Analysing The Tourism Industry Of India
Purpose – The paper aims to provide a holistic perspective on various dimensions of the tourism industry in India.
Design/methodology/approach – The paper combines analysis of various documents as well as insights from researchers. The paper discusses problems of the tourism Industry, strengths of the industry, challenges faced by the industry in India and policy implications of the government.
Findings – The paper explains the economic importance of tourism Industry in India by outlining the strengths and challenges of the Indian tourism industry. The paper has implications for the government and Industry players in terms of investment in hospitality education and training, infrastructure and better employment practices.
Practical implications – The paper provides recommendations for some of the initiatives that government and industry players could adopt.
Introduction
Tourism industry of India is enjoying the growth period, driven by the Indian middle class, increase in tourists who are ready to spend more and the government campaigns to promote India’s “Incredible India”. The tourism industry in India is substantial and vibrant, and the country is fast becoming a major global destination. It is one of the most profitable industries of India which also contributes huge amount of foreign exchange. In 2006 the amount spent by the tourists in the country was US$ 8.9 billion. Disposable income in India has grown by 10.11% annually from 2001-2006, and most of it has been spent on travels as mentioned in “Economy Watch”. Foreign tourists spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide. The tourism industry has supported growth in other sectors like horticulture, handicrafts, agriculture, construction and poultry. There is a gap between the potential of the tourism industry and the success achieved till now. Through this study we would try to find out the steps which can be taken to curb the shortages faced by this industry.
Industry Contribution
Due to booming industries like IT and outsourcing industry, a growing number of business trips are made by foreigners to India, tourists spend more in India than almost any other country across the globe. The Tourism Ministry has also played an important role in the development of the industry; advertising campaigns such as the ‘Incredible India’ campaigns have promoted India’s culture and have attracted tourists in a tremendous way. Increased tourism in India has created numerous jobs in a variety of related sectors both directly and indirectly. Almost 20 million people are now working in the India’s tourism industry. India’s governmental bodies have also made a considerable impact in tourism by making it mandatory that each and every state of India have to administer support issues related to tourism. A new growth sector is medical tourism. It is currently growing at around 30% per annum. Medical tourist arrivals are expected to reach one million soon. The tourism industry of India is based on certain core nationalistic ideals and standards which are: Swaagat or welcome, Sahyog or cooperation, Soochanaa or information, Sanrachanaa or infrastructure, Suvidha or facilitation, Safaai or cleanliness and Surakshaa or security as mentioned by “World travel $ Tourism Council, India Initiative”.
The landscape of India is a natural attraction for tourists and a rich tapestry of cultural heritage is woven into a wide range of tourism products. Indian tourism demand is estimated to grow at 8.8 percent from 2004 to 2013, which would place India as the third-most rapidly growing tourism market in the world after Montenegro and China (HVS Hospitality Services, 2007). There is a phenomenal explosion of domestic tourism which is fueling the industry’s revival. India has a wide population of educated, hospitable people who have the moral strength and desire to welcome tourists. The hospitality industry is also booming with an increasing number of hotels being opened in various regions across India. This will in turn help in job creation and in driving the economic growth. Major brands such Emaar Group, Kingdom Hotel Investments; and international fund companies such as Blackstone, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch among others have solidified their interest in the Indian hotel sector.
Specific, targeted efforts are being made to develop tourism in India in terms of media campaigns. For example, the “Incredible India” campaign has had a very strong impact on tourist arrivals. The “Brand India” message is being communicated globally and penetration is strengthened by reaching prospective visitors through electronic, print and internet media (Himani Kaul, 2009).
Sporting events such as the Indian Premier League cricket tournament held in 2008 and the Commonwealth Games to be held in 2010 are also significant drivers for promoting destination “India” and fuelling tourist demand.
Problems faced by the Industry
India’s tourism industry has a labor shortage. There is not enough accommodation, rooms and dirty problem, food problem is to stop tourists who come to India. Many parts of the country have not been very good, in terms of appropriate road, rail and air connections. Excessive bureaucracy had delayed new hotel and transport projects. Tourists are often the economic exploitation, and criminal elements in India, Indian women and the elderly can secure access to visitors. India’s tourist attractions were also damaged pollution. Refinery smoke is harmful to the Taj Mahal, and coastal ecosystems, Rann Kutch and the Himalayas are contaminated blow. Delhi, Jaipur, Agra in northern India, transport and communications and Bhuwaneshwar – Konark – Puri Orissa industry better than other equally attractive destinations in India as per “Norah Faith”. These problems also shorten the tourist season in India, which then leads to unemployment in off-seasons. As per the Tenth Planning Commission Report on Tourism; the major impediment to the growth of tourism has been the lack of awareness about the benefits it can bestow upon the host population. The Planning Commission Report has summarized the main factors that affect India’s tourism competitiveness:
Lack of concern for competitiveness.
