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Chapter 1 Introduction to Tourism

1.1 Introduction

“Welcome a tourist and send back a friend”

- Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru

“God’s earth in all its fullness and beauty is for the people.”

- Thomas Cook

Travel from the ancient time has held a fascination for mankind. The urge to
explore new places and seek a change of environment is not new. In all the epics
whether it is “The Ramayana”, or “The Mahabharata”, or “The Bible” or “The
Khuran”, everywhere travel has been mentioned, but only the reasons were different
(Manish Srivastava, 2006).

Similarly, in India, the origin of the concept of “Tourism” can be observed in

Sanskrit literature. It has given three terms derived from the origin word “Atana”
which means going out and accordingly have the terms:

Theerthatana - It represents going out and visiting places of spiritual or

religious merit.
Deshatana - It represents going out of the country primarily for financial
gains.
Paryatana - It represents going out for pleasure and knowledge.

Tourism is significant, and in some cases, very important for many countries.
It was approved in the Manila Declaration on World Tourism - 1980 as “an activity
essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural,
educational, and economic sectors of national societies and on their international
relations” (UNWTO, 2009). Tourism provides large amounts of income in payment
for goods and services available, accounting for 30 percent of the world's exports of
services, and 6 percent of overall exports of goods and services. It also produces
opportunities for employment in the service sector, associated with tourism
(UNWTO, 2012). These service industries include transportation services, such
as airlines, taxicabs, cruise ships, and hospitality services, such as accommodation,
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including hotels, resorts, and entertainment venues, such as amusement
parks, shopping malls, music venues, casinos, and theatres.

1.2 Definitions of the Term “Tourism”

According to Australian economist Hermann Von Sehullard (1910, in

Manish Srivastava, 2006) tourism defined as, “sum total of operators, mainly of an
economic nature, which directly relate to the entry, stay and movement of foreigners
inside and outside a certain country, city or a region”.

Hunziker and Kraph (1942, in Manish Srivastava, 2006), defined tourism as,
“tourism is the totality of the relationship and phenomenon arising from the travel
and stay of strangers, provided that the stay does not imply the establishment of
permanent residence and is not connected with their remunerative activities”.

As per the definition of Tourism Society of England (1976, in Beaver and

Allan, 2002), “tourism is the temporary, short term movement of people to
destination out the places where normally live and work and their activities during
the stay at each destination. It includes movements for all purposes”.

The most widely accepted definition is given by the World Tourism

Organization (WTO). This was standardized by United Nations Statistical
Commission (UNSC) in its 27th session held from 22nd February to 3rd March 1993.

“Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling to and staying in

places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive
year for leisure, business and other purposes”.

The term “usual environment” is projected to exclude journeys within the

place of residence, trip to the customary place of work or education, regular
shopping and other local day-to-day activities. The threshold of twelve months is
planned to exclude long-term migration. For the distance travelled there is no
agreement. It varies from at least 40 kilometers to at least 160 kilometers away from
home one way for any purpose other than travelling to work.

According to the above definitions, one may infer the following elements of
tourism.
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1. Tourism happens from a movement of people to, and their stay in, various
reasons and destinations.
2. There are two essential elements in all tourism.
a. The trip to the destination
b. The stay including activities and programs at the destination.
3. The journey and the stay take place outside the usual place of residence and
work, so that tourism provides rise to activities, which are unique from those
of the resident and the working population of the places, through which the
tourist travels and in which they stay.
4. The movement to destinations is of temporary, short-term nature, with the
intention of returning back to the usual environment within a few days,
weeks or months.
5. Destinations are visited for the purposes other than taking up permanent
residence or remunerated employment from within the places visited.

The United Nations (1994) categorized three types of tourism in

its recommendations on tourism statistics:

Domestic tourism, involving residents of the given country traveling only

within the country.
Inbound tourism, including non-residents traveling in the given country.
Outbound tourism, including residents traveling in another country.

