Category: Free Essays

The present report contains information on the legal and regulatory framework of the British tourism sector as well as of surface, sea and air transport laws and analyses the benefits of those to passengers.

The report aims at providing sound advice to the travel agency entrepreneur on British legal and regulatory issues as well as on business ethics that may influence the particular business venture.

The objective of the report is to provide the entrepreneur with detailed information so as to help him with his decision making.

British Legal & Regulatory framework of the Travel & tourism sector

Although there is no legal and regulatory framework in British system, however, there is the ABTA code of conduct which contains issues related to tourism such as insurance notification, communication, booking etc. Regarding booking, it contains all processes like what happens before booking, how to make the booking, what can happen between travel and booking etc (Theobald, 2005).

These processes should be carefully implemented in order to protect the rights of the consumer in British tourism. There are other associations that provide also guidelines regarding tourists’ comfortable stay and legal issues. These associations are:

Health and Safety Commission (HSC), Maritime Authorities, International Air Transport Association (IATA), Air Travel Operators Licensing (ATOL) and CivilAviation Authority (CAA), Strategic Rail Authority (SRA), Health and Safety Executive(HSE).

British law is divided in environmental, shipping and air and space law. These are all different laws under the umbrella of British law in tourism.The regulatory power is assigned to special bodies such as the Travel association as well as other authorized bodies. The role of these bodies is to preserve a national stock of recreation facilities such as parks, gardens, sport facilities etc. These bodies are mainly local authorities (Archer et al.,2005).

Legal And Regulatory Framework

The carriers are responsible for any damages caused to the passengers according to Acts described below (WTO, 2005):

Carriage by Air and Road Act 1979. The carrier is everyone involved in carrying passengers either by air or road. The carrier is responsible if due to his/her carelessness the passenger dies or gets injured or any damages are caused to his/her belongings.

International Carriage by Sea (Athens Convention 1974.

It concerns sea travelling and in this Convention the carrier is also liable for any damages caused to passengers when sea travelling.

International Carriage by Road (Carriage by Air and Road Act 1979). It concerns the rights of the travellers even if they had paid for the journey or travel for free.This Act also involves any damages caused to passengers during their travel.

Further to travelling by road there is the Regulation (EC) No 1073/2009 for travel by road which concerns free provision of international road passengers. This regulation sets common accessibility rules to the international market for coach and bus [Regulation 1073/2009]. However, it provides, in particular, the liberalization of the shuttle service (from city to city and back) with overnight accomodation via bus and coach, as well as almost all emergency services. It also sets the procedures for granting licenses for these shipments and documents needed for these services. It also specifies the conditions under which are accepted in transport, particularly in national road transport (cabotage) services within a Member State, carriers that are not located in it. In case of transfer from one Member State to a third country and vice versa, the regulation applies to the department within the territory of the Member State from which the route passes.

The Athens Conventions Act 1974 is applied and amended in the UK. It involves international carriers and/ or passengers whereas the Domestic Carriage Order 1987 is addressed to domestic passengers travelling by sea.

The Carriage by Railway Act 1972 concerns international carriages and involves passengers with registered luggage. When there is a damage to a passenger then the carrier is obliged to pay for the passenger’s registered luggage.

Regulation (EC) No 1371/2007 concerns also rail travel. This regulation is designed to protect people with disabilities and reduced mobility from unfair and discriminating treatment and to provide assistance during the use of commercial air services.It obliges carriers and / the travel / s agents who represent them not deny booking and boarding to disabled, to provide information in formats appropriate for their physical injuries, to provide points of departure and arrival into the airport, take and distribute among them the notification that they have to serve people with disabilities,as well as to provide them with assistance in the airport and in flight. At the same time, it binds the parties involved to have fully trained staff to the treatment of people with disabilities, and requires compensation for loss of or damage to motor equipment.

Finally, it sets the limits for complaints and sanctions.

Although there is no doubt that this regulation improves conditions of air transport for people with disabilities, it does not address accessibility obligation outtside airports and aircraft business services concerned.

Thus, there is no obligation on the electronic benefits of airlines and travel companies, which is not justified by the needs of reasonable accommodation. It should be borne in mind that airlines provide a wide range of services outside the traditional areas in which they are active (airports – aircraft) and participate in corporate networks after having completed these activities

Regarding carriage by air the Warsaw Convention 1929 is applied. The Warsaw convention is created by the global community of air transport and the purpose was to provide global standards for carrying passengers world wide, especially common rules on liability for passengers and goods in case of accident, loss of baggage and delay in international air transport, while it reduces the cost to the airlines. Among others, a very important layout was included that the airline is considered liable (Article 17) but that liability is generally limited (Article 22) up to 10,000 U.S. dollars maximum.

However, the passenger and the carrier may, by special contract agree to a higher limit of liability (Article 22, paragraph 1). The carrier has the opportunity to rebut any action based on the contract if s/he proves that s/he took all necessary measures to avoid damage, and in this case s/he is not liable (Article 20, paragraph 1).

Moreover, the carrier is able to limit his liability if s/he proves that s/he contributed to the accident and the negligence of the injured individual (Article 21). Finally, Article 25 prohibits a carrier from benefitting of any clause that limits or excludes liability if s/he or his/her agents commit a willful misconduct.

Finally, it should be mentioned the EU Directive on Package Travel for visitors to Europe or from Europe. The European law facilitates traveling for leisure or on business within the European Union and the common currency facilitates travelers in eurozone countries. Travellers can make unlimited purchases in the country visited and bring the goods to their country duty free. Citizens of the Member States are entitled to unlimited exchange for intra-European trips, whereas before the liberalization of capital movements they were entitled only limited tourist exchange. For their package holidays, they are protected by European legislation for the mismanagement or misuse of their holiday by tour operators [Directive 90/314] For their air trips, they are also protected against overbooking charged by airlines [Regulation 261/2004]. Travelers can call the 112 number free European emergency call across the European Union [Decision 91/396 and Directive 2002/22]. In case of illness or accident happening to them only by presenting the European Health Insurance Card, which attests their participation to a similar system in their country of residence [Decisions 2003/751, 2003/752 and 2003/753]. In the ports and airports of the Member States, special channels exist for citizens of EE, who have a uniform passport [Resolutions 23/06/1981, 14/07/1986 and 10/07/1995]. Showing passports is not needed when crossing internal borders of the Schengen area [Decision 2000/586]. The conditions of travel within the EU have become much easier for pet owners [Regulation 998/2003].

Ethical dilemmas

The travel agency may have to face unethical competition i.e. extremely low prices. The company can overcome these issues by creating a code of ethics that will enable it to act in harmony with host countries and achieve competitive advantage (Holden, 2003).

The country will provide, prior to travelling, all information regarding the country that they will visit as well as to any information regarding safety and health risks. Furthermore, the company will encourage them to respect the local environment and avoid any actions that will be against the law. Safeguarding the natural environment of the countries will be top in the code of ethics of the company.

The company should also try to distribute holidays in such a way so as tourist flow would be smoothed and the environment will not be further burdened. Furthermore, tourist activities planned by the company will respect the ecosystem. The company will, in cooperation with local authorities, take care of health protection and security of its clients.

In addition, the company will respect the spiritual needs of its clients and allow them to practice their religions.

Corporate Social Responsibility – Key Travel

There will be presented the CSR program of Key Travel. Key travel is based in London and Manchester and employs over 100 employees. It is UK’s 47th biggest travel agency. It focuses on business travel for the not-for-profit sector. More specifically, Key Travel provides services to charitable organizations no matter what their purpose is i.e. medical relief, educational projects etc (Key Travel, 2012).

Its CSR consists of three axes: People, Planet and Profits. Regarding People, Key Travel believes strongly in its people and promotes diversity in workplace by employing people of different ethnic origins as well as women. Key Travel was a pioneer since it implemented in the 1980s what is in fashion nowadays i.e. flexible working hours and home-working. It also provides gym tickets and weekend travel breaks for its employees. In addition, it offers its employees fresh fruit in the office!

Finally, Key Travel offers to charities money and items that are not needed (Key Travel, 2012).

Regarding travelling, Key Travel respects local people of the countries visited and demands its customers to ask for permission before they take any picture of local people, their homes as well as of religious sites such as temples, churches etc. It also encourages litter free travel, respect of animals by not supporting festivals where animals are used for performance.

Key Travel warns its customers not to buy goods coming from endangered species such as sea turtle, ivory etc.Key Travel believes that its CSR program has benefited the company a lot since it has managed to attract new customers, reduce costs and improve efficiency and motivation.

It is suggested that the new business venture should take Key Travel as a case study for its CSR program. More specifically, the new business should also base its program on the three axes People, Planet and Profits and implement the appropriate actions that will reinforce the values attributed to each one of the axes.

Conclusion

The travel agencies are divided into different categories based on the type and nature of activities and services they offer having as their primary responsibility the service of all travelers, providing tourist services with quality (Hudson & Miller, 2005).

Travel Agencies are one of the major players of the tourism industry, because the travel agency is the means for promoting the trip, given the fact that if it uses the appropriate means, it will guide, lead and assist the traveler to choose the destination of his/her travel depending on his/her needs and possibilities (Ingbar, 2004). The travel agency acts on behalf of its clients and partners-suppliers, who organize the trip before the visitor arrives.Therefore, a new Travel Agency should know the legal framework concerning tourism since it provides tourism services and it has to follow the law. However, following the law is not sufficient for being efficient nowadays. The Agency has to be an ethical business and implement specific CSR programs to achieve maximum efficiency and enhance its brand.

Commercial Casino Industry has been occurring in United States over 75 years since Nevada legalizing it. When Chef Wolfgang initiated to out fine dining restaurant in commercial casino, this is the beginning of food and beverage revolution in industry in 1992. In 1995, American Gaming Association was created. MGM Mirage acquired Mandalay Resort Group, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. and Caesar Entertainment in 2005 and the commercial casino industry started booming and other states started legalize opening casinos since then.

The international gaming industry is expanding. Many U.S. casino companies expanded or planned to expand to other countries such as Macao, Korea, Taiwan and Singapore. The international casino industry tends to have rapidly growth as gross gaming revenue in Macao has been more than gross gaming revenue in Las Vegas strip since 2006.

“Know your enemy and know yourself, and in a hundred battles you will never be defeated.” (Sun Tzu’s The Art of War Writings). This Chinese wisdom of warfare probably helps companies deploy a better strategy in many business situations. The MGM Mirage Inc. is the largest company in the Hotel and Casio industry by revenue in the U.S., but MGM financial statement showed that company bottom-line in debt. The company was facing bankruptcy code in the early 2010. In this project, the report had been organized and presented MGM Mirage Inc. or MGM Resorts International in 4W framework:

(1) Who are we? (Company profile, Hotel and Casino industry profile),

(2) Where are we? (Sophisticated tools in Management, Technology, Marketing, Financial and Accounting were used to analyze the company position with competitor in the industry.),

(3)What are problems? (SWOT analysis) and

(4) What are solutions?

Who are we? : Know yourself
MGM History
The Beginning of Las Vegas Race:
2005: MGM Merged Mandalay Bay Group.
MGM Profile in 2009
Organization Structure
Company Strategy

The MGM Mirage Inc. strategy is to generate sustainable, profitable growth by creating and maintaining competitive advantages and through the execution of our business plan, which is focused on: Owning, developing, operating and strategically investing in a strong portfolio of resorts; Operating our resorts in a manner that emphasizes the delivery of excellent customer service with the goal of maximizing revenue and profit; and Leveraging our strong brands and taking advantage of significant management experience and expertise. (Source: MGM Mirage 2010 Form 10-K)

Current Operation

As of 2009, the MGM Mirage reported that the company has completed control of 14 casino resorts and hold 50% of investment in 5 casino resorts. In addition, the MGM Mirage also owned 3 golf courses in Las Vegas, Mississippi and California.(Source: MGM Mirage 2010 Form 10-K)

Casio Resort ( Completely owned)

Nevada

MGM Grand Las Vegas

Mandalay Bay

The Mirage

Excalibur

Monte Carlo

Railroad Pass, Henderson

Gold Strike, Jean

Luxor

Bellagio

New York – New York

Circus Circus Las Vegas

Other

MGM Grand Detroit

Beau Rivage , Biloxi, Mississippi

Gold Strike Tunica ,Mississippi

Casio Resort ( hold 50% in stock)

Nevada

City Center

(Joint Venture with Dubai World)

Circus Circus Reno

Siler Legacy

Other

Borgata, Atlantic City, NJ

Gran Victoia , Elgin, IL

MGM Grand Macau, China

Industry Analysis

Industry Analysis process is an essential assessment tools for every company to deeply understand industry current trends and opportunities. In fact, company will gain a better position and achieve a competitive advantage when it truly understanding marketplace. In the complex marketplace, the U.S. government is categorized industry with 4-digits Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) system. In addition to SIC, the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) is a new standard for the industry. The NAICS with 6-digits code contains more details than the SIC system. The purpose of SIC and NAICS are economy analysis.

The MGM Mirage Inc. has been classified with SIC into three major categories: Hotels and Motels (SIC 7011), Coin-Operated Amusement Devices (SIC 7993) and Amusement and Recreation Services, Not Elsewhere Classified (SIC 7999). In addition, the MGM Mirage inc. also has been classified with NAICS into two categories: All Other Amusement and Recreation Industries and Hotels (except Casino Hotels) (713990) and Motels (721110). To thoroughly understand MGM Mirage Inc. marketplace, the hotel industry and casino industry had been analyzed.