Inadequate facilitation services – infrastructure improvements at country entry
Points and appropriate facilitation services are needed.
Lack of quality infrastructure.
Lack of emphasis on product quality.
Lack of training at the “cutting edge”.
Lack of hygiene.
Low utilization of modern marketing and publicity tools.
Insufficient involvement by the private sector in tourism development
The author Mr. Jauhari talks about Hospitality industry and tourism in India:
Hospitality industry is a major employer. The industry includes services such as tourism and food service sector. It was more than from peers, the industry’s economic fluctuations. In the world economy the hospitality industry is a major sector. The industry consists of a service industry, including catering, tourism and hotel industry a wide range of varieties. Also includes support for the hotel industry such as airline cabin staff travel and travel agencies, application of information technology (IT) and hospitality and tourism workers in technology business. Hospitality industry is characterized by a large number of employees. Entry-level positions usually require no formal education (S.K.kuthiala)
These articles majorly focus on:
Infrastructure management: cooperation between different players such as hospitality businesses, infrastructure, state government, the ministry of tourism and environmental agencies. The budgetary allocation for tourism needs to be enhanced and real estate investments are required to upgrade facilities in order that tourists might experience a more consistent service product. Funding opportunities and escalating costs are other limitations.
Workforce issues; in turn, this is impeding the professional development of hospitality and tourism as the industry is characterized by long working days and comparatively low levels of compensation. In view of the intense competition for skilled labor and the high rate of attrition at all levels the other key manpower issue relates to the relatively limited experience of and competency in project and construction management. “The goal of sustainable tourism requires well coordinated human resource development (HRD) strategies aimed at tourism industry personnel and the host community in general” (Srivastava, 2008).
Education and training for the hospitality and tourism; an area for concern and discussion relates to the existing provision of hospitality education in India, and especially the curriculum and pedagogy where management preparation and training tend to be omitted.
The marketing of hospitality firms; Online marketing has become an important medium for hospitality firms. India is currently behind the pace in this respect and web sites need to add this capability so that they can capitalize on the market opportunities that exist around the world. India lacks in Consumer advisory web sites
Strategies adopted for growth and franchising;
Destination management; The Indian Government’s “Incredible India” promotional campaign has made a significant contribution to the overseas image of India in the past year and helped to create a positive perception of what India has to offer. However, much more needs to be accomplished in order to deliver on the potential that a tourism experience in India has to offer.
Crisis management. This is extremely important dimension that all tourism and hospitality firms need to address. The range of threats to tourism is growing and the outcomes can, potentially have a devastating impact on India’s economy (Dirk Galesser).
Recommendations
Prioritize the investment in tourism and shorten the project start-up cycles.
Establish a single point of access clearance system for new hotel/restaurant/tourism projects.
Upgrade airports, water and sanitation facilities and the public transport system as soon as possible.
Manage the work force issues by investing in hospitality education and benchmark the curriculum with the best in the world. Establish institutes which train the faculty on a year-round basis.
Nurture the right competencies so that prospective employees can perform when hired. India really needs people with outstanding project management experience – especially in the management of large chains.
Create positive perceptions about the industry, offer competitive wages and invest in employee growth. Any short cuts would have a disastrous impact on hiring and retaining employees in the long run.
Invest in the management of online tools for communication. As the internet becomes the main medium for accessing and retrieving information, an online presence needs to be managed so as to create desired business outcomes. This effort needs to be allied with appropriate search terms and links to the main search engines (Vinnie Jauhari)
Develop international collaborations in order to learn as quickly as possible from international best practices.
Invest in training so that the potential of India’s workforce can be realized.
Check the indiscriminate growth of tourism; the local population must be convinced of the need to support regulations in the interest of long-term sustainability. Many of India’s hill resorts have suffered due to lack of concern for capacity management.
Ease bureaucratic hurdles.( Shivangi Gupta)
Methods
Characteristics of tourism are:
It is a constantly operating industry.
It is affected by seasonal fluctuations.
