termed as the tout or broker. The tourist views the acivities of
such persons with suspicion and considers their method a harassment. However,
the small scale operator depends heavily on the oral application and direct
contact of the informal services of touts and brokers for his profitability.

TOURISM: FORMS AND TYPES

Today people are feverishly participating in tourism. This may include short trips
during the week, weekend breaks or longer journeys during holidays. Old age
pensioners have a dream of retiring to a place where the weather is good and the
prices low. Without any outside pressure, millions of people flock to destinations
of their own free will. Long lines of cars, crowded buses and trains and jumbo jets
go all over the world. As a result the beaches become too small, shops and
restaurants too crowded, porting facilities and the environment degraded and
worn down with years of being admired and used, and the world shrinks. For an
increasing number of people work is no longer the main purpose of life and this
encourages tourism. Modern tourism is one of the most striking phenomena of
our times and tourism offers us an opportunity to learn, to enrich humidity and to
identify what may be termed as goals for a better life and better society. But
conservationists want to change things. They want to arrest the spread of the
“landscape eaters” who have transformed the countryside with their mass
migration.

Forms and types of tourism emerge within the context of changing social values.
For example, in modern society, the value of ‘being’ has been subsided by the
value of ‘having’. Possession, property, wealth, egoism and consumption have
become more important than community, tolerance, moderation, sensibility and
modesty. As a result, in all parts of the world:

® Economy is characterized by increasing concentration of wealth, division of labor

and specialization,

® Environment is being treated as if resources are renewable,

® The limits of eco-system are stretched without considering the negative aspects,
and

® Peoples’ rights are constantly eroded to meet the needs of the power system,
etc.

The desire for tourism is therefore determined socially. Government promote

tourism, people talk about their holidays, unions sponsor holidays, health
insurance covers visits to spas, tax rebates are given for holiday homes and
corporation reward employees with travel instead of bonus money. Seasonal
pressures strengthen the urge target away from home. Annual vacations, the
media, literature and fashion all strengthen the holiday mania. The tourism
industry whets the appetite with tantalizing offers of entertainment and pleasure.
The commercialization of recreation functions within the well-established
principles of free market economy. in the past, in the erstwhile socialist countries
holiday homes and limited foreign travel were subsidized for workers. In India we
still have a transport subsidy called the leave travel concession and most
companies provide holiday homes for their workers, but tourism is primarily a
private enterprise. A study of tourist brochures indicates the successful design of
tourist visit:

1) Create a holiday mood by emphasizing informality, abandonment, serenity,

freedom, pleasure.
2) Show time, standing still, romanticism and relaxation, peace and space.
3) Show something beautiful that is not available at home. And typical holiday
symbols like the sun, a beach umbrella, a palm fringed coastline etc.
4) Show people from other cultures, always beaming, happy, friendly and idle.

All four ingredients from the tourism mix. However, in today’s context the
different types of tourism are as follows:

1. Rest and Recuperation

Taking a rest from everyday life; relieve the stress of societies that have shifted
from manual to sedentary work. Tourism as diversion or compensation to
holiday destinations is what may be called holiday or vacation travel which is
focused on resorts and beach holidays, both domestic and international.

2. Escape

Tourism as a mass flight from everyday reality to an imaginary world of

freedom. This flight takes place within the movements from centers to
peripheries or in other words a north-south migration.

3. Communication

Spending quality time with family and friends, make new friends and
acquaintances. This is mass tourist, in herds, enjoying the facilities of tourism
enclaves.

4. Culture and Education

Such Tourism is based on sight-seeing tours to experience and see other

countries of the world though not necessarily in depth.

5. Freedom

Tourism frees you from home and work and is directed towards facilities and
comfort rather than experience.

6. Health

Visit spas, go to saunas, undergo cures for chronic ailment, visit health clube
for workouts or do yoga i.e. travel for health.

7. Special Interest Tours

Is organized as per the special interests of the tourist ranging from medical,
historical, archaeological and other interest to golf or fishing.

8. Adventure and Wild life

 Far away from modern civilization, with bearers and porters and mules,
camels, elephant or jeeps, mix trekking and hiking and camp life with the
luxury of a first class hotel.

9. Convention Tourism

To mix leisure with work, holding convention or meetings at tourist

destinations. Different forms of tourism also give rise to different types of
tourist.