Hotels and Motels Industry (SIC 7011)

The U.S. government defined a company in Hotels and Motels Industry as

“Commercial establishments, known to the public as hotels, motor hotels, motels, or tourist courts, primarily engaged in providing lodging, or lodging and meals, for the general public. Hotels which are operated by membership organizations and open to the general public are included in this industry. Hotels operated by organizations for their members only are classified in Industry 7041. Apartment hotels are classified in Real Estate, Industry 6513; rooming and boarding houses are classified in Industry 7021; and sporting and recreational camps are classified in Industry 7032.”

Recession impacts hotel industry

In May 2010, Standard & Poor’s industry report stated the hotel industry is still in an unstable condition. The industry will require a longer period to recover from the 2008 recession. Currently, the industry is operating in a difficult situation. The hotel industry is facing drastic competition that forces hotel businesses to lower room rates, which in turn results in lower profit.

Figure 1: Hotel Industry Fact Sheet 2001 – Forecast 2011

The data from Smith Travel Research (STR) Inc. indicated that on average the hotel industry has lost its Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR) since 2008. The 2008 recession has also brought the hotel occupancy rate down from 60% to 55%. In addition, average daily roommate also dropped significantly 8.8% in 2009. Moreover, room demand dropped 6% in 2009. In contrast, the supply of rooms rose 3.2% in 2009 (refer to figure1). While the U.S. government is making their way out from 2008 recession, S&P’s forecasted that the hotel industry will not return to the same pre-recession level for the next eight to ten years.

Figure 2: Percent Change in Room Supply and Demand in the U.S. from 1989 – April 2009

Real GDP helps the hotel industry in predicting room demand

In the hotel industry, a high accuracy in room demand elasticity estimation provides CEO with essential information for a long term planning and deploying strategies. In 2009, the research by Dr. Hanson from Global Hospitality Group – Hospitality Lawyers shows approximately a 1-to-1 relationship that holds between the U.S. Real GDP and room demand until the 2001 economic crisis. The real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the total output of goods and services produced in a country and adjusted for priced change. The demand is more elastic when the greater the proportion of income spent on the good. After the 2001 recession, the demand retract and continue to grow in a slower pace when compare with the real GDP. The GDP is increasing 4 times faster than the room demand does. The 5 factors that researcher believes that might have an influence GDP and room demand relationship are: Long-term deterioration in consumer confidence, Higher consumer saving rate, consumers trying to recover lost investment, new pattern of behavior and proposed levels of tax increase affecting disposable income. Moreover, in the 2008 recession, the researcher also believes that the recession might create an additional snap back for room demand.

Figure 3: The relationship between GDP and Room Demand

U.S. Business and group travel

The hotel industry profitability can be influenced by a demand from business travel. According to a member survey, the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE) reports hotel expense represents, on average, 40% of all business travel expense. In addition, American Express stated that airfare will increase from 2% to 10% in 2011, and hotel rates will increase 1% to 10% (Paurowski, 2010). The survey also indicated that 35% of its member strongly considered optimizing hotel expense in 2011 and 50% of its member expressed concern regard increasing in expenses. Passenger Name Record (PNR) in Computer Reservation System (CRS) showed that cooperate travelers have shifted booking methods from Travel Management Companies (TMCs) to Online Travel Agency (OTA). In fact, 30% of its members stated that online hotel rates offered are lower than negotiated rates. The complementary items that are preferred by the majority corporate travelers are: complementary cocktails, free WiFi-internet access and comfort. In conclusion, the demand for business and group travel will likely be for cheaper rooms at lower rates with free complementary. (Michael Boult, 2010).

Domestic and international travelers

Shifts in airline schedules and passenger booking have a direct impact on hotel occupancy. According to the data from Air Transport Association (ATA) 2010 annual report, the static in figure 3 shows that domestic capacity had a declining trend since 2000, and the data also showed that passenger enplaned has dropped significantly from 743 million passengers in 2008 to 703 million in 2009 reflecting a 5.3% decrease of airline industry capacity. In fact, profit margin in the airline industry has been on the negative side. Airliners cut back routes and canceled destinations.

For international travelers, The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) and Office of Travel and Tourism Industries (OTTI) expect the industry growth in 2010 and gradual increase to approximately 6-9% through 2015. Five countries, excluding Canada and Mexico, that rank highest in number of visitors to the U.S. in 2010 by volume are: China (40%), Brazil (35%), Korea (35%), Hong Kong (27%), New Zealand (24%) and Australia (19%). A weakening in U.S. currency helps the hotel industry by stimulating the demand from international travelers.

Figure 3: Domestic Demand Trend, Profitability among Airline, Passenger Yield Trend

Medical tourism -a little hope for the hotel industry

In the economic downturn, hotel industry needs a stimulant plan to boot-up its occupancy rate. In 2009, Reuters Health section provided some interesting facts about medical tourism in the U.S. The report indicated that U.S. health providers have lost 650,000 patients to hospital oversea such as Thailand, India, and Singapore. In addition, the health providers are predicted to lose as much as $67.7 billion in revenue in 2010. Oscar Goodman, Mayor of Las Vegas, foresee the opportunity for the hotel industry in Las Vegas. Mayor encourages a local business to support the idea of medial tourism. The medical tourism will be an alternative business in the area, the national public radio reported.

Casio Industry

Casinos are the largest revenue generator in the gambling industry. The industry provided approximately 350,000 jobs in the U.S. market. The American Gaming Association and the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) are the main organizations in the U.S. casino industry. The AGA encourages its members and their employee to be aligned with updated law and regulations. Moreover, AGA is a realizable source for a gaming industry providing gaming history, educational program, and statistic data on the Casino industry. In addition, the NIGA under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act has provided Native Americans opportunities to legally run casinos.

U.S. casino trends

The casino industry has been hard-hit by the recession. According to the United States department of labor, the Mass Layoff statistics (MLS) program showed that the hotel-casino industry eliminated 13,000 jobs in 2008 (Labor, 2010). The revenue trend in the casino industry has been on a downturn for the last two consecutive years. The S&P expected a slow recovery from the casino industry.

Las Vegas, Nevada

As of 2009, the American Gaming Association reported that Las Vegas with $5.55 billion in revenue was a dominant U.S. market. According to Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), the statistic in figure 5 showed a 2.4% increase in the number of visitors from 2009. The Las Vegas Strip gaming revenue was increased by 4.3%, but the downtown area gaming revenue was decreased by -7.3% from 2009. In 2009, the 14% unemployment rate in the state Nevada plummeted the economic trail. On a carryover impact from the economic crisis in 2008, the number of attendees at conventions, and a number of scheduled conventions and number of meetings held remained on the decline with decreases of -1.1% and -6.7% respectively. According to the Las Vegas Visitor Profile, Market Segment reported by LVCVA (2009) that 76% of Casino guests were most likely to be traveling in a party of two and average stay in Las Vegas is 4 nights. Casino guests on LVCVA survey stated that 87% of visitors called the hotel-casino directly to book their accommodation.

In 2010, S&P’s industry report estimated casino revenue on the Strip to be 35%-45% of total revenues, and the revenue from hotel rooms was 20-30% of the total revenue. A total enplaned and deplaned air passenger continued to decline. The number of air travelers accounts for 42% of all visitors. (LVCVA visitor profile: ir visitor version). The S&P’s report indicated strong growth from Las Vegas.

Figure 4: U.S. Casino Industry Gaming Revenue

Figure 5: Las Vegas Convention and Visitor Authority (LVCVA) : Executive Summary

Atlantic City, New Jersey

The Atlantic City is a second large of the U.S. casino marketplace. The static in figure 4 shows that casinos in the area have been losing revenue -5.7%, -7.6% and 13.2% in three consecutive years. According to S&P, casinos in Atlantic City are facing heavily competition from New York and Pennsylvania.

Macau, China: New Era of Asia Gold rush

Macau is a special administrative region of China. The CIA – The World Factbook reported that, in 2006, Macau’s gaming revenue surpassed that of the Las Vegas strip, and gaming-related taxes accounted for more than 70% of total government revenue. The Macau market attracted many casino operators from Las Vegas to come and establish a new home-based outside the U.S.

In 2010, the profit in Macau market increased 9.7% in revenue from its loss in 2009. The gaming industry in Macau was expected to rise, but, S&P reported a concern about the room surplus of 40% in 2011 and 2012. In the long-term, S&P still believes that the Macau gaming industry will generate a significant profit for China.

Singapore: A hidden dragon

Singapore is the one of the most strategic locations in South-East Asia. According to Economy Watch and World Bank, Singapore is considered to be a very attractive country for new business. Sources in the Wall Street Journal on October 7, 2010 reported that the Marina Bay Sands project is a 8-billion dollar casino in Singapore, known to be the cleanest city in the world. The casino includes three 50-story structure with approximately 2,500 rooms; a casino, retail stores, dining and 800,000 square feet entertainment complex. The S&P 2010 industry report predicted that the top five markets for Singapore casinos are: Indonesia, China, Australia, India and Malaysia. In addition, the Marina Bay Sands should have no effect on Macau market because the hotel presents a more family-orientated appeal.

Legal and Regulation
Internet/Online gambling

Online gambling is illegal in the U.S. as of November, 2010. Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (H.R. 2266) was introduced to congress in May 2009 by Frank, Barney (Rep). The bill is aimed to Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, which prohibits internet gambling operators from receiving money related to any online gambling that violates State or Federal law (Frank, 2010). Online gambling is also on a serious debate among AGA members regarding a safety and government regulation. The concerns regarding an online gambling are a security technology such as firewall to protect million online users.

Summary Key Fact from Industry Analysis

Room demand dropped because economic recession.

Occupancy rate dropped because dropped in demand and increasing room surplus.

Real GDP could be used as atool for the hotel industry to future demand.

Business Travel booking trends changed from Travel agency to online travel agency.

China is a number one inbound visitor by volume from oversea.

Medical tourism could be an alternative route for simulating demand.

Gaming on Las Vegas Strip continues generating profit.

Atlantic City market for casino is not pleasant after loss in profit of 3 consecutive years.

Macau is growing and generated more revenue than Las Vegas Strip.

Singapore could be a new growing casino market in South-East Asia.

Legalize an online gambling is an ongoing process.

Casino Market: Oligopoly Market Competition

In 2009, the casinos industry had revenue in total of $US 21.8 billion. To determine an economic competitive type of market in the industry, the company uses a four-firm concentration ratio as the indicator. The ratio is the percentage of total industry sales made by the four largest firms (Fig. 4). The four-firm ratio for the casinos industry is approximately 70%, which had created an oligopoly form of market competition. In oligopoly, one firm decision can have a direct influence on demand, price, and profit of competitor in the industry.

Figure 5: Companies in the casino industry by revenue

Furthermore, external assessment of the industry is a critical process for management in decision making. The Porter’s Five-Forces Model, competitive analysis tool, has been utilized for in-depth industry analysis. The model analysis is provided five perspectives in assessing the industry: Rivalry among competing firms, Potential entry of new competitor, Potential development of substitute products, Bargaining power of suppliers, and Bargaining power of consumers.

Porter’s Five-Forces Model Analysis
Rivalry among existing competitors:

MGM : Rivalry among existing competitors : HIGH

Same-size competitors

High exit barrier

Indifferent in product and service among competitors

Table x: Threat of existing competitors

The competitive atmosphere in hotel industry is high. There are a lot of competitors in industry. Furthermore, it seems that competitors compete in same dimension because in commercial casino industry, customers are not much diverse. Therefore, players in this industry found it hard to target different customers with different needs

– There are a lot of competitors with equal power and size.

– Exit barrier in commercial casino industry is high because a company invests huge amount of money, especially, building cost. Even a company wants to exit from the industry, sometimes it force to stay in because exit costs are high.

– Product and service in commercial casino industry are identical. Moreover, there is no switching cost for buyers. Thus, competitor might cut price to attract buyers.

– Fixed costs are high. In order to compete in hotel industry, a casino manager adopts revenue management. The process allows buyers to stay in same type of room in different price. Even a hotel’s products and service are not rapidly become outdated but competitive atmosphere in commercial casino industry is hot, therefore, companies cannot make high profit from this industry.

Threat of new entrants:

The threat of new entrants for hotel and motels industry is low. The industry has significant barriers to entry which include:

MGM : Threat of new entrants : LOW

Supply-side economies of scale

Demand-side benefits of scale

Customers switching costs

Capital requirements

Restrictive government policy

Position advantages independent of size

Unequal access to distribution channels

Table x: Threat of new entrants

Supply-side economies of scale: In commercial casino industry these economies hardly appear. Even a company built more rooms or more recreations in its casino, these economies will not appear. Moreover, the company has to carry more cost, more maintenance cost and more employees cost.

Demand-side benefits of scale (network effects): These benefits occur when the numbers of buyer patronize the company. However, these benefits might not occur in commercial casino industry. In commercial casino industry, a company will find advantages in location, facilities and characteristics of personal working in direct contract with customers. Therefore, having a lot of customers patronize a company will not provide huge demand-side benefits of scale.

Customers switching costs: In commercial casino industry, when customers purchase service from a casino, it is one time use. Therefore, there is no switching cost.

Capital requirements: In order to enter commercial casino industry, a company needs to finance huge budget and the industry return is not attractive. Thus this industry has high barrier.

Position advantages independent of size: These advantages are not depends on a company’s size, incumbents can have competitive advantages that not available to competitors. These advantages in commercial casino industry can stem from locations, brand identities and service.