It is highly a Labor-intensive industry especially when it comes to India.
Barriers to entry are not strong for this Industry.
In India for this Industry Small businesses predominates.
It is one industry which is a crucial medium for educational and cultural exchange across the globe.
Consumer expenditure of domestic and international tourist is growing at a high rate.
Few producers or service providers dominate in the Tourism Industry.
Opening of New tourist attractions happens regularly.
Mass tourists products have very little differentiation as the industry has not invested in this field up till now.
The impacts of tourism are wide ranging reaching economic, social, environmental aspects.
Two forms of tourism:
International Tourism : Travel to countries outside home country
Domestic Tourism: Travel within the country.
Factors affecting tourism
The tourism industry is complex. Many components of the tourism Industry are linked to the other economic sectors of the country. The resulting interaction of the movement of tourists from the origin to the destination and the drivers involved are available for our analysis:
1. Physical Environment
Indian Tourism industry has also developed in a large variety of physical environments, with many of the different environments within India becoming favorable tourist destinations. These environments may include:
Hill stations
Beaches
Deserts
Countryside
Holy places
Historical monuments
2. Technological change.
One of the most important variables affecting tourism is the technological changes. Twentieth century, transport technology destination on a large scale are preceded by mass tourism to feel free to spread, the manufacturers of rail or ship – built continuous vehicle capabilities.
Such developments influence reaches the places are in relation to social and financial reasons
The development of large aircraft long-range aircraft Boeing 747, was that an important stimulus for the growth of tourism industry.
3. The biophysical and built environment
A country’s bio-physical environment, heritage and artistic life, is an integral part of the tourism industry. Different types of tourism development have different requirements; some countries will support development more than other countries.
The industry is eventually located according to the physical distribution of attractions and access to them, which is mainly determined by natural factors. Destination must provide the purpose and needs of tourists for which it is seeking.
Tourist practices are influenced by environmental conditions, and restrictions on types of development can take place. Natural features are very desirable and should go together with the infrastructure and tourist attractions.
Climate is an important consideration, and favorable weather conditions are crucial. For all tourist activities is an excellent weather, and climate often in a resort holiday season determines the length and profitability.
4. Economic factors
Tourism is one of the most prominent global economic performance department. Tourism is the employment of the accommodation, catering, transport, entertainment and other services industries major source of important provisions. In addition, there is a huge production of indirect tourism activities. This is a promotion, because of its multiplier effect of a wide range of important means of economic growth.
Tourism is India’s contribution to export earnings in large part on the Indian economy
Changing economic conditions largely determine the scale of the tourism industry. With the development of changes in employment structure and a more affluent society, creating a higher level of tourism products.
5. Socio-culturalInfluences
Participation in tourism is affected by demographic and social factors such as age, family life cycle, education, occupational structure, population concentration and quantity. Profound impact on demographic and social changes of the population indulge, in the future tourism will be seen.
Increased life expectancy and changing composition of the workforce is also important.
More and more women participation rate provides a boost tourism, because the two higher income household disposable income. There is also a dink for those who travel more frequently.
6. Political influences
Governments at all levels and all parties acknowledge that although tourism is basically a private sector, the impact of the need for government involvement.
Government has a profound impact on the economic environment in which the tour operators. The Government’s main role is to promote the prosperity of the industry and the most extensive economic, social and environmental objectives consistent with the development.
7. Cultural influences
Historical or cultural value is characterized by strong tourist attractions. Three Seductive cultural forms: – cultural forms, because it is inanimate monuments – cultural forms is reflected in the daily life of a destination
Especially in the cultural forms, can it be animated, such as festivals.
Tourism is often accompanied by cultural exchange and cultural richness. These contacts can have harmful effects be in the local culture and traditional way of life if they are weakened or destroyed.
The relationship between production and consumption
Tourism as a production consists of three main components: Tourist country of origin; destinations and travel routes between locations.
1. Tourism generating areas
Visitors second homes in other words. Which represent the world’s major markets and tourism market is the main feature found here.
2. Tourism destination areas
Attract tourists and what is not available at home.
Transport lines connecting the two areas of production, is the key factor. Production activities they are the most important part of traffic.
Them as visitors acquire the experience from many different places. These activities are very interdependent.
The changing nature of the production process
The tourism industry throughout the twentieth century is closely related to rising living standards in developed countries. Half of the twentieth century, largely in the opportunity to travel to the privilege of the rich society, but the following World War II period of rapid growth has enabled more people to travel. In the automotive and aircraft become the main means of transport.
