Sustainable Development Of Pilgrimage Tourism Tourism Essay

BAGRI. S (1995) sustainable development of pilgrimage tourism in destination areas, it is important to have responsible visitors with high pro-environmental orientation and a critical minimum knowledge of pilgrimage tourism. Most of the pilgrimage, adventurous, and leisure destination in India are in ecologically sensitive locations with environmental resources, thus understanding tourists’ environmental orientation is critical for destination management. In this context, the environmental orientation and eco tourism awareness of tourist visiting some of the key environmental orientations of pilgrimage tourism and leisure tourists is presented. The exits significant differences among these categories in terms of environmental orientation compared to the leisure tourists. Thus, the study implies that the transformation of general environmental orientation in to awareness of eco tourism and pilgrimage tourism

Batra and Kaur (1996) in their paper highlighted that there were two types of relationships between tourism and environment i.e. coexistence and conflicting. Coexistence relationship presented harmony between tourism and environment. However, conflicting relationship between tourism and environment caused huge problems like visual pollution, sewage problem, water and air pollution, and lastly ecological problem. They viewed that social costs in tourism industry were much more than any other type of industries but these costs were not included in financial report of the tourism industry.

Boyd and Butler (1996) in their study revealed that ecotourism was dependent upon the quality of the environment and extra care was required by managers to minimize negative tourism impacts on environment. The study concluded that eco-tourism development occurred in more remote areas of the world which required appropriate management and eco-tourism opportunity spectrum (ECOS) was best fitted to it.

Brohman (1996) in his study highlighted that the third world countries enjoyed very fast growth rate of tourism at the cost of socio-economic and environmental degradation. The author opined that the third world countries must adopt proper tourism planning after consulting local people and tourism related investment and revenue should be used for the benefit of local community. The study suggested that alternative

tourism strategies must be designed with the help of local people to reduce negative impacts and increase positive effects of tourism during unfavourable circumstances.

Buhalis (1998) in his study viewed that because of ever increasing use of information technology in tourism sector, future success of tourism organizations and destinations would be determined by a combination of innovative management, marketing and strategic use of advanced information technology.

Gupta (1999) in this study praised Indian religious tourism which grew for many years without causing negative environmental, cultural and social impacts. The author viewed that pilgrimage had less burden on environment, benefited local communities, was seasonal and provided economic benefits to the local community. The author recommended to develop such type of modern tourism which benefited local communities without harming natural environment.

Noronha (1999) in his study highlighted that local people felt threatened and degraded by inappropriate behaviour of the tourists. The study also revealed that the benefits from tourism were not utilized for the development of the local people in Goa. The author recommended that strategies must be formulated by the state government to manage tourism trade and plug back profits received from tourism trade for the development of local people in Goa.

Kreiner and Kliot (2000) in their paper stated that there was considerable differences between pilgrims’ and tourists’ behaviour towards any religious site inspite of the fact that both had three common elements like discretionary income, leisure time and social sanctions. The study concluded that although various differences were there between tourists and pilgrims but it was very difficult to present those differences.

Madan and Rawat (2000) in their study viewed that the tourism industry in Mussoorie got its saturation point and there was a need to develop some nearby places like Dhanolti and Park Estate for the development of tourism.

Mehta and Arora (2000) in this study appraised tourism promotion activities adopted by tourism ministry in Punjab. Published material of the state tourism department was incomplete, unattractive and insufficient for foreign tourists. The study recommended that the state government must adopt standardized form of media for the promotion of tourism industry in Punjab.

Mishra (2000) in his study stated that among pilgrim sites, Brajmandal was one of the highly recommended places to visit. The study also highlighted the main problems regarding poor infrastructure, accommodation facilities, quality of food, shopping facilities, public convenience, communication and cheating and misguiding etc. faced by pilgrims in Brajmandal. The author suggested both operational measures like restructuring of tourism related laws, need for systems approach in managing tourism development, interacting with tourists in a healthy manner and supportive role of non-governmental organizations and operative measures like strategy for tourism development, creation of Brajmandal Development Board and creation of Brajmandal region on the line of Vatican City to increase the tempo of pilgrimage tourism in Brajmandal.