Unequal access to distribution channels: It is not hard to establish or find distribution channels in commercial casino industry. A company could use agents or let customer books rooms via its websites.

Restrictive government policy: There might be some restriction related to commercial industry such in some area government do not allow a company to build a building that higher than 2 floors or in some countries, a company has to has citizens hold more than half of a company’s shares to operate in that country. In U.S., commercial casino industry is the most regulated and monitored industry.

The threat of substitutes:

MGM : Threat of substitutes : HIGH

Competitor

Table x: Threat of substitutes

There are some substitutes for commercial casino such as hostels, apartments or houses. Customers can stay in hostel, apartment or houses and go to gaming or using recreation facilities at casinos. If buyers concern convenience, they might prefer casino. Because they will have maids clean their room and casinos always locate in a convenience location. If buyers concerns price, they might stay in hostel. However, if buyers concern privacy, they might prefer house.

– There is no cost of switching to substitute. Buyers can change to substitutes anytime if they would like.

Hostels, apartments and house can be substitutes for casinos. They perform similar products and service to casinos, if you concern only hospitality part. However, there are some differences which made substitutes have huge different from hotels. Buyers have to determine trade-off between hotels and substitutes.

In this industry, the threat of substitutes is not high because substitutes have too many differences in facilities and service from casinos. Thus, industry’s profitability is not suffered from substitutes.

The power of suppliers:

If suppliers have power over a company, suppliers might set its price higher, limit quality of service and shift its cost to other parties. In commercial casino industry, a company uses wide range of different suppliers such as supplier for construction, supplier for food and beverages and supplier for hotel equipment. There is almost no monopoly in hotel suppliers. Moreover, only a few supplies that have switching cost such as securities equipment and suppliers did not differentiate their products. The company has to differentiate itself by choosing good location, providing well-maintenance facilities and providing supreme service. Furthermore, the company can easily find substitute suppliers. Therefore, the power of suppliers in commercial casino industry is low.

The power of buyers:

MGM : The Power of Buyer :

Table x: The power of buyer

– There are various customers in commercial casino industry. However, there are some buyers that have ability to negotiate such as group tour.

– Products and service in commercial casino industry are not much different. If customers find that a hotel that they always stay in is full, they have to stay in other hotel. They have to purchase products and service in some hotel anyway.

– Buyers have no switch cost. If buyers want to change from a hotel to a hotel, they can just check-in to another hotel without any switching cost.

– Buyers cannot produce industry’s product if buyers found that a hotel is too profitable. Buyers can switch to other hotels but they cannot produce it by their selves.

– In commercial casino industry, buyers do not stick with brands. Buyers might concerns about quality of product and service. If they find another casino that cheaper but quality and facility are same, they will switch to another casino. In sum, in commercial casino industry, buyers are relatively price sensitive.

From analysis given above, buyers in commercial casino industry have high power and seem to be price sensitive. They can press companies to lower their price and can ask for more quality and service.

Financial and Accounting Analysis

The financial information was published annually to external and internal users.

MGM Mirage Inc. financial statements had been analyzed using financial ratio analysis and information in management discussion. The median number of industry ratio in 2009 is used in this report. By the nature of hotel business, MGM contains a high fix-cost in normal business operation and profits are driven by tourism and business travel demand. MGM requires a large capital to run its hotels and casinos. In 2010, MGM is in process of development a City Center, a capital intensive driven project. The delayed of City Center project has enormous impact on MGM financial statement.

Liquidity and Financial Position
Liquidity Ratios
Industry
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005

Current Ratio

1.1

1.28

0.51

0.68

0.92

0.66

Quick Ratio

0.8

1.02

0.2

0.48

0.5

0.48

Credit Risk: Facing Bankruptcy

As of December 31, 2009, MGM is in a weak financial position because of its indebtedness.

MGM with credit rating of CCC+ operated the business with 39% on the long-term debt. The management team declared unpleasant statement about the $1.1 billion senior credit facility debt which might be defaulted on maturity date in 2010. The management suggests that MGM must extent the payback period by negotiating with their creditors. Also, management has predicted that future revenue from operation and tax refunds would help reducing MGM debt. The current and quick ratio indicated that MGM has had insufficient fund to operate its casino since 2005. With the ratio less than 1 and below the industry average in both current ratio and quick ratio, MGM has been operated on the line of bankruptcy if the company defaults on its debt.

Revenue base and mix

MGM primary source of revenue came from Las Vegas Strip. As December 31, 2009, the majority of MGM revenue came from three sources: casino (44%), hotel room (23%), and food & beverage (23%).

Casino revenue dropped 12% from 2008 and it had been on decline trends since 2007. In 2009 MGM financial statement, revenue from casino had been divided into three sub-categories: Table games (36% of total casino revenue), Slots (60% of total casino revenue), and Other revenue. The table game revenue decreased 11%, even though there is 33% increases in demand for baccarat.

Sustainability of revenues and earning

As of December 2009, MGM

**Reasonable Analysis
*focus on MD&A
*Risk and Factor
* Note
Analyzing financial statement
Accounting item to review
Cash Flow
Profitability ratios

MGM profitability ratios are negative in 2010 and 2009 for some ratios. ROA in both 2009 and 2010 are negative. We can break ROA to net profit margin multiply total assets turnover to deepen our analyzing. Assets turnover ratio shows MGM’s ability to use assets generate revenues. MGM’s assets turnover ratio decreases from 2007 to 2009. Even this ratio does not decrease much during 3 year period, it made ROA go down. The main factor that has impact on ROA is net profit margin. The MGM has very low net profit margin since 2008. MGM’s bad signal shows since 2008. After its net profit margin ratio plunge to -11.86% in 2008 and -21.61% in 2009 which a major factor lowing ROA. From analyzing ROA, we can see that MGM has a problem with maintaining its profit margin. MGM’s revenues in 2008 are not much different from 2007, however, MGM cannot control operating expenses, operating expenses in 2007 exceeds revenues. In 2009 MGM revenues decreases by 17%, further, MGM’s ability to control its operating expense decreased. MGM’s operating expenses in 2009 is 114.65% from revenues. The major increase in operating expenses in 2008 and 2009 is property transactions. MGM’s ability to fulfill its short term obligation is getting better in 2009. Both quick and current ratios go up. The reason both quick and current ratios increase because in 2009 MGM carries more cash. However, MGM debt management ratios worsen. Long term debt to equity ratio increases from 2007 to 2009 results increase in total debt to equity ratio. These ratio shows MGM has larger portion of debt compare to equity. Even MGM carries more long term debt recently; MGM has interest coverage ratio high enough to pay back its interest. But this ratio trend increase in recent year.

Hotel operating statistics
Asset values
Balance sheet ratios
Book Value
Off-balance-sheet commitments or liabilities
Valuation measures

Leverage ratios

Debt Management
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005

LT Debt to Equity

3.35

3.12

1.84

3.38

3.82

Industry Ratio

Total Debt to Equity

3.63

3.39

1.84

3.38

3.82

Industry Ratio

Interest Coverage

–

1.66

2.06

1.95

1.93

Industry Ratio

Activity ratios

Asset Management
2009
2008
2007
2006

Executive Summary

India is famous for its great ethnicity and diversity among the cultures and these two main elements reflect in the level of tourism development in any region of the country. Apparently this has led the government and other respective authorities of tourism to call out the importance of heritage tourism in this 21st century. This report is based on the issues and impacts of tourism in Khajuraho, a UNESCO listed world heritage site, famous for its exotic sculptured temples.

Khajuraho is a located in a central state of India, and one of the oldest heritage sites in the world. The temples were built a thousand years ago and still they stand dazzling with all the ancient glory. The tourism development in the area has changed many features of the destination and there has been some issues regarding the level of tourism. The place was found only in the early decades of 20th century and even from that time Khajuraho still took so many decades to be printed in the world famous heritage sites. The basic aim of this report is to identify the tourism developments and impacts of tourism in the selected tourism site and it is structured by beginning with a concise glimpse about the destination and followed by explaining the tourism developments in the area, discussing the influences of tourism and its impacts among locals and suggestions to improve the practice of tourism followed by a conclusion which will sum up the overall report and research conducted.

Background of the study

India is a large nation with huge number of population and great numbers of both cultural and heritage spots. This exclusivity has made the county, a world famous tourism destination in the global tourism map and regarded as a country, famous for its great cultural diversity. Many of these heritage sites are secured by UNESCO- and are still striving to find a place in their destination list.

Ethnicity and diversity are the two main key elements of Indian cultural Heritage tourism, and it is really difficult to focus on the whole country’s tourism development and the impacts being facing currently. To understand the effects of tourism on culture, environment and economy it was therefore, I decided that this study should look further deep into the heart of the country’s heritage spots which are commonly unknown for its own nationalists but relatively known by other parts of the world. Khajuraho, a world heritage tourism site in the Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh was chosen and examined to articulate the nature and dimensions of some of the common issues from the impacts of local and international tourism.

The study materials used mainly are reliable sources from the internet and also referred to the theories used in the tourism industry by linking to some of the case studies conducted in the subjected destination. Moreover some parts of the report will be reflecting from my personal experience in the destination. The facts and figures received from the Indian government tourism website back up and gives an overall glimpse of the importance of international tourism occurring in that place.

Khajuraho: A mirror of Indian Heritage

Khajuraho, a Central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh is world famous for its UNESCO recognized heritage sites and practices great heritage tourism. The site is well known for its imposing temples by reflecting the beauty of antique sculptures and structures carved in huge single sand stones (http://www.mptourism.com/dest/khajuraho.html).These temples, mirroring the sensuous images of both men and women also lead to shed some lights on the medieval Hindu and Jain cultures

The history of temples in Khajuraho village is believed to be dated back to a thousand years ago, erected by the great Chandela Rajput Dynasty of Central India, by taking a century to build more than 85 glorious temples with richly carved unique and magnificent sculptures. (Gill, 2008).During the depredation of time only 22 are managed to survive and they stand still calling out the glory of medieval architectural masters. Some of the temples are sculptured with enticing erotic structures representing the Tantric Vedas which the people in the village used to practice.

The other Tourism activities include Khajuraho Dance Festival, organized every year in the month of February or March for one week and the Daily Sound & Light Show ((Khajuraho, n.d.). Table-1 shows some general Information about Khajuraho (http://www.delhitourism.com/khajuraho-tourism/)

Level of tourism development

Ever since the airport is opened, a daily flight operated from Delhi, the capital city of India connected Khajuraho with some other famous destinations. These made the visitors to reach there without any inconvenience and also the ground transportation facilities improved, while connecting to nearby important towns and railway station by running daily trips to Khajuraho. The main significant changes in the level of tourism happened was “the creation of a Master Plan to guide the growth of Khajuraho and the institution of the Khajuraho Dance Festival, a successful event that has, to some extent given Khajuraho a ‘classical’ image” (Menon,1993).

What was Khajuraho before

Khajuraho or the ancient name ‘Khajurapura’ is believed to be derived from the word ‘Khajurvahila’ meaning the ‘garden of dates’ surrounded the village at that time (Krishnamurthy, 1996). Deserted after the 14th century, the area was completely unknown to outside world until it was discovered by a young British Army officer T.S. Burt in 1838 (Menon, 1993). According the Ministry of Tourism, (http://www.mptourism.com/dest/khajuraho.html) after the turn down of the Chandela dynasty in the 13th century, the temples were hidden from outside world by dense forests and shrubs around. Nobody knew the epitome of Indian Architecture was diminishing dawdling in the rampage of time. Many of the structures were destroyed by weather, the slackness and laxity of surrounding world. But this hidden identity must have saved the remaining temples from the early Muslim invasions in the past (Hegewald & Mitra, 2008). According to Menon (1993) the temples were unknown to the world until 1950’s and it was only the foreign journalists and photographers who published the photos to the open world. The place was opened to the tourists only a few decades after the Independence of India from British in 1947 after building adequate facilities for transportation to get there.

Changes after the tourism developments

Today, Khajuraho is a booming tourist spot for both domestic and international travelers. The infrastructure is modified significantly by the government to the needs of thirsting travelers, as

the years pass by. According to (UNESCO, 2005) few modest hotels were built in the early sixties to attract foreigners and domestic tourists and the number of people coming to visit Khajuraho has changed dramatically ever since the airport was built as the surface transportation was not convenient enough. The ‘draft Development Plan’ produced by Indian Government in 1975 is also guided consequent development of the area (Menon, 1993). Now the old village of Khajuraho is changed absolutely into a place with a number of 8 star hotels including 2 five star chains affiliated hotels and other budgeted hotels also, in an area of just few kilometers (http://www.tourism-of-india.com/hotels-in-madhya-pradesh.html) equipped with efficient roads access, other transportation and accommodation facilities. Subsequently areas around Khajuraho have also flourished and harvested the benefits from these tourism developments.

Tourist profile

There have been a lot of changes happened during the last few decades and this has led to have a significant change in the demographics of travelers arriving in Khajuraho. Menon (1993) stated that a few decades back, the foreign tourists visiting Khajuraho comprised 3.3% of total number of visitors to India and ‘most of the tourists were independent and included in low budget category, half of the group tourists who visited India visited Khajuraho also’.