1) The ridiculous tourist who is dressed in funny clothes and views everthng
through the lens of a camera.
2) The naïve tourist who is inexperienced in travel, always asks unnecessary
questions and has no language skills.
3) The organized tourist who feels at home with a guide and a group of fellow
tourists.
4) The ugly tourist who behaves as if he owns the world.
5) The uncultured tourist who is a beach bum and spends his time lazing and
eating.
6) The rich tourist who can afford anything, likes to slow prosperity and enjoys
being waited upon.
7) The exploiting tourist who spends a holiday at the cost of people and takes
advantage of their culture, hospitality and poverty.
8) The polluting tourist who demands that for his comfort everything can be
flattened or destroyed.
9) The alternative tourist who explores the few untouched corners of the
world thus opening the way to mass tourism.

Question 2) What do you mean by Tourism System and Tourism Frame Works ?
Answer:

INTRODUCTION

Tourism system we mean that conceptual approach which helps to identify the
dynamic elements of tourism. The boundaries of tourism are extremely flexible
and can be confused with leisure and recreation activities.This unit goes on to
explain the tourism system in its totality. The demand and supply along with the
pull and push factors in tourism are also discussed. The models offered by
different experts have also been dealt with Lastly, the unit gives a brief description
of tourism impacts.

CONCEPTS

Tourism is being systematically viewed as a framework in which the theory and

practice link up with each other to address the satisfaction of all those concerned
with the functioning of the system.

The dynamic of the system of the tourism system is its historical potential for
development and resulting benefits. However, the systems operates within a
global economic environment along with national priorities. These are often not
understood in a common perspective. The different perceptions can act as
constrains on the developmental potential of a destination. Today, the tourism
debate centers on the dynamic of the Tourism Phenomenon where perception of
the receivers are somewhat different to that of the tourists. The consumers are
not always sensitive to the host, nor are they of major importance to the host.
Often we have seen people in our bazaars or other public places say “the
foreigner is nobody’s friend”, or hat “they are very free with our hospitality but
very careful with their dollars”. Similarly, many a times tourists abuse symbols of
local pride and standards of local services. Tourists generally assume that they are
being cheated because they know that bazaar run on bargaining.

Tourism system has a four-tier framework shown below:

How far dose the phenomenon of tourism balance between the expectations of
the tourist and the resident population depends on the :

 Interaction between the support system of the resident and the tourist, and
 Perceptions of both groups regarding their rights to have access to tourist
oriented products as well as resident oriented products.

The means that the tourism System must estimate the carrying capacity so that
slogans to promote destinations will not have to exclaim “Get there before it
disappears”.

The system therefore has to be “managed” so that everybody’s expectation are

capable of being realised. How the system is managed will indicate the nature of
the impacts of tourism on the industry, the host population and the tourist. The
broader goals will be the economic, social and cultural changes that the managers
of tourism (the state and the private sector) have envisaged along with the
expectations of the residents of the area where tourism is actually located.

Work is understood to be a necessity for survival just as recreation and leisure are
necessary for coping with routine life. Yet, time is finite and often institutionally
determined or determined by the process of satisfying both private and public
needs. The location of tourism within these complex relationship is both a matter
of social development and custom, which are then reflected in the working of the
system.

Question 3) Discuss the role and importance of World Trade Organization

(WTO).

Answer:

World trade organization (founded 1975) is an intergovernmental body. It is a

successor of the international union of official travel organization (IUOTO) which
existed from 1947 to 1975. As a united nation specialized agency the WTO’s
membership comprises 113 of the governments and over 170 affiliate members
(international and regional tourism organizations) from the travel and tourism
industry. WTO headquarters are at Madrid (Spain) and its three functionaries are:

 WTO secretariat (permanent office at Madrid)

 General Assembly (meets every two year)
 Executive Council (meets twice a year)

WTO is the only intergovernmental organization open to the operating sector.

This combination of public and private sector involvement encourages hands on
approach to strategic issues affecting the industry. WTO also provides a forum for
the industry “to establish the frameworks and global standards of travel and
tourism”. It attempts consolidation of one of the world’s fastest growing
industries. WTO’s activities include:

1) Technical Cooperation
As an executing agency of the United Nation Development
Programme(UNDP). WTO provides assistance to the governments on as
wide range of tourism issues, from sustainable development , investment
needs and technology transfer to marketing and promotion. Over 600
projects have been fielded since 1990.

