Tourism- A Booming Industry
“Nowhere in the world is found, such a beauty, different and diversified climate, flora, fauna, religions, and languages, dialects, dressing patterns, life style and rituals, like India.”
Tourism is one of the world’s most booming industries, generating approximately $ 4 trillion annually worldwide over 550 million international tourists, visit different parts of the world every year in order to satiate their desire to know the world. It is usually the middle class, with their limited resources has contributed a lot for this increase in tourism turnover. When the world earns a lot through the tourism, the share of India is nearly less than 0.5 percent, which envisages an alarm for tapping the last potential available in this business.
Tourism is, at present, the third largest foreign exchange earning sector in India after the gem and jewelry and readymade garments sector. It has received the status of an industry because it employs a large number of people, both skilled and unskilled, promotes national integration and international understanding and generates foreign exchange. The industry employs a large number of women, literate and semi-literate. In hotels, travel agencies, airlines and cultural activities. Tourism develops the traditional handicrafts sector and provides the tourist with an insight into the rich and diverse cultural heritage of India.
India is called a tourist’s paradise where not only the natural beauty but also the (magnificent historical places, monuments are existing. The splendour of Taj, ancient and architectural beauty of Ajanta, Ellora caves, the temples of Tamilnadu, the forts and palaces of Rajasthan, the Flora and Fauna of Kanya Kumari, the Puri temple of Orissa, the hill stations of Ooty, Darjeeling, Kodaikanal, Shimla, Manali, the snow clad mountains of Himalayas, all are such attraction for the tourist, rarely found in any other country or continent to the world.
Though, recently the tourist traffic to India has increased by 16% but there is still a question why so few people opt to come to India, as compared to the other countries of South East Asia. Bareilly three billion tourists arrive in India annually, while Malasia and Thailand at.’ AA:, to attract at least three times more than that of India.
Tourism industry is broadly divided into two main areas, i.e. the promote sector and the public sector. In the public sector, the operation is at a larger scale which involves hotel catering business, large infrastructure projects and areas where huge funds are at stake. Similarly, in the private sector, there are travel agents who mainly concentrate on the marketing of tourist destinations. They are basically retailers, who plan and set trips to individuals or groups. They book passage for air, rail, sea and road travel, arrange hotel reservations, hire cars and coaches. Most of the travel agents take on both international domestic bookings.
Department of Tourism in the nodal agency for the formulation of national policies and programmes which is assisted by the Director-General of ‘1’ourism, with 21 offices in India and 18 abroad. The State’ Directorates of Tourism are responsible for publishing and promoting travel within India for domestic tourists. Department of Tourism brings out literature of tourist interest in the form of folders, brochures etc. to provide complete information to tourists has set up different information centers at various Airports, Railways stations and tourists. Most of the State Departments of Tourism have set up the tourist information centers at their emporiums to promote tourism in their respective states. It is estimated that India’s tourism industry contributes about Rs. 90.5 billion every year to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and provides 17.4 million jobs.
To promote tourism as a flourishing business the government has to launch several measures to facilitate the tourists coming to India whether he is an Indian or a foreigner, care must be taken to see that the time spent by the tourists at a place must be enjoying, safe, comfort and they must cherish the sweet memories of the place, of the people. The journey enjoyed by rail, bus or by air must be comfortable. Tourists also like safe short haul destinations, cheap and comfortable accommodation and hygienic condition in hotels and restaurants. Separate windows be provided to cater the needs of the tourists at all Railway/Bus/Air Platforms. We can see many foreign tourists wandering hear and there to know the lit-bit details and found none to answer their queries, except the tourist guide they are having with them, that too, is from the foreign publishing house about a country renowned for hospitality, when come across to touts, the fleeing rickshaw pullers, the beggars and vagrants pacing up and down the aisles in the rail coaches.
The non-cooperative railway/bus clerks, unwholesome food at catering corners at too much higher rate, all their presumptions soon become sour and boon. They realize themselves surrounded by the cheats. The incidents of rape and sexual torture of the foreigners at the hands of miscreants, also caused a panic among the visitors. Such a cases put a multifold adverse effects on all our attempts to attract the tourist.
We can remove all such obstacles for prompting tourism, if the people, the government and all those involved in the tourism industry work together honestly and whole heartedly. Some of the agencies at central and state level assigned the task for promoting the tourism in our country.
The Department of Tourism, Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management, National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology and Indian Tourism Development Corporate Ltd etc. are some of the institutes of Tourism and Travel Management is an autonomous body set up to impart education in tourism and travel management to meet the demands in tourism and travel management to meet the demand of professionally trained personnel for the industry. One of the most important segment of tourism industry is the Hotel Sector, which has vast potential for employment generation and earning foreign exchange. A new classification of Heritage Hotels is introduced which covers the functioning of hotels in historical Havelis, Castles, Forts and Residents, built prior to 1950. These old structures where one finds the splendour of yesteryears are extremely popular with the tourists.
Most of the State Government have their own State Tourism Development Corporations. These corporations initiate several attractive schemes for the tourists, in a bid to develop tourism in the State Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation offers attractive package for the conferences organized by the corporate sector, government departments at selected tourist spots. Likewise, the governments of M.P. Orissa, Karnataka and Chennai offer several schemes to attract and promote the tourism in their respective states.
The terrorist activities in the Kashmir valley have had an adverse affect on the inflow of tourists in India. The peace, tranquility and safety are the foremost requirement for generating more inflow of tourism in India.