Harsh nevatia (2001) ” Religious tourism in India has immense potential to evolve as a niche segment. There are hurdles to be overcome. The first hurdle is the poor tourism infrastructure in general, and perhaps the even poorer infrastructure of religious centres. Adequate facilities for lodging, boarding and travelling and travel will have to be created. what needs to be done is to create nodes near religious centres, where there is already a basic infrastructure present and plan day trips from there religious tourism in India can provide an experience that cannot be had anywhere in the world, but for it to fructify, the seeds will have to be sown and the saplings will have to be natured”.

Wilson and John (2001) in this study highlighted several factors namely tourism package, good leadership, support of local government, funds, strategic planning, coordination between local people, and technical assistance for tourism promotion etc. which were essential for rural tourism development. The authors viewed that rural tourism provided income and employment opportunities to local people in rural areas having unutilized huge natural resources.

Cheerath (2002) in his study found that the main reason behind foreign tourists’ attraction towards Kerala was ayurveda. It revealed different types of ayurvedic treatment techniques like nasyam, snehapanam, sirovasthi, sirodhara and vasthi etc. used in Kerala for treatment of both domestic and foreign tourists. The study suggested that appropriate tourism policies must be formulated by Kerala government to prevent such activities.

Biju (2002) in his study made an attempt to explain evolutionary process of global tourism. The study concluded that the advancements made in transport and communication systems were the main reasons behind rapid growth of tourism globally.

Caprihan and Shivakumar (2002) in their article observed that India adopted age old tourism strategies those targeting only two countries U.K. and USA. The author emphasized on the adoption of innovative and customized tourism strategies by Indian government.

Singh (2002) in his paper gave a brief overview of tourism policy in India. The author highlighted that these policies were domestic tourism oriented rather than international tourism oriented. The study concluded that India had huge potential to develop tourism but the absence of appropriate process of policy formulation and implementation seemed to be the main hurdle in tourism development.

Singh (2002) in his research paper highlighted the need for managing the impact of tourist and pilgrim mobility in the Indian Himalayas. The study revealed that heavy flow of pilgrims and tourists during the peak season from April to June lead to problems relating to accommodation, catering, sewage, sanitation, water supply, tariff and ecological degradation. The study suggested the need for travel regulation, education of visitors, marketing of alternative destinations and targeted marketing to get rid of problems relating from mass tourism and pilgrimage in Garhwal.

Bansal and Gautam (2003) in their study described that Himachal Pradesh had large number of heritage sites with status of first heritage village of India. They also highlighted that lack of resources, lack of expertise, lack of ready product, mutual lack of knowledge and minimal marketing were the main reasons affecting heritage tourism in Himachal Pradesh. They suggested the introduction of entrance fees from tourists visiting heritage centres and separate heritage management board to preserve and promote the heritage sites.

Bar and Hatab (2003) in their study stated that tourism and pilgrimage tourism stood at opposite ends of a continuum with wide range of journey within these two ends. The authors revealed that the main reason behind modern tourists’ travelling was cultural curiosity, education and desire to enrich themselves. Despite this they found that pilgrims preferred to visit holy sites only during religious festivals. The study concluded that while pilgrims most of the time visited only religious places the modern tourists visited the holy places and secular places equally.

Batra (2003) in his study on different Buddhist pilgrimage sites viewed that India had tremendous potential to attract a large number of tourists from Far East and South-East Asia but due to lack of proper roads, basic amenities, infrastructure facilities and inadequate promotional efforts on the part of both the central and state government the growth rate of Buddhist tourism in India was very slow.

Biju (2003) in his paper stated that eco-tourism was both nature based and ecologically sustainable. It entailed minimum impact on environment because as required less infrastructure facilities and services when compared with conventional tourism. However, ecotourism activities lead to an unnecessary pressure on natural resources worldwide which required appropriate environmental planning and management of natural areas for sustainable development of ecotourism.