2) Education and Training

Education and training is one of the major building blocks of the travel and
tourism industry. WTO offers a variety of programmes , including distance
“learning courses” courses. Which have been organized with Purdue
University and the Sorbonne. Other projects include the establishment of a
network of WTO Education and Training Centers and Publications of a
Directory Tourism Education and Training Institutions

3) Environment and Planning

The goal of sustainable tourism development underlies WTO’s environment
and planning. Activities include participation in forums of tourism and the
environment, such as Rio Earth Submit and the Globe Seminars in Canada.
WTO is also developing a global program of clean beaches for tourism,
based on the European Community’s Blue Flag Programme.
 Several publications including three joint reports with the Unites Nations
Environment progamme, provide vital input on tourism planning in resorts,
communities and national parks.

4) Facilitation and Liberalization

WTO works towards the barriers to tourism. Antivities in this area include
promotion of improved access to tourism for handicapped, research on
computer reservation systems, involvement with the general agreement on
trade and tariffs process, assistance on healthy and safe issues.

5) Marketing and Promotions

WTO continuously monitors and analyses travel and tourism in over 165
countries, which provide invaluable data for marketing and promotion.
Equally important has been the 1991 WTO Ottawa Conference on tourism
statistics, which established global definitions of tourism. In this way a
substantial base was created for the uniform measurement of tourism
flows.

6) Publications
WTO also has the number of publications. They include:
 Yearbook of Tourism Statistics,
 Compendium of Tourism Statistics (annual),
 Travel and Tourism Barometer (quarterly),
 Directory of Tourism Educations and Training Institutions,
 An Integrated Approach to Resort Development,
 Guidelines: Development of National Parks and Protected Areas for
Tourism,
 Tourism Carrying Capacity,
 Sustainable Tourism Development: Guide for Local Planners, and
 World Tourism Forecasts to the Year 2009 and Beyond.
Question 4) Critically Analyse The Role Of Street Guides In Travel And Tourism
Field.

Answer:

The role of the street guide is in fact a mixture of two different roles viz. of the
one who would traditionally lead the way on an unknown terrain and an advisor
of any kind of travel. The two roles do not always harmonize yet exist in a guide in
varying proportions today. In the context of our own country we can say that in
the former role we have location guides and in the latter role we have guides for
city tours.

LOCATION.

 Location guides are the leaders that take the tourists into a hitherto
unknown partially known terrain. Since the natures of the terrains differ
widely, the guide’s role also varies.
 Depending upon the setting, the tourist and their purpose of visit, we can
categorize location guides in India under several heads. The three most
common types are-

MONUMENTS
 The most commonly found guides are those who specialize in describing the
monumental heritage of the country.
 Guides available at these monuments have come to project a particular
perception of the guides in India. Most of them lack a proper historical
understanding of the architectural wealth of the region in which they
operate.
Following is the list of abilities of such a guide-
 The requirement of adequate knowledge of the history of the region so as
to be able to describe the monument in perspective,
 Should be well versed with the stylistic and architectural details of the
monument,
 The guide should know all historical facts about the monuments such as the
date of its construction, time take, design and architect, the agency
responsible for the construction, the purpose of the monument, etc.
 The guide should be able to sift fables from history.
 The guide should not construct history on one’s own in the absence of firm
evidence.

MUSEUMS

 Museum is a fantastic place for a guide to describe. It is here that the role of
the guide both, as educator and entertainer, comes to fruition.
 As a tourist guide or otherwise also when you take visitors to a museum, it
is important for you to know the variety and the range of collections housed
there. This information is of immense help to you in catering to the tourists
who may not have common taste for all things kept in a museum.
It is important to-
 Collect detailed information about the museum,
 Arrange this information to convenient categories,
 Occasionally sift your information, and
 Regularly update this information.
 Make sure how much time the visitor has to spend their, and
 The area of interest.

WILDLIFE
 Wildlife tourism is potentially one of the most viable and economically
rewarding areas of tourism. Hence, it is imperative on a tourism
professional and more so on a wildlife guide or escort to understand its
intricacies and use this information to his/her fullest advantage.
 Most of the tourists are willing to learn from the guide and follow his
instructions.
 Unlike several other situations, as a wildlife guide or escort, one is located
in an enviably privileged position.
 But this also entails upon one, the additional responsibility of being
thoroughly familiar with the peculiar features of wildlife tourism.