The statistics published by the government a few years back, shows the tremendous hike in the number of tourists visited the destination and it gives a lucid idea about the expansion of the Khajuraho tourism plans (Menon, 1993)

The number of people visited in the early 80’s were higher than in early 90’s in the domestic travelers as it is believed to be the reason of political instability at that time. But the number of foreign travelers remained constant between these periods. Table 2 shows that total numbers of tourists in 1985-1986 were around 203,646, but in the early 90’s it was decreased to 151,350. (Appendix I-IV)There is a significant percentage of increase in the number of foreign visitors to Khajuraho in the current decade almost double the numbers in previous decades while the number of domestic tourists remained constant apparently. This increasing number of tourists mainly depends on the level of promotions of the destination or and the transportation facilities.

Driving force

It is not only just some sandstone structures to see in Khajuraho, but it is the picturesque depiction of medieval existence of village people ruled under the great ‘Chandela’ kings portrayed by the maestros of stone architecture about a millennium ago. It is the thrusting force of quaint beauty to lead the travelers to Khajuraho from around the world. The main motivation of travelling to Khajuraho is the splendor of these sculptures in the temples. The government tourism board and other tourism agencies have recognized the demand for tourism in the region and offer various tourism packages including the nearby cities of Khajuraho. It is another value added benefit for the travelers and a motive to visit Khajuraho. Although it is an icon of Heritage Tourism, the erotic sculptures, illustrating the ‘tantric’ arts in the sandstones attract many of the tourists from around the world.

Rise in the economy- A positive impact

Though there are many identified impacts of tourism in Khajuraho, the most significant one is the rise in the total economy, as the level of tourism in the destination parts a major share in the total number of foreign tourist flow into the country (Appendix V)

As a result of tourism development programs which eventually offered more than 3,000 job offers to the local community made the status of lifestyle to go up resourcefully as there was significant growth in education and health care systems. The other noticed results are in the local handicraft industry and the offering of large scale indirect employment in other sectors especially in the farming (UNESCO, 2005). The development of tourism in the region have also reduced the level of poverty than the neighboring villages as this mass tourism has helped the local people to indulge in increasing their personal income through various tourism activities. All those improvements in the public utility infrastructures and transport infrastructures in Khajuraho show the positive economical impacts and it has been forecasted to make a dramatic change in the future number of tourists (In 2015, expecting 1,00,965 domestic tourists and 8,59,701 foreign tourists with a total number of 19,60,666) Appendix-VI

Negative economic impact

The level of tourism has made some negative impacts in the local economy to a certain level, especially the development programs by the government which brought many outsiders into the village economy. Instead of using the natural resources, things are being imported from outside by the migrants. Most of the imported goods are manipulated as local art work and being sold to the tourists which is a leakage in the integration of locals and the government systems (Menon, 1993). Moreover, the inflation has increased due to the less supply for the high demand for local items caused by the tourism development program. According to Menon, (1993, p.37) “a local guide explains that 20 years ago people were friendlier and close together: tourism, he said, has made the people money-minded”.

Positive Environmental impact

The wild shrouded temples are titivated by the government by the level of tourism in Khajuraho. According to UNESCO, (2005) the place is now equipped with complete infrastructure including transportation, electricity, water supply, hotels and hospitals. The temples are now protected by the Indian Central Government with the help of archeological and tourism departments to preserve the Indian heritage, as they are wall protected by the security systems in order to avoid intruders and vandalisms. Now the temples are surrounded by gardens which are not truly, a part of original temple designs, to enhance the beauty of temple premises. Apart from that, a central museum is located in the village to keep the valuable broken parts from the temples and show case the ancient artwork to the visitors and the excavation areas are restricted for public .One can clearly see that the old sleepy image of Khajuraho is completely changed by the changes happened in the environment due to the tourism (Menon, 1993).

Negative Environmental impact

Due to the characteristics of the destination, Khajuraho poses very less detrimental effect on the physical environment as the tourists who visit are particular nature of sightseer activity and their primary intention is just to see the sculptures in the temples (Menon, 1993). Thus rate of losing the natural resources will be very less in the region comparing some other tourist destinations, however the mass amount of tourist flow into Khajuraho must have changed the environment negatively due to the air pollution and solid wastes disposal. Moreover the destruction of unique flora and fauna in the area, due to the excavation work happening nearby the temples reduced the wild life in the surrounding region. The other considerable negative impacts are the air pollution caused by the aircrafts flying. A study conducted by Indian central archaeological department found out that aircrafts flying over the temples produce a certain level of vibrations which could damage ancient monuments(Archaeological Survey of India, n.d) According to a monthly social awareness magazine (Khajuraho Special, 2004) land pollution and air pollution are some of the major environmental issues in Khajuraho faced by tourism. None of the hotels in Khajuraho have proper waste management system or recycling system which persuade them to litter openly and so do the tourists, especially the canned foods and other disposable items. In the same way, increasing number in tourism has caused the same number in vehicles for transportation which pollutes the air by emitting dangerous gases and causing to change the atmospheric temperature. The final thought is about the shrinking of water bodies in the area, where the improper land usage reduced the natural water resources drastically.

Positive socio-cultural impact

The lifestyle in Khajuraho is being affected by tourism activities as a natural consequence of socio-cultural impact. People have been more aware of the tourism needs and other cultures, to mingle with other nationalities flawlessly. The dance festivals and other cultural activities unite the local community and also portray the true image of Khajuraho to tourists. It has been proved that there hasn’t been any complaint of sexual harassment or prostitution, which shows that the local community is more responsive about social norms (Menon, 1993) and some of the local people have managed to make marriage relationship with foreigners. After all, some of the local community still indulge in their daily prayers and go to the temples for worshiping which point towards the conscientious tourism in the area.

Negative socio-cultural impact

The migration and settlement of outsiders have changed Khajuraho social and cultural environment, as now the local populations is consisting of various ethnic groups who drifted to make business via tourism. The local language spoken is very less in Khajuraho as majority of people living in Khajuraho are nonnative. From my personal experience in Khajuraho, what I could see mainly was the children and young people are following the path of tourism to make money easily rather than going to schools and colleges. Most of them are grabbed by travel agents to become guides and receive commission from them. Ultimately tourism has brought in these multi cultural societies who sell the true art for money into Khajuraho and broken the integrity of local culture.

Recommendations and final thoughts

“The promotional material and the information available to the tourists, reduce Khajuraho to a single-issue destination” Menon (1993). This image of Khajuraho is more likely a single point destination where the tourism is only focused on the sensual sculptures in the temples. Instead of publicizing the true illustration, the tourists are falsified by the travel agent mafias which make them to take pleasure in the erotic part of the heritage art worked temples instead of understanding the true principles of an ancient civilization existed there. Hence the government should be more responsible to stop these misleading by establishing examples such as providing proper tourism marketing campaigns, awareness seminars and cultured guiding system. Instead of focusing only on the temples, tourism board should take hand in developing the vicinity and neighboring locality as they are still under poverty and the wildlife around Khajuraho still remains unguarded though it is reserved.

“Over the past years Asian countries have on looked incredible social, cultural, political and technological changes” (Pandey, Chettri, Kunwar and Ghimire, 1995).These significant changes have been received by the far-fetched development of tourism in the subjected countries. Despite the fact that tourism fosters the national economy to a certain extent, it has definite impacts on country’s enlightening ethnicity and legacy while leaving the natural possessions to an economic item of trade for income. According to Bandyopadhyay, Morais, Chick (2008, p.791), ”Tourism is not just an aggregate of merely commercial activities; it is also an ideological framing of history, nature and tradition; a framing that has the power to reshape culture and nature to its own needs.” It is apparent from this report that, these factors have certainly affected either positively or negatively on the values of economic, environmental and socio cultural in Khajuraho. The final say is tourism in Khajuraho has fostered over the years and it has changed many factors, it is the obligation of each and every single tourist who comes to visit Khajuraho to practice ‘responsible tourism’ while mesmerized by the prehistoric sandstone shades of ancient arts.

References
Archaeological Survey of India. (n.d). Periodic Reporting Exercise on the Application of the World Heritage Convention Section II: State of conservation of specific World Heritage properties. Retrieved March 27, 2010, from http://whc.unesco.org/archive/periodicreporting/apa/cycle01/section2/240.pdf
Bandyopadhyay, R., Morais, D., & Chick, G. (2008). Religion and identity in Indi’s heritage tourism. Annals of Tourism Research, 35(3), 790-808. Retrieved March 27, 2010, from the Sciencedirect database.
Hegewald, J., & Mitra, S. (2008). Jagannatha Compared: The politics of appropriation, re-use and regional traditions in India (Working Paper No. 36), South Asia Institute at the University of Heidelberg. Retrieved March 28, 2010, from http://archiv.ub.uniheidelberg.de/volltextserver/volltexte/2008/8015/pdf/HPSACP_Hegewald_Mitra_final.pdf
Khajuraho Special. (2004, January). Monthly social awareness magazine. Retrieved from http://www.goldengreentour.com/docs/MonthlyAwarenessMagJan.pdf
Krishnamurthy, K. (1994). A botanical account of Valmiki’s pankavati. Indian Journal of History of Science, 31(2), 26. Retrieved from http://www.new.dli.ernet.in/rawdataupload/upload/insa/INSA_1/20005b5f_131.pdf
Gill, C. (2008). A Comparative Analysis of the Temples of Khajuraho and the Ruling Chandellas of India. Unpublished senior thesis. University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. USA
Menon, K. (1993). Case Study on the Effects of Tourism on Culture and the Environment: India; Jaisalmer, Khajuraho and Goa. RACAP Series on Culture and Tourism in Asia, 1, 99. Retrieved April 2, 2010, from the UNESCO database.
Pandey, R., Chetri, P., Kunwar,R., & Ghimire, G. (1995). RACAP Series on Culture and Tourism in Asia. Case study on the effects of tourism on culture and the environment, 4, 66. Retrieved March 25, 2010, from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001226/122619eo.pdf
UNESCO data. (2005, November 21). Major issues in tourism development in the Asian and Pacific region: Enhancing the role of tourism in socio-economic development and poverty reduction. Retrieved from http://www.unescap.org/ttdw/common/Meetings/STD/STD_3E.pdf
(http://www.mptourism.com/dest/khajuraho.html)
(http://www.delhitourism.com/khajuraho-tourism/)
(http://www.tourism-of-india.com/hotels-in-madhya-pradesh.html)
Images
Khajuraho temple. Retrieved March 25, 2010 from http://www.indialine.com/travel/images/khajuraho-temple.jpg
Map of India. Retrieved March 25, 2010 from http://travel-monitor.com/gifs/map-of-india.jpg
Pic1-

Khajuraho temple. Retrieved March 28, 2010from http://www.indiacanvas.com/t&t/m.p/kha/800px-Khajuraho-Lakshmana_temple%5B1%5D.jpg

Pic2-

Location.Retrieved March 28, 2010from http://www.surfindia.com/travel/gifs/khajuraho-map.jpg

Pic3-

Sculptures. Retrieved March 30, 2010from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Khajuraho5.jpg

Appendices
Appendix I- India Tourism Statistics 2006. Retrieved from http://www.tourism.gov.in/statistics/ITS2006.pdf
Appendix II – India Tourism Statistics 2006. Retrieved from http://www.tourism.gov.in/statistics/ITS2006.pdf
Appendix III- Hotel Categories in India. Retrieved from http://www.tourism.gov.in/statistics/ITS2006.pdf
Appendix IV- India Tourism Statistics 2006. Retrieved from http://www.tourism.gov.in/statistics/ITS2006.pdf
Appendix V- Tourist Inflow. Retrieved from http://whc.unesco.org/archive/periodicreporting/apa/cycle01/section2/240.pdf
Appendix VI- Forecasted Tourist arrival in 2015 (Assessment of requirement of Hotel Room / Accommodation in Metro Cities 13and 50 major Tourist Centers in India. Retrieved from Ministry of Tourism, http://www.tourism.gov.in/survey/HRA%20-%202008.pdf

This papers aims to look at Jamaica from the business perspective. It seeks to analyze the Jamaican business environment and the impacts of these environments on business organizations; it also seeks to assess how we can translate the gains in sports to a more lasting level in business and economy

The term Business Environment is composed of two words ‘Business’ and ‘Environment, the state in which a person remains busy is known as Business. The word Business in its economic sense means human activities like production, extraction or purchase or sales of goods that are performed for earning profits. On the other hand, the word ‘Environment’ refers to the aspects of surroundings. Therefore, Business Environment may be defined as a set of conditions – Social, Legal, Economical, Political or technological, that are uncontrollable in nature and affects the functioning of organization. The business environment has two components, internal being man, material, money, machinery and management, usually within the control of business. Business can make changes in these factors according to the change in the functioning of enterprise and external which are those factors which are beyond the control of business enterprise are included in external environment. These factors are: Government and Legal factors, Geo-Physical Factors, Political Factors, Socio-Cultural Factors, Demo-Graphical factors etc. (the gemini geek)

The Jamaican Business Environment

In today’s Jamaican environment, the economy is heavily dependent on services. The country continues to derive most of its foreign exchange from tourism, remittance and bauxite. Since 2009, the Jamaican economy plunged into recession due to the global economical meltdown, hence, declining in production and productivity and also causing the economy to be in high dept.

Economic Environment

Jamaica’s economic performance has oscillated over the past few decades due to the economic crisis, businesses and organizations are forced into paying higher interest rates so as to keep their businesses going. Jamaica’s small and import dependent economy makes it vulnerable to natural and external economic shocks. These Shocks combined with macro-economic instability characterized by high inflation and exorbitant dept burden have led to anemic economic growth rates. These and more has been further compounded by high levels of crimes, increasing unemployment, high energy cost and out migration of skilled employees.