Bleie (2003) in his study discussed pilgrimage tourism in central Himalayas with the help of Manakamana temple in Nepal. The author evaluated local people’s perception about socio-cultural, economical and environmental risk associated with modern mechanical transport.The study suggested that pilgrimage tourism must build on principles of sustainable tourism to overcome the cultural, developmental, conservational and commercial risk associated with it.

George (2003) in this article emphasized the need for master plan with long term vision including development of basic tourism facilities such as road, railways, airport, walkways, drainage, benchmarking and tourism laws for development of tourism. The author also recommended a strategic management committee for tourism administration function.

Poria and Airely (2003) in this study discussed the effect of religion and religiosity on tourism industry. They observed that religion had direct impact on tourists’ consumption habits and their preference to choose any destination. The study highlighted that the tourists’ preference to visit a particular site was directly dependent upon their religion and their strength of religious belief. Moreover, different religious sites represented different things with different meanings to different tourists and these different meanings determined the behavioural pattern of tourists towards particular religious sites.

Singh (2003) in his study evaluated the relationship between travel and different aspects of societal structure with the help of a comparison between India and United States. The study highlighted different similarities like complex societies, democracies and stratification system between India and United States. To know the behavioural pattern of people towards travel he also explained differences on the basis of population, area and societal development between the two societies. It revealed that travel related decisions by the Indian middle class were directly influenced by religious thought. However, travel related decisions by the American middle class were influenced by leisure time and money. The study concluded that huge differences between societal structures of India and United States gave birth to different types of tourism i.e. pilgrimage tourism in India and secular tourism in United States.

Bahuguna (2004) in her paper made an attempt to evaluate development of tourism industry in India with the help of tenth Five Year Plan approach. She highlighted that tenth plan considered enhancing India’s competitiveness as tourist destination. Moreover, tourism study revealed that the share of India in world tourism was stagnant with only 0.38 per cent. Further, in case of domestic tourism India had prominent share of 4.3 per cent worldwide. She concluded that India had vast potential for different types of tourism like ecotourism, health tourism, pilgrimage tourism and health tourism which required proper planning.

Caprihan and Shivakumar (2004) in their study highlighted mainly four features of eco-tourism i.e. preservation, supportiveness, involvement and empowerment to provide more livelihood opportunities to local people. Authors viewed that India had vast potential of ecotourism but proper planning required for preservation of natural resources was lacking. Further only few Indian states like Karnataka, Kerala, Sikkim, Rajasthan and Andhra pardesh had announced tourism policy for the development of eco-tourism. They highlighted the issue of mis-management at national parks and sanctuaries which required a well defined eco-tourism policy and states’ strong willingness to preserve the environment.

Kolas (2004) in his study highlighted the development of ethical and religious tourism in Shangri-la. It revealed that the development of tourism in this region provided revenue to the local community. The author also highlighted that with the help of place making strategies China renamed Zhongdian County as Shangri-la and promoted this place as per notions of Tibetan religious identity. The study concluded that similar strategies could convert an unfavourable tourist destination into a favourable one.

Kumar and Chandersekar (2004) in their study highlighted that tourism had tremendous potentials of earning foreign exchange, yielding tax revenue, generating employment and contributing to the economic growth of the country. To cater the need of tourism industry, more hotels, resorts, recreation facilities, transportation facilities and other auxiliary services were required.This unplanned development of tourism infrastructure lead to several problems like congestion, overcrowding and pollution etc. The authors suggested a tourism management plan including standard for resort development, style and location of structure, planning for sewage and preservation of open spaces to be adopted by every country for sustainable development of tourism industry.