A number of important changes are related to the development of the industry
International Travel
Tourism has become globalized. Global transport infrastructure around the world is rapidly becoming the way of all interrelated. Degree of globalization has also increased more countries to participate in international travel.
Organizational Development
Tourism organizations from two sources: the government and the private sector.
Recognizing the contribution of the tourism industry, the country’s economic and social benefits derived out of it, to almost all government organizations, tourism should be promote. Their responsibilities are of different degrees.
Opportunities in tourism, there is caused by large and small scale mixing of all the travel needs of food service from origin to destination. Production activities with other tourism enterprises participate in the emergence of significant growth. Most of the big travel company growth from the market and many tourist destinations and a greater market share and economies of scale drive very competitive nature.
Social impact of tourism
Tourism is a personal decision by the consumer.
Tour
Price for the whole package tours, it is usually cheaper to import a larger market holiday. Consumers have a choice variety.
Small group travel
Small group travel is a popular choice. They use local resources and services as possible.
Personal travel
Many tourists are actively planning their travel experiences. They like to personalize their trip, and not locked into a tour group. Experienced travelers are seeking to achieve specific wishes. This reflects the visitors experience new and different aspirations. Demands of professional productive activities have been seen as a response to the tourism industry.
Economic impact of tourism:
Increase the scale of production
The profit motive to encourage the development of large scale operations and the size of companies involved in the increase. Increasing size is especially evident in the lodging industry. The action in the hotel industry continued to expand. The large chain hotels can take advantage of economies of scale; small independent can compete on the basis of cost, personalized service.
Horizontal and vertical integration
Increase in the production and concentration of ownership and control of the growth in size, usually comes through the horizontal and vertical integration. A business may seek to expand or develop its own or combined with other enterprises.
Transnational Management
Integration continues to act in the tourism point of a multinational or transnational in nature. Multi-country development model is different. Clearly, the global market to provide greater market potential and opportunities, gain competitive advantage. Company wants to diversify its investment portfolio will expand overseas activities.
The impact of tourism technology
Tourism received a lot of research funds to promote development of new technologies. They changed this productive every field of activity.
Consumer choice
Tourism motivation and decision-making are increasingly shaped by changing technology. The Internet has allowed a lot of information has become available to tourists. Hotel facilities, reservations, attractions and more like these.
Transportation Technology
Aircraft
The aircraft will benefit the future development of larger capacity aircraft, but still subsonic. Generating capacity in order to promote aviation aircraft and speed increase. Therefore, the new aircraft cannot travel faster than any existing, but they will have a greater range and more seats to reduce travel costs.
Land transport
Transport is now faster and better competitive long-distance travel. This is the development of infrastructure to work together.
Maritime transport
Particularly there is a fast growth in the cruise industry. In 20th century Cruise fleet has doubled in the last decade.
Keep track of personnel and property
Computerization allows operators to operate more efficiently and produce marketing plan activities that can be used to the wealth of data. Global satellite network to provide as a new powerful marketing tool. Technology has changed the allocation process.
The political impact of tourism
Most governments are now actively seeking to promote tourism, and in their own countries, to take measures to coordinate public and private tourism activities to promote development of the industry. In some parts of the developed world, Government support has been less impending. In many developing countries, tourism is considered to accelerate economic development. Some Governments have also encouraged the development of international tourism, and promote their own political goals.
The nature of government involvement:
Tourism Promotion
The Government’s main contribution is both to promote tourism, and in their own country. The most direct way is to establish Tourism Organization, the impact of tourism development. Ministry of Tourism Australia, the implementation of this role, its objectives include:
To provide a future development of the industry, the Government’s clear statement
To strengthen the economic, environmental and cultural awareness of the importance of tourism.
Facilitate the entry of visitors
Easy to enter a country is a key factor to attract tourists. If the entry procedures for tourists are going to be complex, tourism will be affected. Now some countries with visa-free access in some countries
Transport Policy
Availability, price and ease of transport within and between countries dominate the visitors flow. Distribution of the traffic dispersion in terms of tourists is important. Governments are generally used for transportation infrastructure and equipment available. Many airlines have entered the Union, to enable them to reduce costs and increase capacity. Under pressure Government have to further do the liberalization of the international airlines.