Political Environment

Political factors are concerned with the overall situation of politics in the country. Political environment can affect a business negatively or positively depending on the prevailing situation in the country. (blurit) According to the World Wide Web, in September 2007, the island’s political landscape changed dramatically when Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s Jamaica Labor Party won national elections after 18years in opposition, the government of Jamaica became constrained by a lack of resources, high unemployment and inflation. Today, business success depends on politics by a great percentage and in many ways. Once the country is stable, more investment opportunities will be realized, thus attracting more and more investors. This will reflect positively and directly to local business, as even the citizens will have full confidence in them. On the other hand, if certain business or its owners are not in good terms with the politicians then they will have to suffer. The rules that govern and regulate the manner in which trade is conducted are enacted by the politicians, thus it will call for good relation between stakeholders in the business sector and politician even if it’s impossible, just for success.

Social Environment

The social environment mainly focuses on society as a whole especially in its relation to the individual. The main factor that has a vast impact on businesses today is crime and violence. Jamaica has one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world but a relatively low rate of property crime which however can still have many adverse repercussions. Its leads to higher cost of doing business because of the need to employ different forms of security, it leads to business loss arising from looting, theft, extortion and fraud, and it leads to loss of output because of reduced hours of operation and temporary or permanent exit of workers from injuries/murder. (laws of tanzania, 2012) Crime imposes relatively very high costs to businesses in Jamaica.

Legal Environment

The legal environment examines the laws and regulations which serve as the structural basis for the country’s ability to achieve and sustain market-based development. Until the beginning of the last century, the business community was largely free to organize its legal relations in any way it chose, but increasing industrialization towards the end of the 19th century had given rise to labor unions, which invited increased reports of injuries within the workplace, and the demand for greater consumer protection and product liability. There are a multitude of legal issues to think about when it comes to starting a business. Everything from your business name, to its structure, to its operation, has legal implications. (alllaw.com) The top three obstacles to running a business in Jamaica are tax rates, electricity and access to finance. With respect to paying taxes, Jamaica’s performance in the Doing Business Report, which surveys the number of steps and time it takes for an enterprise to comply with its tax obligations. In respect to registering property, a recent land titling initiative supported by the Inter American Development Bank produced disappointing results and enormous amount of land in Jamaica continue to lack the legal clarity of ownership that is necessary for individuals to build future wealth. (bizclir) Laws are made by politicians, which has significant influence on the cost of running a business and the way it can market its products and services. (witiger.com, 2010) There is little prospect for sustainable reform in any of these substantive areas unless significant steps are taken to improve the parliaments actions in new law reform initiatives. In spite of all this, Jamaica is ranked as 9th out of 31 Latin American and Caribbean Countries surveyed by the Inter American development Bank. As far as market oriented economic policies are concerned Jamaica is still an attractive destination for doing business.

Technological & Competitive Environment

Technology affects businesses on many levels. The technological environment is the external factors in technology that impacts business operations. Changes in technology affect how a company will do business. In the Jamaican business environment, technology helps to organize the work environment. Everything from payroll to inventory is managed more efficiently with well designed software. (chron) Virtually all modern technology, from internet, cell phones to e-readers, saves time and energy. Everyone can connect with those in foreign countries with the click of a mouse, Decades ago it would take months or years, today, you can build a business with someone in another country in a matter of weeks or even days. Technology has come a far way in Jamaica. Take for example digicel, an article was posted by the Jamaica observer where Digicel CEO Marl Lineham introduces a new 4G plan which was available across all parishes. The opportunity exists because while up to 64 per cent of people have access to internet in Jamaica, only about four per cent of the population has access to the Internet in their homes or on the go because of the low penetration of broadband. 4G broadband will open up endless possibilities to these people, said Digicel CEO Mark Linehan at the launch of the new service held at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston. (roache, 2010) More particularly, it could increase the educational and employment opportunities for Jamaicans and improve GDP growth, thereby facilitating the development of a better economy. However, perhaps the most important component is its possible effect on businesses and productivity. (Alicia, 2010)

Competitiveness is important as it aids in the development of businesses. It has caused Jamaicans to have access to telecommunications and internet service, which has resulted in improved infrastructure for their business and attraction for investments hence persons having options. (Marius, 2012)

JAMAICA: training ground for track & field’s best.

There is no doubt that Jamaica has done us proud in the 2012 London Olympics. These gains have allowed Jamaica to be recognized all over the world. Jamaica is already known for its athletic abilities therefore to translate the gains into a more lasting level in economy; a track and field institution with its own multipurpose stadium could be opened which would seek to create a twofold course of action that will capitalize on the current recognition and successful trend of our existing athletic program; and at the same time, creating a system to identify, develop and cultivate young and upcoming talents that have the potential of sustaining success, which will translate to generating a steady stream of revenue on a national level.

Golden Spikes Athletic Institute

E=MCaˆ¦..excellence = mindset + commitment

The Golden Spikes Athletic Institute will incorporate athletes from Jamaica as well as overseas, it will also be equipped with boarding facilities as well as its own multipurpose stadium.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to develop young men and women with athletic talents through world class education and training, emphasizing on physical, social and emotional development, thus having an equal opportunity to participate at the highest competitive level and to be ranked one of the best athletic schools.

Objectives

Our main objective is to have the school up an running with our first set of students by September 2013. We strive to:

Provide quality instruction, teach, develop and maintain physical fitness.

To teach new skills and to offer opportunities to improve the skills possessed. (woodbury city public school)

Develop and maintain established codes of discipline.

Provide students with the opportunity to experience the satisfaction of self-sacrifice, in an attempt to contribute to the good of the team.

Promote participation and emphasize hard work, teamwork, sportsmanship and excellence in competition.

To develop skills and promote positive attitudes which will lead to a lifetime of sports and recreational activities.

Select, fit, and maintain protective equipments.

Produce world class athletes.

Make a profit.

Strategies

Have as many parents, teachers, private sector organizations and others to aid in the development of this institution.

Find and cultivate local as well as foreign talents – this will create a pool of athletes.

Upon enrolment, students will be required to learn about our culture, rules and regulations to gain knowledge crucial to the development of their athletic career.

Strategy based on current success

Promotional Merchandising – design and market products that embodies the success of Jamaican athletics.

Offer appearances by our very own and performance incentive contracts to athletes.

Strategy based on attracting potential athletes

Expand and maximize on the opportunities – Boys/Girls champs, Gibson relays and other premier athletic events.

Create opportunities for advance education – Build relationships with Universities, Colleges and other tertiary institutions to provide scholarships to our athletes.

Create high level training programs for new and existing athletic coaches

Create monitoring programs – The present core of successful athletes will be also charged with mentoring responsibilities of younger athletes upon retirement.

Tactics

Update websites regularly to include information on past accomplishments and future priorities.

Have our very own Usain Bolt and US’s Justin Gatlin and other worldly recognized athletes on board with us assisting with recruiting, training, motivation and maintaining the interest of the students.

Establish a new and more sophisticated stadium with top of the line amenities, private boxes and executive suites, to be built in a tourist resort area. This stadium will be built will the flexibility to accommodate other events besides track and field. Companies would pay for luxury boxes and executives suites at higher than normal fees. (htt1)

Apply to the International Association of Athletes Federation (IAAF) and other world athletic sporting bodies to host some of the world’s most premier athletic events such as, Diamond League, World Indoor Athletic Championship and IAAF World Relays. These events will attract a steady influx of world class athletes including our own world dominant athletes, tourists, sports writers and journalist from all over the world.

Track and field is a seasonal sport and we will need to host other events, sports and entertainment in order to create and sustain a steady income stream and profitability.

Milestones

Milestone – an action or event marking a significant change.

The establishment that Jamaica is seen as a world dominant power in track and field

The continuous cultivation and growth of world class and Olympic athletes

Using Usain Bolt’s 9.58 record set in Bejin 2010, Golden Spikes Institute hopes to produce athletes achieving world records and maintaining their status as being the best.

To top the medal chart at the Penn Relays and Carifta games scheduled for April and June 2013.

With our new stadium being built – to establish Jamaica as the first and only Caribbean country to host a major track and field event

Duties and responsibilities

Latoya Singh (principal) – in charge of the day to day operations of the institution

School board – responsible for the recruiting of instructors

Sherone Simpson (treasurer) – manages and reports the finances, monitor the budget and ensure that all financial policies are followed.

Sponsors; Scotia bank, western sports, adidas, sports plus company ltd. Usain Bolt’s foundation – responsible for assisting with the sponsorship and funding of gears, equipments and contributing to the overall development of the institution.

Mr. Glen Mills (Head Coach) – responsible for the recruiting of students and assistant coaches. His duties include physical training and mentoring of the students

Godfrey Steele (physiotherapist) – responsible for the development of the athletes muscle structure

Kalfani Burton (Contractor) – responsible for getting the workmen needed to complete this project

Monitoring and evaluation techniques

Monitoring and evaluation should be given adequate attention. Monitoring is performed while a project is being implemented with the aim of improving whereas the evaluation looks at the outcome of a project with the aim of informing the design of future projects (bamberger, 1986). Monitoring and evaluation provides constant feedback, identify potential problems from an early stage, provides guidelines for future planning, improve project design and incoporate views of stakeholders. (tools)

The monitoring and evaluation techniques that will be used are, surveys, online questionnaires, one to one conversations, suggestion outlets, comment sheets, worshops and by the amount of comments on our webpage

Marketing objectives

Marketing is essential for any organization that wants to raise awareness about itself, its products or its services (mason). With out target market being students just leaving high school or college or those who have great interest in having an athletic career.

Golden spikes aims at recruiting local as well as overseas students

In the next two years to be ranked the best and to be a worldly recognized institution

Maintaining a place in the mind of the public

Having clear, established goals in getting the word out

Marketing Strategies

Marketing strategy sets your marketing goals, defines your target markets and describes how you will go about positioning the business to achieve advantage over your competitors. (is4profit) This will be done by creating a webpage, advertizing on the television, radio, printed press, mobile merchandizing, word of mouth by past athletic champions, the usage of images and tone to remind consumers of what we are offering, creating a face book page http://www.facebook.com/#!/GoldenSpikesAthleticInstitute

Communication objectives

Our objective is to inform and educate persons of the plan that will be used to translate the gains in sports to gains in business and economy ensuring to have a consistent message, while looking at the communication principles; why, what, when, who. (business communication) Our communication objectives aims at creating awareness, imparting knowledge, projecting an image, shaping attitudes, and stimulating a want or desire.

Communication strategy

To have face to face meetings with Manufacturers Associations of Jamaica, Private Sector Organization of Jamaica, Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, pass Olympians and others

By advertising in local newspapers and printed directories, like the telephone book, TV commercials, online consumer review sites for those who prefer to search online, setting up a website with details of location, opening times and product range to communicate with Internet users.

Finance and Budgeting

It is very important to have a budget with such a s plan in mind. This is to ensure that adequate resources are obtained and spent according to plan.

Golden spikes will seek to cover its operating cost from school fees and boarding fees, assistance with funding from the government, private and public organizations.

Start up funds – getting a bank loan

Crowd funding – walkathons,

Partner investments – partnering with western sports, where profit and liabilities would be shared

Create partnership with sports associations, West Indies Cricket board, National Premier Football league, Jamaica Football Association, Jamaica Cricket board Association. (htt)

Conclusion

In concluding, I will say that the six environments create some amount of impact on the Jamaican business environment. The economic, political, social, legal, technological and competitive, with competitive being the most important, all plays a vital role in the development of any business organization. In Jamaica there are rules and regulations governing how businesses operate, it looks at the people, how they differ, their culture, marital status and basically what areas affect them business development. Technology has come a far way in business development and is still growing, more and more gadgets are being created making the running of businesses a little bit easier but has it negative impacts.

It is not easy operating a business in Jamaica, there can be negative impacts such as high crime rates which can lead to loss of employees hence making it bad for business. However, on the other hand the Jamaican atmosphere, its people, its culture, food, etc. makes it very attractive therefore for persons operating business, this may allow them to want to contribute back to the economy in some way. Take for example the 2012 Olympics, Jamaica did exceptionally well, taking home 12 medals, this highlighted the image and profile of the country in the international forum allowing people to cash in on the gains and making it into a more useful and lasting level in the Jamaican economy

Introduction:

In this modern society, the development of sports has become one of the most significance aim for nations, especially for developing the professional sports and promoting participation of the mass sport. Governments establish the policies for promoting the development of sports in communities is good for the people health benefits and economic development. Therefore, the intervention of government into the community sports plays a critical role for the success of community sports.

Background:

Until late 1950s or early 1960s, numbers of countries have the purpose of government intervention in sport is to specific problems such as poor standards of health in urban areas (Houlihan, 1997). Nowadays, the purposes of the government intervention in sports have broadened, which is not just for providing people physical or psychological need, but also for the business purpose. Governments establish the public sport facilities in communities and urban in order to give more opportunities to participate in sports and develop the atmosphere of sports, in addition, the image of communities or urban will be improved apparently like small city Wimbledon as famous as tennis holding , and the international winter competitions in Innsbruck. In terms of economy, it can provide a lot of profits for nation, such as big events Olympic Games and World Cup, in addition to them, community sports can be a potential way to stimulate the development of economy as well, particular in the sport subculture, attract more people who come from foreign countries.