National Council for Applied Economic Research Report (2004) indicated that religious tourism emerged as booming market in India. The report highlighted that in comparison to 28 per cent share of leisure tour packages, the number of religious trips was much more with 50 per cent share. It also highlighted that with 23 million visitors, Tirupati was at first place followed by Puri and Mata Vaishno Devi with 18.17 million and 17.25 million visitors respectively. In spite of this, Buddhist pilgrimage also flourished in India. Buddhist pilgrims from Japan, South Korea, Thiland and Sri Lanka and recently from China liked to visit India to see places related to Buddha. The report concluded that India had great potential of religious tourism and therefore Confederation of Indian Industry had recommended the government to identify 25 domestic tourist sites and spend upto Rs. 22 million at each site for infrastructure development. Rana (2004) in his study evaluated behavioural perspective of pilgrims and tourists in Banars (Kashi). The study highlighted different factors like economic, social, cultural, job status and perspective of life to study the behaviour of tourists’. The study also examined tourists’ purpose of visit, accommodation used, media of information, tourist attractions, mode of transportation, expenditure, overall impression, symbolic meaning of Kashi and sound scape and smell scape in Banars. The author found that the tourists faced several problems like scarcity of parking space, non-availability of accommodation, lack of publicity material and authentic map while visiting Kashi. The study suggested that to solve the problems of both domestic and international tourists and to preserve the cultural heritage and aesthetic values in Banaras proper plans and policy must be formulated by both the state and central government.

Singh (2004) in his study discussed pilgrimage tourism in Indian Himalayas and highlighted different types of tourism like pilgrimage, adventure, wild life, eco-tourism and leisure tourism offered by modern Himalayas. He highlighted that modern form of tourism in Himalayan states like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir was totally unplanned and had drastic effect on natural and sociocultural environment. He recommended that a well planned tourism development approach must be adopted by Himalayan states because their income was largely dependent upon travel and tourism.

Singh and Mishra (2004) in their study highlighted social, economical and environmental dimensions of tourism in Manali. They observed an increase of 270 per cent in tourist arrivals in Manali from last three decades. The authors revealed that Manali was experiencing environmental problems like acute shortage of water, overcrowded roads, heavy traffic, excessive garbage, unplanned growth and illegal constructions and sanitation problems. They also examined several variables like tourist season, expenditure pattern, tourism taxes, accommodation, transport and carrying capacity of town which were essential for tourism industry in Manali. Besides this they suggested different short and long term strategies for accommodation, transportation, water, sewage, energy and finance. The study suggested that cautious steps must be taken by the state government to avoid mass tourism and create healthy eco-tourism in Manali.

Srinivasan and Nath (2004) in their article discussed the role of information technology for development of tourism industry in India. They stated that only Kerala was making use of information technology in tourism. The researchers stressed on mainly three elements of tourism industry i.e. service providers, agencies of tourism and tourists which required an adequate information system. Moreover they presented an integrated tourism information system model to facilitate most of the functions of all the three elements of tourism industry. The authors also highlighted the importance of integrated tourism information system in hotel industry, travel industry and handicraft industry. The study recommended that India must adopt modern information technology practices for tourism to sustain in both domestic and international market.

Woodward (2004) in his article made an attempt to represent religious sites as an important source of income for many countries. He opined that the income generated by religious sites could be used for repair and maintenance of those particular sites and other religious sites. The study highlighted that most of the world famous religious sites were not able to accommodate large number of visitors at one time which lead to several accidental damages, noise pollution, overcrowding, theft incidents, littering and parking problems. The author suggested several remedies like charging for vehicle access and entry fees to religious site etc. to overcome the above mentioned problems. He felt that there was need for separate planning for those who visit for religious purpose and those who visit only as sightseers.

Anbalagan, Selvam and Amudha (2005) in their study highlighted tourism as India’s third largest export industry after ready made garments, jams and jewellery. The authors suggested five point strategy i.e. strong sustained policies, private sector involvement, liberalization of aviation, elimination of red tape and investment in human resource development to achieve sustained growth rate in tourism industry in India.

Murgan (2005) in his article highlighted that the main reason behind explosion of domestic tourism in India was world famous pilgrimage sites. Further, till 1980 it was the North that dominated the Indian tourism industry with 70 per cent market share but now it declined to 49 per cent. He viewed that the main reason behind this declining trend was more focused tourism development in the Southern region. The author highlighted that Indian tourism industry was facing several challenges like scarcity of hotel rooms, high taxes, sick aviation policies and unnecessary delay in visa etc.