1.3 Brief History of Tourism

Travel is an ancient phenomenon, from the very historical period; travel has
had a fascination for man. Man has travelled from the very earliest times. Much of
travel in the beginning was largely unconscious and rather a simple affair. The
cumbersome procedures as we witness in travel today were not founded in older
days. No travel formalities existed. Travel in the distant past was not a thing of
pleasure as in the case now. The traveler of the past was a merchant, a pilgrim, a
scholar in search of ancient texts, and even a curious wayfarer looking forward to
new and exciting experiences. Trade and commerce were however the strongest
force in ancient past; it made people travel to distance lands in order to seek
fortunes. Gradually, with the opening of new trade routes travel became easier rather
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more regulated. At the market places, travelers made contact with each other
resulting in increased flow of trade and commerce. Trade relations matured into
cultural relations led to better understanding of each other’s way of life (Manish
Srivastava, 2006).

As civilization developed, conscious travel in order to explore and see the

world began. There are many early references to this effect. The invention of money
by the Sumerians (Babylonia) and development of trade & commerce beginning
about 4000 B.C. perhaps marks the beginning of the modern era of travel. Sumerians
first grasp the idea of money and used it in their various business and commercial
dealings.

Many foreigners, Arabs and Europeans alike came to India to establish

trading posts. The great explorer, Christopher Columbus set out to find a new route
to India and in the process discovered the new world. India always a great
fascination for foreign travelers, Mark Twain (1897 in Manish Srivastava 2006)
described India as a fabulous world of “splendor and rags, the one country under the
sun with an imperishable interest, the one land that all men desire to see”.

Trade and commerce remained a strong force for many travelers to undertake
long journeys to distant lands. This was followed by an urge to explore new lands
and to seek new knowledge in ancient and distant lands. There are many references
of great explorers who spent many formidable years of their lives in search of
knowledge. Even if we go back just a few hundred years to the third century A.D.,
since the first exploration of Alexander the great, or only about seven hundred years
since Marco Polo and their amazing explorations crossing many lands, we get
fascinating accounts of these great persons.

Young Marco Polo left Venice in the year 1271 with his father and uncle.
They travelled through Persia and Afghanistan to the “Roof of the world”, then
unknown Pamir plateau. After crossing the windswept Gobi desert, he arrived at
Kublai Khan’s palace and remained in China for over twenty years. On his way back
home, he stopped in Sumatra, Java, India and Ceylon. The first medieval traveler to
reach familiarize was probably Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish scholar who left
Saragossa in the year 1160A.D. He wrote a detailed account of his thirteen year
 5
journey through Europe, Persia and India, giving information on the Jewish
communities, and the geography of the various places he visited. Yet another
famous traveler who recorded interesting account of his travel experiences was Ibn
Battuta. Ibn Battuta wrote a detailed diary of his travel experiences (Ross E. Dunn
1986).

There are also accounts of some European travelers who visited India during
the period described above. The Francisco Friar, John of Monte Corrino visited
India on his way to and back from China during the last decade of the thirteenth
century. Later on in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries many more European
monks, travelers and adventurers visited India and many other places in search of
knowledge.

Travel for religious purposes assumed a significant importance during the

middle ages. The practice of travelling for religious reasons, going on a pilgrimage
for example, became a well-established custom in many parts of the main shrines in
Europe, and travel again assumed an interesting character. However, travel was still
dominated by religious motivation. Actual pleasure travel was not a priority. The
adoption and spread of Christianity subsequently led to numerous pilgrims making
their way to the Holy land. So deep and strong was the hold of faith that the ritual of
pilgrimage flourished over the centuries. Religion was a great unifying force.
Pilgrimages strengthened religious bonds. It provided the impetus for a ‘Stay-at-
home’ agrarian society to break out of its narrow geographical confines. It also
exposed people to new manners and customs, different kinds of foods and modes of
dress. It encouraged exchange of ideas and also fostered trade. It served as a
powerful means of forgoing unity and understanding between people from widely
different regions. The powerful influence of a crusading religion that slowly
penetrated foreign land, such as Christianity in Europe and later in America, and
Buddhism, Islam and Hinduism in Asia took place to permit an assimilation and
perpetuation of very distinctive languages, literature, music, art, architecture,
philosophy and forms of government. Religion thus played and continues to play a
crucial part in travel.