Arguments for the reasons of government involvement:

Having a famous community sport events, which enhance other industries development and such as tourism, hospitality, etc. In addition, the volunteer works play a critical role in the community sports competition, because they can help the operation of organization sports successfully. The development of elite sports can be connected to the community sports because it can cultivate ergastic talents from the community sport , which is good for the development of elite sports. Although communities ‘sports have a promising prospect through the ways of government involvement, the negative aspects should not be ignored such as market fail, negative externalities and Tragedy of the Commons. In the social problems, the rates of crime might be increased. Hence, all of the negative aspects in the development of community sports that the governments have to overcome it.

Benefits effects:
Social benefits from community sports:

People can get benefits from Participating in the community sports, which are the physical activity improving and health care reduction. In Australia, according to the data shows that people doing sports in communities can get “health costs reduce $1.49 billion per year; and productivity gains by making the workforce healthier through increased physical activity could be as much as 1% of GDP (or $12 billion) per year.” (Frontier Economics report, 2010). It can be seen that doing sports in communities that it is not only can get physical health, but also increasing the GDP. On the other hand, people can socialize with others during the competitions of community sports, in the meanwhile, the voluntary works can be enhanced by the opportunities of sports competition in the communities, which can develop the elite sports significantly. In Australia, government inputs the volunteers as value as almost $4 billion (Frontier Economics report, 2010). This is a worthwhile intervention by the Australian government, because they can enhance the development of the elite sports and also reduce government spending. Therefore, governments play an important role to encourage people to engage in community sports, and increase the volunteer works.

Positive externalities

With the involvement of governments in community sport events, community sports have been strengthen, the holding of sport events can get benefits for host community, because the community sport is not just for the purposes of recreation and physical health, it has become common tool for local and regional economic development (Brien, 2007). There are several industries could be enhanced such as sport tourism industry, restaurants, hotels, nightspots and transportation facilities (Peter & Tarlow, 2010). Sport tourism is most important industry, “in Australia sport tourism might represent about 5% of the overall tourism market, equating to tourism expenditure of about $3 billion per annum” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000). government control the community sports development as the sport subculture is very important, because people to participate in the community sports is more likely to know the subculture of sports, and it is more attractive for foreigners. “In Australia, sport occupies a central place within culture and identity, based on a long history of achievement across a wide range of sports” (Commonwealth of Australia, 2000). Moreover, establish more infrastructures in community will enhance the development of tourism, because it is very important to retain tourists. In Australia, the Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd MP announced that 220 million funding for the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program (RLCIP) would be made available to build and modernize community facilities, including town halls, libraries, community centres, sports grounds and environmental infrastructure (Australian government, 2010). . Government involves in the community sport events and infrastructures have more changelings for the governments, because it decides other industries whether it develops rapidly or not.

Sport policy in the community sports

The development of community sports is not only for improving the regional the levels of regional and nation, also there is more meaningful that the relationship between countries can be improved due to the exchange between culture and sports. For example, in the early 1970s, in order to have a good thawing between East and West, USA sent a table-tennis to China, which is the first step to traditional diplomatic relations (Houlihan, 1991). Table-tennis can be a national identity of China, USA used the way of exchange between sport and culture in order to have sport culture exchange and promote the friendship between these two countries. Therefore, government strength the national identity started from the community sports, because they have basic level, and in order to have advancement for the development of nation identity. In Australian, the most representative sports are rugby, cricket and surfing, etc. government has support these sports increasingly in the communities. In Australian community sport policy also focus on children participation, which develops the grass roots sport, and encouraging all students to get healthy and physically active, which means it helps students combat obesity and preventable diseases later in life through the Australian Sport Commission’s Active After-school Communities (Australia Sport Commission, 2010).

Negative effects
Negative externalities

Government involve in community sports level has achieved a lot of positive outcomes. However, the negative outcomes in the community sport that governments have to overcome its. Having a good community sport will attract a large numbers of people to participate in, but it leads to environmental pollution raised. The governments have to solve this problem, because it can lose interesting among the spectators and participants. In addition, the hooligans and vandalism in community sport facilities are serious problems which result in public property loss, according to the Coffs Harbor City Council report that they started to strengthen measures to reduce vandalism in community sport facilities, and almost spent to the city more than $100,000 each year (Coffs Harbour City Council report, 2004). Hence, governments play an important role to reduce the vandalisms and hooligans. Naturally, increasing numbers of participants will attend because of the safety guarantee.

With the development of community sports, increasing numbers of people participate in community sport because there are a lot of public sport facilities and services exist. As a result, the fitness industry will be threatened potentially, because fitness industry is beyond the budget for people who can get low incomes especially for the students, so have a good community sport facilities will give them more opportunities to do sports, even though the fitness industry has more professional guidance and facilities. Therefore, the government intervention in fitness industry is necessarily, and cultivates more talents for encouraging the development of fitness industry. In Canada, Fitness increased concern among physical educators and health lifestyle and the government supported $5million per annum to cultivate these kinds of talent (Houlihan, 1997).

Tragedy of the Commons

With the development of society, the use of land has become competitive because more and more companies and factories tend to use larger space to develop themselves, and also the land-ownership play an essential role for industry of real estate. It can be seen that increasing numbers of buildings have built for the business companies or government sectors. Therefore, establish more sport venues and sport infrastructures in public are not very easy, because the land area is limited. If establish in the country areas, it will lead to restrict the development of agriculture. Therefore, the development of community sports will be limited, because there is no much more space to do sports for people. Especially in China, the populations were increased rapidly during the last years, so the people who live in the city, the sport facilities in public is not enough due to the increasing of populations, naturally, the sport fields is not enough as well. Hence, the governments have to intervention in space of community sport areas, which means give rights to broaden the space in sport areas, and more chances for people engaging in sports.

Conclusion:

Anyway, the governments involved in community sports for couple of reasons which include social benefits, positive and negative externalities, community sport promotion and Tragedy of the Commons for the community sports. So no matter what reasons are, that the governments intervene to the community sports for three main purposes which are people physical healthy, the development of nation economy and the elite sports.

Specifically, the government’s involvement is for encouraging and assisting the development of community sports. First of all, People doing community sport is not only reducing the health costs, but also having more opportunities to socialize. Secondly, to develop the volunteer works and community level sports are very important for the elite sports, because community sports is being a basic level, and there are many people who are cultivatable and promising for the elite sports. Volunteer works can be a construction of underpin for the elite sport levels. In terms of children health, governments encourage them to participate in community sports in order to reduce the diseases and obesity for them. In addition, Sport policy is good for promoting the nationals relationship such as sport and culture exchange between USA and China. Moreover, enhancing the development other industries take advantage of the opportunities of holding of the community sport events, like tourism and hospitality, etc. However, there are a lot of negative aspects in the community sports such as hooligans and vandalisms, environment pollution and Tragedy of the Commons, all of the negative aspects that governments have to cope with it as quickly as possible.

Introduction to Travel and Tourism

Tourism is travel for leisure, recreational and business purpose. Tourists can be defined as people who travel to and stay in places outside their usual surroundings for more than twenty-four hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes by the World Tourism Organization. Tourism is a known affair in human life. It has been an industry of vast dimensions and eventually supports economic and social growth. Tourism worldwide has experienced phenomenal growth. With more than 600 million people travelling annually, tourism is the world’s largest industry, with revenues of about half a trillion dollars a year, and averaging five percent annual growth.

India, being a vast and diverse country has always something to offer, and its glorious traditions and rich cultural heritage are linked with the development of tourism. Its magnificent monuments attract large numbers of visitors from all over the world. Tourism is the largest service industry in India, with a contribution of 5.68% of the national GDP and 8.78% of the total employment in India. India witnesses’ more than 13.72 million annual foreign tourist arrivals and 650 million domestic tourist visits. The tourism industry in India generated about US$ 100 billion in 2008 and is expected to increase to US$ 275.5 billion 2018 at a 9.4% annual growth rate.

Booming IT industry and outsourcing industry has led to growing number of business trips made by foreigners to India, who often add a weekend break or longer holiday to their trip. Foreign tourist spends more in India than almost any other country worldwide. Tourist arrivals are projected to increase by over 22% per year through till 2010. Tourism minister has also played an important role in the development of the industry, initiating advertising campaigns such as the ‘Incredible India’ campaign, which promoted India’s culture and tourist attractions in a fresh and memorable way. This campaign helped create a colourful image of India in the minds of tourists all over the world and directly led to an increase in the interest among tourists.

The tourism industry has helped growth in other sectors as diverse as horticulture, handicraft, agriculture, construction and even poultry.

Both directly and indirectly, increased tourism in India has created jobs in a variety of related sectors. Almost 20 million people are now working in the India’s tourism industry.

Growth Of Hospitality Industry In India

The hotel industry in India is going through an interesting phase. One of the major reasons for the increase in demand for hotel rooms in the country is the boom in the overall economy and high growth in sectors like information technology, telecom, retail and real estate. Rising stock market and new business opportunities are also attracting hordes of foreign investors and international corporate travellers to look for business opportunities in the country.

The hotel industry in India is going through an interesting phase. The industry has a capacity of 110,000 rooms. According to the tourism ministry, 4.4 million tourists visited India last year and at the current rate, the demand will soar to 10 million by 2010 to accommodate 350 million domestic travellers. The hotels of India have a shortage of 150,000 rooms fuelling hotel room rates across India. With tremendous pull of opportunity, India has become a destination for hotel chains looking for growth.

Due to such a huge potential available in this segment, several global hotel chains like the Hilton, Accor, Marriott International, Berggruen Hotels, Cabana Hotels, Premier Travel Inn (PTI), InterContinental Hotels group and Hampshire among others have all announced major investment plans for the country. The Government’s move to declare hotel and tourism industry as a high priority sector with a provision for 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) has also provided a further impetus in attracting investments in to this industry.

It is estimated that the hospitality sector is likely to see US$ 11.41 billion rise in the next two years, with around 40 international hotel brands making their presence known in the country by 2011. Simultaneously, international hotel asset management companies are also likely to enter India. Already, US-based HVS International has firmed up plans to enter India, and industry players believe others like Ashford Hospitality Trust and IFA Hotels & Resorts among others are likely to follow suit.

Niche Tourism

The concept of ‘niche tourism’ has emerged in recent years in counter-point to what is commonly referred as ‘mass tourism’. In a globalising world of increasing sameness, niche tourism represents diversity and ways of making difference. It plays on the pejorative connections that have accompanied the evolution of mass and package tourism and their, often cited, negative impacts in relation to environmental degradation and socio-cultural disturbance. For destination managers and planners seeking to utilise tourism as a mechanism for economic development, the niche tourism approach appears to often greater opportunities and a tourism that is more sustainable, less damaging and more capable of delivering high spending tourists.

The term niche tourism is largely borrowed from the term niche marketing, which in turn has appropriated the niche concept from the language of the relatively recent discipline of ecology.

Tourists, as consumers have developed increasing levels of expertise and experience of being tourists. Whilst this developmental pattern of tourists may not always be linear or simplistic.

Figure 2: Niche Tourism Components

Types of Niche Tourisms

Niche tourism has broadly been divided into following components:

Cultural Tourism: Cultural tourism is the subset of tourism concerned with a country or region’s culture, specifically the lifestyle of the people in those geographical areas, the history of those peoples, their art, architecture, religions, and other elements that helped shape their way of life. Cultural tourism includes tourism in urban areas, particularly historic or large cities and their cultural facilities such as museums and theatres. It can also include tourism in rural areas showcasing the traditions of indigenous cultural communities (i.e. festivals, rituals), and their values and lifestyle.

Environmental Tourism: Environmental tourism, ecotourism, or nature tourism provides an opportunity to visit undisturbed natural areas, scenic vistas, and observe plants and wildlife. Ecotourism is responsible travel to fragile, pristine, and usually protected areas that strive to be low impact and often small scale as an alternative to mass tourism. Its purpose is to educate the traveller and provide funds for ecological conservation, directly benefit the economic development and political empowerment of local communities and foster respect for different cultures and for human rights. Generally, ecotourism focuses on volunteering, personal growth and environmental responsibility. Ecotourism typically involves travel to destinations where flora, fauna, and cultural heritage are the primary attractions. One of the goals of ecotourism is to offer tourists insight into the impact of human beings on the environment, and to foster a greater appreciation of our natural habitats. Responsible ecotourism includes programs that minimize the negative aspects of conventional tourism on the environment and enhance the cultural integrity of local people.

Rural Tourism: Any form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations, thereby benefiting the local community economically and socially as well as enabling interaction between the tourists and the locals for a more enriching tourism experience can be termed as rural tourism. Rural tourism is essentially an activity which takes place in the rural areas.

The term “rural tourism” was adopted by the European Community to refer to all tourism activities in rural areas or as an economic activity, which depends on and exploits the countryside.

Figure 1: Rural Tourism Approach

Forms of Rural Tourism

Agritourism: Agritourism or farm tourism refers to an organization working on farm or agricultural plant made for entertainment of tourists or visitors, thereby generating income for farm owners. This may help the farmers to interact with the visitors, thereby benefiting the visitors to enrich their knowledge regarding agritourism.

Sports Tourism: It involves tourists to participate or observe rural sports. It teaches the local rural people how to get scope/chance in international game and to compete with opponents. It enables the people of different cultural background to mix with other people and exchange cultural activities between the parties and thereby they are culturally rich.

Pro-Poor Tourism: Pro Poor tourism is set up in developing countries as a means to improve the local economy for local people. It enhances the linkages between tourism businesses and poor people; so that poverty is reduced and poor people are able to participate more effectively in tourism development. The aims of pro-poor ranges from increasing local employment to involving local people in the decision making process.