Dixit (2005) in his study examined tourism pattern in Uttarakhand. He highlighted that religious tourists, pleasure tourists, and adventure and nature lovers preferred to visit Uttarakhand. Further these tourists had different behaviour patterns regarding food, transport and accommodation. The study revealed that adventure tourism was the fastest growing sector in Uttarakhand as compared to religious tourism. Moreover, religious tourism in Uttarakhand was affected adversely by seasonality syndrome. The author recommended that adventure tourism, yoga and meditation related tourism could help in overcoming seasonality syndrome of Uttarakhand. He also emphasized a close coordination of public, private and local government for expanding tourists’ season in Uttarakhand.

Rao and Sikha (2005) in their study presented Bollywood as an effective tool for promotion of Indian tourism industry worldwide. They highlighted that Bollywood produce 27 per cent of total global film production and the reach of Bollywood was 188 million audiences in Indian sub-continental, 20 million NRIs, and large number of non- Indians in other countries. Further, different countries invited Indian film industry for film shooting in their country because it generated revenue and employment for local communities. The study recommended that India should also present itself as favourable destination for film shooting.

Sarathy (2006) in this article gave an overview of religious tourism with respect to Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Sikhism and Jainism. He mentioned various levels of religious tourism like international, national and regional. He revealed that pilgrimage peak during the religious festivals and people visited the centres of their faith in groups. The author also found Hinduism as third largest faith amongst the world’s religions and having largest number of religious places. He also highlighted different religious festivals celebrated in India like Kumbh Mela, Brahmotsavam, Makar Jyoti and Rath Yatra and described Kumbh Mela as the largest religious gathering at a single place in the world. The author also explained Buddism, Islam, Sikhism and Janism as important religions in India and the world.

Singh (2006) in her study highlighted pilgrimage tourism in Indian Himalayas with the help of four dimensions of tourism namely travel, strangers, leisure and secularity. The study also highlighted four main reasons behind Hindu pilgrimage in Indian Himalayas i.e. social and national integration, social cohesion, growth of intellectual knowledge, and source of values for human beings. The author opined that increasing number of pilgrims and tourists in Indian Himalayas was responsible for several problems like overcrowding, congestion, traffic and environmental pollution. The researcher suggested that education and awareness building programmes could directly help in increasing the awareness level of both pilgrims and tourists regarding pollution free environment in Himalayas.

Sud (2006) in this study highlighted the external tourism and its positive impacts on Indian economy. It revealed that India had huge potential for tourism but problems like lack of airline seats, non availability of rooms in hotels, and lack of professional expertise to handle tourists discouraged foreign tourists to choose India as tourist destination. Moreover tour operators overseas never mentioned India because of poor infrastructure facilities. The study also highlighted that though India had inadequate tourism infrastructure yet foreign tourists liked to visit India because of its rich culture. These foreign tourists directly helped the rural economy by staying in local hotels, eating local food and buying local handicraft.

Dasgupta, Mondal and Basu (2006) in their study made an attempt to evaluate the impact of pilgrimage tourism at Ganga Sagar Island. They viewed that in India people travelled large number of pilgrimage places to earn virtue. Similarly Ganga Sagar was the place where a holy dip during Makar Sankranti earned that much of virtue which one could earn by visiting all the pilgrim centres through put life. The study highlighted that pilgrimage tourism in Ganga Sagar opened several sources of cash earning and supported several new occupations like tea stalls, hotels, vans, rikshaw pullers, auto drivers and STD shops etc. However, it had some negative social-cultural impact on their life in the form of immoral activities by tourists. The study concluded that though pilgrimage tourism had some negative impact in Ganga Sagar, the overall impact of tourism in Ganga Sagar was positive and provided a large number of economical and developmental benefits to the local people.

Kumar (2007) in his study made an attempt to evaluate impact of Tsunami on beach tourism. It revealed that about 3 lac people were killed due to Tsunami in 12 countries. Further, most of the displaced people suffered from several psychological problems. The study highlighted several natural disasters like cyclones, floods, Tsunami and earthquakes which affected beach tourism adversely in both the developed and developing countries. The author found that out of 1192 islands of Maldives 42 were lost. The study suggested several measures like installation of advance warning system, coastal zone management, community awareness and disaster training programmes to reduce the impact of Tsunami.