The introduction of annual holiday in Europe was another important

landmark which encouraged many people to undertake travel in large numbers
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during the eighteenth century, the eighteenth century became the great age of travel.
The annual holiday was the forerunner to the paid holiday which later was
responsible for an extraordinary growth of tourism. The term holiday derived from
the holy days which were associated with religious observances. In the present day it
is used generally in a secular sense meaning a respite from the routine of daily
workday life and a time for leisure, recreation and amusement.

The middle ages by and large did not constitute a favorable period for the
pursuit and development of tourism. The process of the development of imagination
forever was continued by the innumerable events, for the most part connected with
wars.

The concept of contemporary tourism came in to being in the second half of

the nineteenth century hand in hand with the development of the developed societies
of Western Europe and North America.

The industrial revolution was responsible for the change in the economic and
social systems. It threw up great factory towns, big and small. The working class
was in the beginning burdened by long working hours and poor working and living
conditions. As the industrial momentum gathered and the cities and their populations
increased at an enormous rate, the need for escape became even more acute.
Industrialization also brought in an increase material wealth and certain
developments in transport and communication during the second half of nineteenth
and early twentieth century.

By the end of the century the Riviera was unmistakably the most popular
pleasure zone. Its development only became possible when escape to the south had
become a major feature of tourism in Europe. Many health resorts were developed to
provide for the rising needs of wealthy people (Manish Srivastava, 2006).

1.4 Motivation for Tourism

A motive can be described as a person’s fundamental predisposition to arrive

at for or to endeavor toward a general class of goals. Motivated striving may be
based on biological needs and desires through an extended period of past
experience.
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Various studies of tourism psychology and motivation show that individuals
generally travel for more than one purpose and for many, perhaps the majority,
tourism is the result of a mixture of motivations.

Various efforts have been done to analyze as to why people aspire to become
travelers. McIntosh (in Manish Srivastava 2006) has stated four basic travel
motivators. These are:

A. Physical Motivators: Physical motivators, which are connected to physical

recreation and relax, sporting behavior and exact medical treatment; all are
associated with the individual’s bodily health and happiness.
B. Cultural motivators: Cultural motivators, which are linked with the
individual’s wish to travel in order to study about other nations and their
people and their cultural heritage articulated in art, music, literature, folklore
etc.
C. Interpersonal motivators: Interpersonal motivators, which are connected to
a wish to visit relatives, friends, or to escape from ones family, workmates or
neighbors, or to meet new people and forge new friendships, or just to run
away from the routine of everyday life.
D. Status and prestige motivators: Status and prestige motivators, which are
recognized as the requirement of personal esteem & personal growth these
are connected to journey for business or expert interests, for the reason of
education or the pursuit of hobbies.

Above mentioned are the four broad categories of motivators.

1.5 Importance of Tourism

It is true that tourism stirs brisk activity in various spheres of the economy of
the host region. The service sector contributes more than 70% of the Gross Domestic
Product of advanced countries. Tourism is the chief basis of income to countries like
Maldives, Greece, Bermuda, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, and Caribbean islands. It is
the top employer in Australia, Bahamas, Brazil, Canada, France, Hong Kong,
Jamaica, Japan, Italy Singapore, the UK, and the USA. Number of tourists who
visited countries like Hong Kong, Singapore, and Seychelles has even outnumbered
their population.
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1.5.1 Tourism – a panacea for economic development

Tourism industry provides a number of economic benefits. Some of them are

given below.

1. Generation of employment opportunities. Being highly labor-intensive

tourism creates employment opportunities both direct and indirect.
2. Earns foreign exchange without exporting anything tangible. Tourism is
considered to be ‘invisible export’ as it brings immense foreign exchange
earnings without exporting anything tangible.
3. Leads to balanced regional development.
4. Helps to improve per capita income and standard of living.
5. Facilitates development of basic infrastructure amenities.
6. Promotes a hub by economic activities.
7. Tourism promotes related industries such as handicrafts, spices, coir, textiles,
gems, jewellery and furnishing goods.
8. With the active involvement of private entrepreneurs and new tourism
related business will come up.
9. Generates income for the government.