Introduction to Rural Tourism in India

Majority of India is among the rural category with the sanctity and subtleness intact in the very essence of the village soil. This pious environment of the rural India attracts lot of interest among the tourists in India and thus rural tourism is a fast emerging category.

A national tourism policy was introduced in 2002, with rural tourism identified as a focus area to generate employment and promote sustainable livelihoods. The government in its 10th five year plan has focused on the subject of rural tourism. With a rich diversity in culture, heritage, food, crafts, and tradition, India has immense potential and opportunity. It has identified certain areas across the country, which can immediately be developed as the rural destinations.

The government partnered with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for an Endogenous Tourism Project. Some 30 rural sites were selected in 20 states to develop as destinations for rural tourists. The UNDP pumped in an initial US$2.5 million. Those proposals that were selected by the government were entitled to assistance up to US$100,000.

Divining Forces in Rural Tourism

Industry stakeholders define the rural tourism experience by what they offer as product. But they are simply responding to what they perceive as an increasing demand for experience of rural communities, and interpreting it via their own world views. This demand is driven by a range of forces that combine to create tourist interest in rural experiences. These forces have been identified by many authors and can be summarised as:

Tourist generating regions for rural tourism are highly developed and urbanised. The stresses of urban living and the remoteness from the natural environment has created a desire for escape from the monoculture of city living.

Baby boomers are driven to tourism experiences that yield increased self-awareness in their drive for “longed for perfection” that compensates for lives “destabilised by uncertainty and insecurity” (Mackay, 1997)

Demand fuelled by media, over-familiarity and congestion with traditional tourist resorts and increased interest in alternative attractions with its voracious appetite for content and the resultant over exposure of many traditional tourist destinations.

Increasing environmental awareness and interest in the relationship between humans and the environment. Green issues have raised the attractiveness of rural experiences as ecologically sustainable tourism.

Transport, communication, and the removal of political and economic barriers to travel have facilitated accessibility of rural areas.

Increase in number of free independent travellers due to the increased capacity, especially in long-haul transport modes. When combined with increasing discretionary incomes, greater awareness of the range experiences on offer, the accessibility and attractiveness of rural destinations has been dramatically improved.

Changing work patterns have increased the popularity of shorter breaks that minimise the absence from work and the effect of absences on work flow and involvement.

An increased interest in heritage can be satisfied through rural tourism as rural areas are often the repositories of remnant heritage.

Rural areas are perceived as healthier, offering fresher air, cleaner water and the opportunity for outdoor recreation. Rural areas offer fresh and speciality food. (Bartmann and Baum, 1998)

Issues with Rural Tourism
The lack of statistical base:

It is difficult to establish volume and value of rural tourism as a specific market sector in nations, even harder on an international scale. Many countries have different definitions of ‘rural’ and will therefore collect different data. Data on rural tourism are not easily obtainable.

Rural communities:

These tend to be non-uniform for example remove versus accessible rural areas contain very different types of settlement, employment opportunities, socio-demographic characteristics. Different community structures with diverse responses to tourism exist.

Tourism development strategies may not benefit all rural areas:

Where there is an inadequate supply of attractions or accommodation, tourism may not flourish. However marketing strategies must be good to attract tourists. Likewise, development of tourism provision by local people may not be feasible in a depressed rural economy.

Impact of Rural Tourism

The aim of tourism development in rural areas is, in general terms, to provide opportunities for economic and social development. In some areas, tourism provides the main source of income and employment, as well as providing social and economic benefits. Inevitably, negative aspects of rural tourism are evident as well. (Gannon 1994)

Economic

Assists viability of existing tourism and non-tourism business.

Encourages dependence on industry prone to uncontrollable change

Creates new employment

Creates part time, seasonal employment

Attracts inward investment

Incurs development costs and public service cost

Socio-cultural

Assists in viability of local service

Creates feeling of invasion by tourists

Creates sense of pride

Increases crime

Revitalises local culture, traditions, events and crafts

Reduction in local services

Environmental

Leads in environmental improvements in settlements

Increases wear and tear on landscape features

Provides income for conservation of buildings and natural environment

Creates need for new developments which may not be in keeping with local area.

Fosters awareness of conservation as worthwhile activity

Increases pollution and affects local biodiversity

Table 1: Positive and negative impacts of rural tourism

Niche Market: A Place in Rural Tourism

If the importance of the products one buys lies largely in their potential as social markers, tourism marketers must focus both on tourism’s social signification and on meanings attached to spaces in which these occur. Explanations of tourism consumption cannot be derived in isolation from the social relations in which they are embedded. New users of the countryside are redefining what constitutes ‘rurality’, and there is a need to take postmodernism and the construction of the rural much more seriously. Contemporary social construction often transcends the countryside’s tangible characteristics and qualities of open space or fresh air by representing it as the setting for the achievement of a range of personal goals. The need for a wider sociological approach to tourism studies has been emphasised by Sharpley, who argues for the recognition of broader social and cultural influences that shape consumer behaviour as a whole and influence consumption patterns. In the interests of the rural environment, therefore, and of the small businesses trying to meet the needs of emerging markets, it is necessary to look beyond classical marketing theory to gain a useful understanding of ‘rural tourism’ consumption and to evaluate the existence of niches for marketing purposes.

The increasing need for analysts to focus on consumption as an improved means of understanding contemporary forms of ‘rural tourism’ demand requires a dynamic framework within which the analysis can be conducted. A continuum to measure the relative importance of the countryside to the consumption of tourism in rural areas is proposed to indicate the importance of the countryside to the purpose of the trip and to tourist satisfaction. The significance of the model lies in its recognition of the primacy of neither tourism nor tourist types but the ways in which the countryside is consumed as a recreational resource.

Challenges and Opportunities in Rural Tourism

The major problem in rural areas is that there is not much scope for working. Most of the People are engaged in agricultural activities, some of them in forestry and others are artisans. Villages are struggling with large families with one or two earning members in the family and high consumption expenditure. Due to less scope in villages most of them started migrating to cities.

There are 638,691 villages in India as per the Census Report 2001 and the rural population is 741,660,293 with average population of 1,161 per village. Many of these rural communities have the potential have the potential resources, ability to attract the growing tourism industry. The scenic beauty, historical importance may appeal the urbanites, caught up in today’s fast pace of lifestyle.

Challenges in Rural Tourism

The major challenges are the need to preserve the environment and natural resources and the need for proper education.

Legislation Problems

Respondents have pointed out that there can be legal problems. Tourism is a part of entertainment industry. All hotels, motels and cottages having license pay taxes to government. Rural tourism should have a tax holiday or it should be tax free. The government should encourage rural tourism to grow.

Lack Of Trained Man Power

The ruler people require to be trained for discharging their duties, decorating the cottages and maintaining them, serving food to the visitors and to understand the taste of the costumers, either the local cuisine or different type of Indian cuisine. The success of rural tourism totally depends on the quality of service provided to the tourists. To develop the manpower government has to take initiative to open various short training courses for imparting knowledge and skills.

Insufficient Financial Support

To start rural tourism, sufficient fund is required to promote it in introductory phase. Rural tourism is still uncommon to many tourists. This is because the government has just started promoting rural tourism. Central and state government should encourage rural tourism by providing financial support to start the project. As it will create employment in rural areas and will help the inflow of funds from rural areas to urban areas.

Lack of Local Involvement

Since rural people do not have knowledge and skills to involve hem in different activities. They may get the job of unskilled workers. The rural people need to develop the knowledge and skills to have a higher involvement in rural tourism. The basic concept behind the rural tourism is the participation of rural people. But in practice local people are seldom involved in decision making, planning and implementing policies. Most of rural people do not have much knowledge of tourism, and are misled by outside investors who hope to take most of the economic benefits from rural area.

Language Problem

There are 16 recognized languages and 850 dialects in India. Although ‘Hindi’ is an official language, in many parts of India people do not understand it. The rural people have to upgrade themselves to communicate with the urbanites. The villagers not only have to educate themselves but they have to understand hindi to interact with the Indian costumers and English to communicate with the foreign costumers.

Opportunities in Rural Tourism

The tourists look for quality environment and meaningful experience. Marketing of rural is a specialist job. For rural tourism, rural people have to surrender themselves to professional marketers who understand the complexity of their task. The business depends on the development of networks, creation of trust and loyalty and information system, all of which takes money and time to develop, which is beyond the resources of most individual.

Tourists have become more educated, more aware of facilities available and more experienced, their expectation has also increased. People are interested in exploring new places. Rural tourism in India has great future, since it not only provides natural elements of beauty but also the indigenous local traditions, customs and foods. Direct experience with local people can be a unique selling proposition to attract tourists. Every state in India has unique handicraft, traditions and foods. The rural tourism not go for mass marketing, rather different strategies should be under taken for different segment to make it successful.

In the current context, tourism is considered the world largest and most diverse business sector Chen and Zan, 2009, having tourists spending money on hotels, entertainment, food and recreation, these become an important source of income of tourism and thus affecting the social and economic of the country greatly. When measuring tourism, all types of visitors will have to be considered, not just those traditional tourists, both all including staying and day visitors/ tourists (Campbell, N.D.). In this paper, the author will discuss the different impacts of tourism in general and different models which help to interpret tourism impact perception.

Tourism is used as a pathway for development (Cornelissen, 2005) and gradually become a common development focus for many countries. Having to maintain sustainability and long term success of the tourism industry (Diedrich and Gracia-Buabes, 2009), countries will require to put in more effort toward their tourism development, using tourism, to sustain especially the country’s economy. Many of the countries are still in the process of changing and refocusing for the tourism growth (Parlett, Fletcher and Cooper, 1995).

There are advantages and disadvantages of tourism development. Having tourism, countries will be able to raise the standard of living, increasing competition by encouraging new competitor, positive effect in a long-run economic growth (Schubert, Brida and Risso, 2010), creating jobs in both small and large societies. For disadvantages, they would be seasonal fluctuations of exchanges rates, unstable income and employment, high elasticity of demand, high inflation (Cornelissen, 2005), all these factors would somehow affect the tourism in a particular country.

Although tourism is growing dramatically and should be of the greatest interest or concern, is not everyone would understand what the exact impacts of tourism would occur to the community (Kreag, N.D.). The range of impacts for tourism is broad, and these would in turn, influences areas beyond those which commonly associated to tourism (Kreag, N.D.).

Some of the impacts will be social, economic, cultural, environmental, socio-economic and etc., for those people who understand the potential impacts of tourism, they are able to associate this industry in a more positive way than those people who associate tourism only in term of economic impacts.

The following figure illustrates the different impacts of tourism in interests, where different groups would experience different impacts of tourism. The interests of each group could be completely separate, economic impact, social and cultural impact and environmental impact.

Figure 2.1. Interest in tourism impacts

Source: The impact of tourism (http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/tourism/pdfs/ImpactsTourism.pdf)

There are different frameworks which measure tourism, models such as Bulter’s Tourism Area Life Cycle (TALC), Doxey’s Irridex, Social Exchange Theory, Social Disruption Theory, Early Warning System and etc. Three of the more commonly used indicators will be discussed next.

Bulter’s TALC model predicts tourism increase which eventually resulted in related tourism impacts. At the following figure (Figure 2.2), it shows the different stages, such as development stage, consolidation stage and stagnation stage of tourism. This model shows the period of time verse the number of tourists, where at the end of stagnation, there will be a tendency of becoming decline or rejuvenation depending on the tourism condition. The country economy therefore becomes largely dependent on tourism, and tourism declination can be shocking (Diedrich and Gracia-Buabes, 2009). In the following chapter, the author will continue to discuss where Hong Kong is laid in the model.

http://bp1.blogger.com/_SO9-ZWHfzb4/SChvtPObZGI/AAAAAAAAAWk/0lc4XETHeZs/s400/TALC.png

Figure 2.2. Bulter’s Model

Source: http://surfeconomics.blogspot.com/2008/05/life-cycle-of-santosha.html

Another framework would be Doxey’s Irridex model (Table 2.1), where it analyses the community attitudes toward the tourists through different stage. Different countries would feature at different position at the model, there may be a rising annoyance of the community due to the increases number of tourists (Rmchander, 2004). There are several factors which influence the attitude formed from the community toward the tourists, such as the types of visitors, the cultural difference between hosts and guest and also the length of visit.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_JbNHE73-_VU/S87HEkg95lI/AAAAAAAAAbE/jCE5Ymdzo3M/s1600/Fig+4.gif

Table 2.1. Doxey’s Irridex

Source:

Next, the Social Exchange Theory (SET) will be briefly discussed. SET is used to understand residents’ views on tourism impacts. It has a psychological and sociological perspective which describes the positive or negative view on tourism impacts (Yutyunyong, 2009). Having a high exchange rate of resources between the community and tourists, tourism impacts are viewed as positive by the community. But when the exchange rate of resources between them are low, tourism impact will be viewed as negative.

Social impact

Social impact is the result of social tourism, which aims to benefit the community by contributing to the social and economic development of regions, indicating the changes in the quality of life of residents of tourists’ destination. It can be subjective and intangible (Haley, Snaith and Miller, 2005), it is up to individual to view the situation. With different demographic groups, different view of the tourism in that particular country can be obtained. Researches have been conducted related to the community’s perceptions of tourism development. Some researchers suggested that negative perceptions resulted from increased noise, traffic, crime, overflow of tourists. For positive perception would be having improvements of infrastructure, will result in increased employment opportunities and recreational opportunities.