Motiram (2007) in his study described the impact of globalization on mass tourism in India i.e. Beach Tourism, Mountain Tourism, and Religious Tourism. The study highlighted that due to globalization the tourism industry generate more employment, and more foreign exchange earnings. Further, it facilitated infrastructure development in the country. The researcher pointed out that India was the third fastest growing travel and tourism economy in the world after Montenegro and China. The author suggested that India must develop tourism infrastructure to attract international tourists in large numbers.

Rishi and Giridhar (2007) in their paper evaluated tourism industry in Himachal pradesh with the help of SWOT analysis. It highlighted the unique natural offerings of Himachal Pradesh which it could not cash due to lack of various facilities like food, transportation, water and accommodation etc. The researcher viewed that to leverage tourism potential it was necessary to analyse the needs, perceptions, preferences and satisfaction level of tourists. The study concluded that Himachal Pradesh had vast potential of becoming one of the world’s top destinations provided it developed its infrastructure facilities and promoted its offerings in a suitable manner.

Patnaik (2007) in his article highlighted that Shree Jagannath Dham was among the 1000 most preferred destinations visited by salvation seeking foreigners and have second place in case of religious tourism in India. Further, he revealed that Mahodadhi (the birth place of goddess Luxami) was another important place in Puri for both foreign and domestic tourists and they take dip at this place during Ganga Sagar mela. The author suggested that religious places in India attract million of devotees every year and to tap the tourism opportunities, appropriate policies for religious tourism must be formulated and implemented.

Singh (2007) in his study made an attempt to analyse Buddhist tourism in India. He highlighted mainly four Buddhist pilgrimage circuits i.e. Kapilvastu, Magadha, Varanasi and Kusinagar in India having their importance at both national and international level. The study also revealed that different places like Sri Lanka, Myanmar and South-East Asia claimed that Buddha also visited their places. Further, to attract foreign tourists these countries developed themselves as Buddhist pilgrimage centres. The author opined that to survive in competitive situations and to attract more tourists, India must adopt appropriate tourism planning and strategies.

Winter (2007) in his study discussed the present scenario of tourism in Asia. It highlighted that within ten years Asia would have one of the fastest growing tourist population in the world. Despite this very little attention was received by Asian tourists in Asian countries. The author highlighted that the Asian countries mainly targeted Western countries for tourism and formulated tourism policies accordingly. Moreover, they ignored the needs of Asian tourists. The study suggested that a balanced approach which considered both Asian and Western tourists must be adopted by Asian countries while formulating tourism policy.

Chadha and Singh (2008) in their study discussed the need and expectations of religious tourists in Punjab. The study highlighted the difficulties of religious tourists pertaining to transportation, accommodation, food, shopping and hospitality. The researchers found that railways and air mode of transportation dominated all other forms of travel. They revealed that most of the religious tourists liked to stay near religious places because of convenience factor. It was also observed that problems like price discrimination in some products, lack of parking space, and improper signboards required immediate attention. The study concluded that combined approach by the Punjab Government and the State Tourism Department must be adopted to identify tourist circuits and to develop tour packages to attract more tourists to the state. Libison and Muralledharan (2008) in their study discussed the economic benefits of pilgrimage tourism in Subrimala to the local residents of Pandalam rural area. The study highlighted that the number of pilgrims visited Subbrimala temple was almost equal to the population of Kerala state. The author revealed that during pilgrimage season, a large number of economic activities including petty trading, accommodation and dormitory facilities, food and tea shops, transportation etc. took place in Pandalam which provided numerous socio-economic benefit to the region. They also found that during pilgrimage season, the standard of living of families based on food habits, clothing and saving pattern improved. The author suggested that a development committee including officials from Gram Panchayat, Devaswon Board, Pandalam Executive

Committee and local people must be formulated for development of long and short term plans to reap maximum benefits from pilgrimage season. Sinha (2008) in their study made an attempt to evaluate the impact of religious tourism on Gir Na