1.5.2 Social and Cultural advantages of Tourism

In addition to the economic benefits mentioned above tourism provides
certain social and cultural advantages. Some of these advantages are as follows

1. Promotes social mobility. Leisure and relaxation activities create social

mobility of people.
2. Promotes universal brotherhood, international understanding and world
peace.
3. Facilitates preservation of many vanishing arts.
4. Promotes pilgrimage to holy places.
5. Promotes urbanization in the host region.
6. Revives local architectural traditions, regional peculiarities, the ancestral
heritage and cultural environment.
7. Preserves ancient monuments and historical sites.
8. Helps exchange of cultural values.
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1.6 Global Tourism Trends

Globally, an ever increasing number of destinations have opened up and

invested in tourism development, turning modern tourism into a key driver of socio-
economic growth through infrastructure development, the creation of jobs and
enterprises and the export revenues earned. As a globally traded service, inbound
tourism has become one of the world’s majorly trade groups. The overall export
income generated by inbound tourism, including passenger transportation, exceeded
US$ 1 trillion in 2010, or close to US$ 3 billion per day. Tourism and travelling
exports account for as much as 30% of the world’s exports of commercial services
and 6% of overall exports of goods and services. Internationally, as an export
category, tourism industry has been ranked fourth after fuels, chemicals and
automotive products. For many growing countries it is one of the major sources of
foreign exchange income and the number one export category, creating mostly
required employment and opportunities for development. Tourism industry is one of
the top five export contributors among 150 countries, and over 60 it is the number
one export. It is one of the main sources of foreign exchange for one – third of
developing countries and one - half of each Least Developed Countries (LDCs),
where it measures for up to 40% of their GDP.

Tourism industry is generating huge employment opportunities. As tourism

industry is intensified with high labor activity, tourism and tourism based practices
enhance a high proportion of career opportunities and employment for low and semi
skilled labor, especially for poor, young and female workers. Female contribution is
up to 70% of the workers in tourism sector and half of the all tourism workforce are
25 years or below. The tourism industry can be a significant employment source for
many unemployed youth and thus decreases the poverty in the society (UNCTAD
2010).

International market trends spell out that long-haul journey, bordering nation
tourism, ethnic tourism, rural tourism, cultural tourism, spiritual tourism, wellness
and health holidays, sports and adventure holidays, ecotourism, and coastal tourism
and cruises are some promising areas of tourist attractions. According to the
geographic view, there has been a remarkable development in Asian tourists,
particularly from China and the East Asian countries. Moreover, the average age of
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a global tourist has also been reducing, representing a rising slice of young visitors
who zealously travel to have a break to relive from pressureful professional lives.

After a negative growth of 4.2% in international tourist arrivals in 2009,

world tourism improved in 2010 with an inspiring growth rate of 6.7%. International
tourism continues to consolidate the 2010 recovery, despite the recent progress in
the Middle East and North Africa as well as the sad events in Japan. However, the
influence of these events on tourism is expected to be lower to the destinations
directly involved. UNWTO’s development forecast for global tourist arrivals in
2011 is between 4 to 5%. Robust rise in tourism is likely to continue in the
upcoming years also. UNWTO predicts over one billion arrivals in 2010.
Worldwide, long-distance journey is likely to grow faster (5.4% each year) than
travel within the regions (3.8%).

Continuing world prosperity, growing recognition of tourism’s contribution

to employment and economic growth, focused marketing and promotion efforts,
availability of better infrastructure, growing intraregional cooperation, liberalization
of air transport, and highly effective Public-Private-Partnerships (PPPs) are seen as
the major drivers for tourism in the next decade.

World tourist arrivals in South Asia are likely to develop at a fast pace (6.2
%) than arrivals in Europe (3.1 %) and the share of Asian market of international
tourism would constantly increase to 1.2 % until 2020. The changes in essential
trends thus represent numerous opportunities for growing economies. Such
opportunities also contribute avenues to build up niche areas such as medical
tourism and rural tourism.