General economic policy
The Government policies affect the industry directly and indirectly. For example, when the Government policies and regulations and high inflation would reduce spending, thus limiting the disposable income of the tourism industries. Government revenue, chares levies additional cost to the tourists.
Environmental and social impacts of tourism
Two major problems threaten the long-term survival of the tourism industry: environmental degradation, and adverse social impact, which is often accompanied by the development of tourism.
Tourism and the environment
Tourism development is often near the biophysical environment where attractive or unique features. Tourism development often has a heavy pressure on natural resources. The greatest threat is to those who are most vulnerable to natural and man-made pressures.
Tourism can help:
The deterioration of air and water supply
Destruction of natural landscapes
Destruction of vegetation
Threats to wildlife
The challenge is to develop a procedure to assess the potential environmental impacts of tourism development. Other mechanisms can be used to solve the impact of tourism regulations, the establishment of national parks, protection of significant heritage management and legislation to help protect our cultural and natural resources.
In tourism development and environmental protection activities linked to the production of future success. Uncontrolled development is likely to undermine the tourist attraction. Adequate planning by the government, the threat of environmental degradation faced by the world tourism industry can be overcome.
The social impact of tourism
Between visitors and residents can be mutually beneficial social ties:
1. Resident population to gain more understanding of cultural tourists, so as to maintain the national heritage of some of the traditional activities and needs.
2. Passengers bring tourism revenue and maintenance, and for local use these facilities. Visitors can go to the same host country and its culture and traditions of understanding of their homes.
The development of tourism can promote each other’s misunderstanding, hostility and social tensions, the impact of living by the tourists. This could include prostitution, crime and gambling.
Social policy and social services must become an integral part of tourism planning, tourism operators and by the host government. Failure to do so may appear hostile to tourists, which can reduce the tourist flow and vitality.
Results and Discussions
We conducted the survey among diverse demographics to analyze the current situation of tourism industry of India. After collecting data, we first performed the factor analysis on the data. From factor analysis we got five different factors on which we performed multiple linear regression (MLR) to get the refined results.
Given below is the output that we generated from SPSS:
We can clearly find out that people give importance to Information about tourist spots, tour packages and security then Infrastructure and Hospitality. To attract large number of tourists we need to implement solutions for these factors and have to take appropriate measure for the growth of Indian tourism Industry.
Recommendations as per our study
Tourism is the world’s largest production activities. This is accepted as their source of income and employment potential of the results of the government. The pace and the future tourism project are to determine the direction of the explosive growth:
Information
We need to develop an information system which is very efficient and accessible across the globe which also includes remote areas.
Security
In India we need to make sure that we have to keep safety mechanism ready and speedy by connecting every tourist place, hotels to our police stations.
We can keep a chunk of the policemen to cater particular to this need.
Creativity
Industry people have to start working on framing the package tours with more creativity and innovation as our mass tourist products are more or less same and lack the flexibility which is required.
Infrastructure
We need to provide adequate protection of the environment.
Tourism trend is closely related to national infrastructure.
Infrastructures in India needs huge investment outlay and will directly have an impact on the growth of the tourism Industry.
Accessibility
Transport technology to make long-term fortunes with more affordable, more people to participate in international travel. Chosen to reflect the perceived safety of the destination.
Accommodation
Tourists will be attracted to the destination best suits their needs. Tourism is trying to provide travel experiences to suit all budgets and circumstances.
Attractions
Technology will continue to develop and strengthen the tourism experience. Market research will lead to new tourism operators to promote products.
This is may be some barriers to international travel. Visitors will be courting the economic development of developed and developing countries.
Tourism stakeholders will have to bear greater responsibility. Whether it is a tourist and the host population should not be regarded as environmental quality.
The basic strategy of tourism development is to preserve and protect areas such as goal setting apart. Development of guidelines for ethical and environmental regulations should be implemented to maintain sustainable tourism in the next century is feasible.
As the state boarders open, population aging, more affluent, tourism is to promote more and more people will go.
As production activities, tourisms importance in the global economy will continue to grow.
Some more positives and negatives about the tourism industry which can be enhanced and can be prevent respectively:
Tourism foreign exchange earnings can be used to pay for imports
Protection of the unique environment is often
Travel to create employment opportunities, are labor-intensive
Local products can be sold to hotels and resorts
At the airport with foreign investment
Profits can be used to improve housing, schools, etc.
Local customs and traditions are preserved
To improve cultural understanding
10-20% of the income received in time to stay in