1.6.1 Total volume of cross-border tourist travel

Global tourist arrivals attain 1.035 billion in 2012, up from over 983 million
in 2011, and 940 million in 2010 (UNWTO, 2012). In 2011 and 2012, global travel
demand continued to get better from the losses resulting from the late-2000s crisis,
where tourism suffered a larger slowdown from the second half of 2008 through the
end of 2009. After that, a 5% boost in the first half of 2008, rise in global tourist
arrivals moved into negative slot in the second half of 2008, and ended up at only
2% for the year, compared to a 7% growth in 2007 (Douglas Harper, 2011). The
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recession trend strengthened during 2009; worsened in some countries due to the
outbreak of the H1N1 influenza virus, resulting in a worldwide crisis of 4.2% in
2009 to 880 million global tourists’ arrivals, and a 5.7% slow down in world tourism
receipts (UNWTO, 2012).

1.6.2 Most-visited countries by international tourist arrivals

The World Tourism Organization reports the following ten countries as the
majorly visited in terms of the number of global travelers in the year 2013
(UNWTO, 2014).

Table 1.1: Ten countries as the majority visited in terms of the number
of world travelers for the year 2013

International International Change Change

UNWTO
Rank Country tourist tourist
Region (2012 - 13) (2011 - 12)
arrivals(2013) arrivals(2012)
1 France Europe — 83.0 million — 1.8%
United North
2 69.8 million 66.7 million 4.7% 6.3%
States America
3 Spain Europe 60.7 million 57.5 million 5.6% 2.3%
4 China Asia 55.7 million 57.7 million 3.5% 0.3%
5 Italy Europe 47.7 million 46.4 million 2.9% 0.5%
6 Turkey Europe 37.8 million 35.7 million 5.9% 3.0%
7 Germany Europe 31.5 million 30.4 million 3.7% 7.3%
United
8 Europe 31.2 million 29.3 million 6.4% 0.1%
Kingdom
9 Russia Europe 28.4 million 25.7 million 10.2% 13.5%
10 Thailand Asia 26.5 million 22.4 million 18.8% 16.2%

Source: World Tourism Organization, “UNWTO Tourism Highlights-2014”,

UNWTO Publications, 2014, pp.6.
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1.6.3 International tourism receipts

International tourism receipts have been raised to US$1.159 trillion (€873

billion) in 2013, corresponding to an uptrend in real terms of 5.3% from 2012
(UNWTO, 2012). The World Tourism Organization reports the following countries
as the top ten tourism earners for the year 2013, with the United States by far the
larger earner (WTO, 2014).

Table 1.2: The top ten tourism earners for the year 2013

International International Change Change

UNWTO
Rank Country tourist receipts tourist receipts
Region (2012 -13) (2011 -12)
(2013) (2012)
United North
1 $139.6 billion $126.2 billion 10.6 9.2
States America
2 Spain Europe $60.4 billion $56.3 billion 7.4 6.3
3 France Europe $56.1 billion $53.6 billion 4.8 2.2
4 China Asia $51.7 billion $50.0 billion 3.3 3.2
Macao
5 Asia $51.6 billion $43.7 billion 18.1 13.7
(China)
6 Italy Europe $43.9 billion $41.2 billion 6.6 4.2
7 Thailand Asia $42.1 billion $33.8 billion 24.4 24.4
8 Germany Europe $41.2 billion $38.1 billion 8.1 1.9
United
9 Europe $40.6 billion $36.2 billion 12.1 3.3
Kingdom
10 Hong Kong Asia $38.9 billion $33.1 billion 17.7 16.2

Source: World Tourism Organization, “UNWTO Tourism Highlights-2014”,

UNWTO Publications, 2014, pp.6.
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1.6.4 International tourism expenditure

The World Tourism Organization reports the following countries as the top
ten biggest spenders on international tourism for the year 2013 (WTO, 2014).

Table 1.3: The top ten biggest spenders on international tourism for the
year 2013

International International Change

UNWTO
Rank Country tourist expenditure tourist expenditure 2012 to
Region
2013 2012 2013
1 China Asia $128.6 billion $102.0 billion 23.8
United North
2
States America $86.2 billion $83.5 billion 3.3
3 Germany Europe $85.9 billion $81.3 billion 2.3
4 Russia Europe $53.5 billion $42.8 billion 28.9
United
5 Europe
Kingdom $52.6 billion $51.3 billion 3.5
6 France Europe $42.4 billion $39.1 billion 4.9
North
7 Canada
America $35.2 billion $35.0 billion 3.2
8 Australia Oceania $28.4 billion $28.0 billion 8.8
9 Italy Europe $27.0 billion $26.4 billion (1.0)
South
10 Brazil
America $25.1 billion $22.2 billion 12.9

Source: World Tourism Organization, “UNWTO Tourism Highlights-2014”,

UNWTO Publications, 2014, Pp.13.

1.7 Indian Tourism Trends

Tourism industry is one of the prospective economic sectors to develop India

at a larger rate and make sure of the consequential growth of the infrastructure at the
destinations. It has the potential to capture and capitalize on the country’s success in
the services sector and contribute sustainable models of development. In India, it is
forecasted that per million rupees of investment on tourism and travel sector can
generate 78 jobs compared to 45 jobs in the manufacturing sector for same
investment. Apart from providing employment to a broad spectrum of job finders
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from the unskilled to the specialized skilled, a larger proportion of tourism
advantages (jobs, petty trade opportunities) accrue to women.

According to the Tourism Satellite Account for the year 2002-03 arranged by
Ministry of Tourism, the direct and indirect contribution of tourism to the GDP and
the aggregate employment in the nation from the 2007-08 is measured to be 5.92 %
and 9.24 % respectively. Nation’s economy has been contributed by three-fourths by
the domestic tourism.

Tourism has the prosperous potential to motivate other economic continuums

through its forward and backward connections with a host of sectors like agriculture,
manufacturing, hospitality, education, transport, banking, health, etc. investment on
tourism persuades a chain of transactions requiring supply of goods and services
from these associated sectors. The consumption demand, emanating from tourist
expenditure also generates larger employment and creates an amplified effect on the
economy. As a result, additional incomes, benefits and employment opportunities
are created through such connections. Therefore, the expansion of the tourism sector
can lead to large scale employment generation and poverty mitigations. The
economic benefits that pour into the economy through development of tourism in the
form of strengthened national and state revenues, employment, business receipts,
wages and salary income, buoyancy in local, state and central tax receipts can
contribute towards overall socio-economic growth and accelerated development of
the economy. India requires tap the full potential of a sound tourism sector.

Though tourism industry is overwhelmingly of private sector service

contributors, the public sector has an important role to play in the provision of
infrastructure, either directly or through Public Private Partnership (PPP). It is a
multi-sectoral action characterized by multiple services contributed by a range of
suppliers. It is completely similar to manufacturing industry, where in which the
supply chain is as significant as an end-product. The linked sectors include airlines,
hotels, basic infrastructure surface transport and facilitation systems, etc. Therefore,
the development of tourism cannot be gained unless the issues associated to all the
sectors are addressed simultaneously.
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Continuing global prosperity, growing identification of tourism’s
contribution to economic growth and employment, focused marketing and
promotion efforts, liberalization of air transport, availability of better infrastructure,
growing intraregional cooperation, and more successful Public Private Partnerships
(PPPs) are seen as the vital drivers for tourism in upcoming decade.

The development of inbound tourism in India has been brighter than the
world. India registered a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.1%
throughout 2001 to 2010 as against 3.6% for the world during the same period.
United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has predicted that the travel
& tourism industry in India will rise by 8% per annum, in original terms, between
2008 and 2016. Foreign exchange yielding from tourism could show 14% of annual
growth during the same period.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) to India has seen somewhat of a theatrical

turnaround from 2002, when a temporary down trend was reversed forcefully. This
aggressive trend was the result of various factors such as Government of India’s
“Incredible India” campaign, the tourism industry’s constant seeking for new
destinations, high visibility afforded to India by its economic success, and to some
extent development in infrastructure in specific areas (such as better air connectivity
of smaller and remote destinations). The total number of foreign tourist arrivals in
India in 2010 was 5.58 million, registering an annual growth rate of 8.1% over the
year 2009. The foreign exchange incomes from tourism during 2010 were US$
14.19 billion with a growth 24.6% over the year 2009. Despite this burgeoning
Asian market share, India’s total share in world tourist arrivals remains a modest
0.6%. Whether measured by the yardstick of its amplified tourism resources, or its
emerging economic significance, India’s low share of tourism arrivals is certainly
below potential.

Domestic tourism plays a vital role in overall tourism development in the

country. The figure of domestic tourist visits (DTVs) grown from 462 million in
2006 to 740 million in 2010. In 2009 when the country witnessed a negative rise of
2.2 % in FTAs, domestic tourist visits registered a growth of 18.8 %. This uptrend of
DTVs sustained several tourism infrastructures during negative period for the
tourism sector.
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The ASEAN Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2012 by World
Economic Forum states that India has vital potential, related mainly to cultural
endowments. The country is well examined for its natural potent (ranked 8th), and
cultural resources (24th), with many global heritage sites, both natural and cultural,
rich fauna, many fairs, museums and exhibitions. Given the country’s level of
growth, the country has a better air transport infrastructural facilities and a
reasonable transport infrastructure facilities. Low airport charges and low prices for
manufactured goods and qualitative services in the economy as a whole contribute to
India’s price spiritedness. It is very important to note that India has the benefit of a
healthy domestic tourism base which was 740 million tourist visits in 2010. This
foundation is likely to improve on the back of a fastly growing middle class with
improved disposable incomes and awareness.

Despite the lower rankings on the competitiveness measure, it is apparent

that India can influence its higher rankings in certain kinds to exploit its tourism
potential over in the next decade with appropriate planning. This strength, if
exploited in an expertise and sustainable way, can confirm to be the proverbial
engine of development for India. This can be accomplished only with healthy
cooperation from the states / UTs. As tourism is a multi-sectoral activity, planning
commission would have to have a significant role in solving the issues involved with
other ministries / organizations at central level and even with the states / UTs.

The 12th Five Year Plan, had been developed by planning commission,
describes the requirement to adopt a ‘pro-poor tourism’ approach targeted as an
objective at strengthening the net benefits to the poor people from tourism and make
sure that tourism growth provides to poverty cutback. The approach paper also
includes the need to develop a wide-ranging set of strategies for a variety of actions,
from macro level to micro level, including infrastructure and product development,
marketing, planning, branding and promotion, policy and investment.

As per the ministry of tourism, government of India has provided a main

push in this approach and is endorsing tourism as a means of economic development
and social additional strength for the country. The position of government in tourism
industry rise has been predetermined from that of a controlling measure to that of a
catalyst. Moreover, apart from marketing and promotion, the tourism development
 17
planning schedule has to spotlight on an integrated development of facilitating
infrastructure facilities through effective and efficient partnership with several
stakeholders.

1.8 Conclusion

Since time immemorial, the urge to travel, explore new places and a
fascination for a change from the routine has led to the evolution of tourism. Trade
and commerce, quest for knowledge and the exploration of new sites contribute to
the development of tourism. There are several motivating factors which make an
average person seek tourism. The significance of tourism contributes to the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of a country’s economy and its growth, generating
employment, cross cultural bonding among the global population and declining of
borders. Indian tourism has made a significant turnaround from 2002. Places of
historical significance and many heritage sites have made India a great prospect for
tourism. The Indian Government’s campaign ‘Incredible India’ has contributed to a
great extent to India’s prospects in tourism industry.

References:

1. Beaver and Allan (2002), ‘A Dictionary of Travel and Tourism

Terminology’, CAB International Wallingford, pp. 313.
2. Douglas Harper (2011), ‘Online Etymology Dictionary’, Ohio University,
Athens, the US.
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