Jobs are being created, more and more opportunities for the community, resulting better standard of living. With that, employment is considered one of the most readily available indicators to measure social impact. There implies, with tourism, there will be significant fluctuations with the country over time, and when the country is not developing tourism, there may be a possibility of having a sharp declines in employment, as there will be less job opportunity for residents of that particular country.

Social impact can be separated into two categories, one being social-cultural impact and the other being social-economic impact, For social-cultural impact, the culture would be commercialised, it helps to preserved local traditions, improve standards of living and result in growth of imports. But it brings a few negative effects to the country, such as losing the traditional culture of the country, number of country cultural spot increases, resulting in lack of originality, culture loses its meaning, reproduction of the country’s authentic products would become too common, growth of undesirable activities such as crime, drugs and prostitution, which will be discuss further in the next part. (www.esf.edu/for/kuehn/socialimpact_05.pdf).

Having different culture people together, the advantage is both parties can exchange experience of own culture, but for the bad, conflicts may arise with the different cultural background, as there is different kind of thinking between the parties. Cultural tourism may also cause bitterness growth by the community, of which competition between locals and tourists, having ownership to the use of facilities. Hence result in anger of community towards visitors (www.esf.edu/for/kuehn/socialimpact_05.pdf).

There are limited tools to measure socio-cultural impact. With those tools in place, the result obtain is not concrete. It is difficult to monitor and also to differentiate from the economic or social development. Ways being suggested to measure socio-cultural impact would be the followings, obtaining the ratio of tourists to locals, having the local perception of tourism, finding out the concentration of tourism in that particular destination and etc. (Smith, 2003).

With tourism in the country, these may bring negative image to the country too. Some of the by-products of tourism would be sex tourism and prostitution, crime and religion. Sex tourism and prostitution will start prior to the growth of mass tourism, where mass tourism is having a large amount of people visiting a particular destination at one goal. The process of the tourism created locations, which exhibit occupational stability and also environments, which attracts prostitutes and clients, affords employment for women, in return upgrade the country’s economic status. Eventually have them involved in prostitution to maintain the economic levels and this in general, loosening of morals.

For crimes, it is easier for the criminals to take action as during the high tourism seasons (Mathieson and Wall, 1992), as the population density increases. In the study in Miami, Floride, McPheters and Stronge (1974) suggested a close relation between tourist season and the crime season, as the study reflected that response of criminals to the increased availability of targets and congestion during the tourist season, since these factors increased the potential gains and reduced the probability of detection from the point of view of the criminal. Nowadays many who travel, their income level would be one of the factors which contribute to the increase of crime rate (Mathieson and Wall, 1992). The third factor, religion, having tourism implement, this encourage and motivate tourists to travel more to religious countries. For example, tourists could travel due to religious affiliations or curiosity to Jerusalem and Mecca, during Easter festival and the time of Passover, to experience the tradition celebration. With the influx of tourists, tourism becomes a source of revenue. Churches started to create guided tour, audio translator at a certain amount, and for some, upon leaving the churches, donation is required (Mathieson and Wall, 1992, 2006).

For social-economic impact, having tourism, it helps to improve standards of living, more jobs opportunities, facilities & infrastructure, land value changes. However, these will lead to the following problems, such as increased taxes, inflation, conflicts over land use between the residents and tourists, shifting from traditional employment, to having more seasonal and part time workers, change in political and economic system of the country may result in disagreement of new laws and eventually splits in unity. (www.esf.edu/for/kuehn/socialimpact_05.pdf)

Economic impact

Tourism is more appealing industry in economic growth compared to other avenues in developing countries. It provides tangible estimates of the economic interdependencies and a better understanding of importance of tourism contributing to region’s economic (Stynes, n.d.). The importance of tourism industry directly results from the information that it serves as a primary source for generating revenues, private sector growth, infrastructure development and employment for many countries. With the growth of the industry, it triggers the overall economic growth (Lee and Chang, 2008).

The Asia Pacific region has become a fast growing tourism destination and has exceeded the Americans to become the world second largest tourist-receiving region since 2001 (Lee and Chien, 2008). Recognising the relationship between economic growth and tourism expansion is important as it could provide suggestion for relevant policy decision (Styne, n.d.), such as consideration in regional, state and community planning and development. It usually analyse tourism activities which focused mostly on changes in sakes, employment in the region and average communities’ income. Even though there is no direct relationship between economic growth and tourism expansion could be found through past research, it provided an indication to reveal the effectiveness of tourism promotion approaches.

Economic impact can have direct and indirect effects or impacts on tourism. The total economic impact of tourism is the sum of direct, indirect and induced effects within a region. For direct effects, it is usually generated by companies that these focus on industry which directly affects one country’s tourism, directly influence the tourism expenditures. They are easy to measure. Some of the example would be number of visitors, expenditure of tourists (Campbell, n.d.) and etc, where supply goods and services directly linked to tourist (Tourism Satellite Account, 2002), lodging amusement, retail trade, transportation and restaurants. Having increase number of tourists staying overnight, the yield increase sales in hotel sector (Styne, n.d.).

For indirect or multipliers effects, they are result of activities which generated in companies of the economic system due to demand of tourism related companies (Tourism Satellite Account, 2002) are hard to measure, they these includes subsequent spending by suppliers, such as hotels purchase suppliers and use of local services, and investments (Campbell, n.d.). They affect many sectors of economy (Styne, n.d.). The economic impact of tourism industry would eventually linked to hotels to various degrees to many other economic sectors in the area or region, for example, change in jobs, sales and income in the linen supply industry, also the production changes because of various rounds of responding to hotel industries’ receipts. They also take note of the subsequent effects of tourism spending and show the wide range of division where they may benefits from tourism.

The total

There are two main analyses for to measure the economic impact of tourism, Multiplier analysis and Input-output analysis (IO). Firstly, multiplier analysis helps to measure the impact of spending which contribute to the economy impact (Horwath International, 1981). For expenditure, direct expenditure, indirect expenditure and induced expenditure can be used. They cover the expenses made by tourists on goods and services related to tourist facilities, inter-business transaction from direct expenditure and additional spending from tourists or consumer’s personal income respectively.

The following are also multipliers which are basically linked, of measuring the extra business turnover created, income generated by an extra unit of tourist spending, ratio of the combination of direct and indirect employment created by tourism per unit of tourist expenditure, namely output multiplier, income multiplier and employment multiplier (Horwath International, 1981).

Secondly, for Input-output analysis, Wassily Leontief (1906-1999) developed this method to evaluate economic impacts of tourism, observing various economic sectors as a series of inputs and output, having tracing the flows of dollars (http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Inc-Int/Input-Output-Analysis.html). The IO model is centered on the idea of inter-industry transactions, Industries use the products of other industries to produce their own products. Outputs from one industry become inputs to another (Perlich, n.d.).

Changes in prices

Tourism can sometimes inflate the cost of housing and retail prices in the area, frequently on a seasonal basis

(Mathieson and Wall, 1992, 2006)***
Cultural Impact

Smith (2003) explained culture as a way of life with arts and learning. Cultural tourism defines as a genre of special interest tourism (Stebbins, 1996) which based on both the history and heritage of a certain place and its people (Smith, 2003). It is difficult to neglect the importance of culture. It is to experience various culture activities outside community where you belong to.

Although there is not a widely accepted definition of cultural tourism, but there are many authors who try to define (Wall and Mathieson, 20006). Definition of culture can be too narrow and too broad as mentioned by Eagleton (2000). it depends on the field of cultural tourism studies. Another definition given by Richard (2001a:7) would be cultural tourism is not just utilization of the cultural products of the past, but also the current culture. For Euroupean Association for Tourism and Leisure Education and Research (ATLAS) 1991, they gave a conceptual definition of cultural tourism, where it is the movement of people to cultural areas which are away from their place of residence (Smith, 2003).

Using culture to attract tourists while nurturing culture through the income generated by tourism (Picard, 1996), where culture consists of behaviour patterns, values, traditions and knowledge which have been passed down through generations. It can be considered as a process which covers the behaviours of a particular tourist group, or a product which represent a group or individual (Wall and Mathieson, 20006).

The difference between post tourist and cultural tourist would be for post tourist, they enjoy virtual experiences, little interest in finding out the difference between fantasy and reality, treat the commercial of tourist experience light-heartedly. While for cultural tourists, they actively seek difference, appreciate the authenticity in cultural experiences, interested in personal experience and earnestly interact with the destinations and inhabitants which they have.

Cultural tourism, an important part of special interest tourism, has become a growing market sector, where domestic and international tourism increases for the purpose of experiencing another culture (Vander Stoep, 1996). It is an important marketing tool to attract tourists who have special interests in that country’s heritage and the arts (Zeppel & Hall, 1992). As cultural tourism is coming up, it is regard as the one of the mainstream tourism industry, where heritage sites and arts activities are solely placed to respond to the growing tourists demand for personal inspirational travel experiences (Zeppel & Hall, 1992), where cultural tourism is based on both the history and heritage of the place.

The following would be some of the advantages of having cultural tourism in a country. Firstly, it helps the less known destination to rise up from their low profile status, which in turn, improves the standard of living for the locals. Secondly, from the government point of view, it is an economically attractive project, having to improve the country’s image and also furthering better international relations (Smith, 2003). Thirdly, the country would be more environmental and culturally sensitive from the project. Apart from advantages, there are a few disadvantages, for monitoring the heritage, care must be taken regularly to avoid destroy or damage or the protected area. The communities should also take part in preserving the heritage. Although the nature and size development should be strictly controlled, the attractions should not attempt to control entry or to price out uninvited tourists, which may result in unhappiness of tourists (Ibid.)

Followings are some of the generic categories of cultural tourism. Heritage tourism, it is tourism where it concern largely with the understanding and demonstration of the past. Tourists would tend to visit monuments, museums, castles, palaces, and religious sites. Art tourism, where arts are being delivered to the tourists through theatre, festivals, carnivals and literary sites. For urban and rural cultural tourism, tourists would visit areas such as historic sites, eco-museums, village, farm and agro-tourism and wine trails, to understand and experience the history and heritage of the country. Having knowledge about the local/ indigenous cultural tourism, tourists could visit the cultural centres, or watch the cultural performances by the local. Lastly will be contemporary cultural tourism, nowadays there are more and more tourists getting more actively involved in seeking various experience during their holiday, activities such as shopping, attending pop concerts, going for theme parks and attractions and industrial heritages sites. These encourage a development for non-traditional destinations, providing alternative activities for the tourists to choose from (Ibid.).

Tourists for different forms of cultural tourism, they would explore different places and experience different kind of authentic knowledge, other than those mentioned above. For places such as galleries for visual arts, architecture, religious sites such as temples, cathedrals and churches. Unique hands-on experiences with arts and craft like pottery and textiles, gastronomy such as food and wine tasting, learning of the country language or special interest activities such as photography and weaving.

Overall, having creating cultural tourism is considered to be positive development. Preserving the cultural heritage, it helps to improve the profile of the country, resulting attracting more interest investors and tourists. With this, three will be an increase in receipt of foreign exchange and income for destination, increase job opportunities for the locals, the population will in turn benefit and have a better standard of living (Ibid.).

Hong Kong

Hong Kong returned to Chinese control on 1st July 1997 and become part of Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). It situated on the southeast coast of China at the mouth of the Pearl River facing the South China Sea (Hong Kong Tourism Board, 2010). Although Hong Kong only has a land area of 1,104 km2, it has a population of approximated 7.06 million. In recent year, more hotels and tourist sites are being built to cope with the increase of tourists from all over the world.

The tourism industry is a major pillar of the economy for Hong Kong. According to Hong Kong Tourism Broad (HKTB) 2009 and 2010 reports, there are 173 hotels, with 60 104 rooms, by the end of June 2010. Comparing to the end of June 2009, there is an increase of about 15 hotels and 2500 rooms.

Having analysis the data collected, economic impact will directly impact the tourism of Hong Kong. According to Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB), in January 2010, the hotel occupancy increase 8%, this illustrate that the economic is starting to pick up slowly. Research by the HKTB also shows that the visitors arrival numbers increased by 70% during 2002-2007 (Hong Kong Tourism Report Q2, 2010)

The table below summarises Hong Kong’s tourism performance in the first half of 2010 and 2009 full year –

Jan-Jun 2010
vs. Jan-Jun 2009

Total visitor arrivals

16,856,000

+23.1%

– Overnight arrivals

9,478,400

+21.2%

– Same-day arrivals

7,377,600

+25.5%

Average hotel occupancy rate

84%

+10% points

Average achieved hotel room rate

HK$1,105

+7.7%

2009
vs. 2008

Total Visitor Arrivals

29 590 654 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

+0.3%

– Overnight visitors

16 926 067 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

-2.3%

– Same-day visitors

12 664 587 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting end_of_the_skype_highlighting

+3.9%

Average hotel occupancy rate

78%

-7% points

Average achieved hotel room rate

HK$1,023

-16.3%

Average length of stay of overnight visitors

3.2 nights

-0.1 nights

Overnight visitor per capita spending

HK$5,770

+6.1%

Expenditure associated with inbound tourism

HK$162.9 billion

+3.2%

Source: Hong Kong Tourism Board

From the table, at the first half of year 2010, Hong Kong has approximated 16.9 million visitors from all over the world. This arrival figure also sets the highest half-yearly record. (Tourism Commission, 2010). If the tourist arrival number is to increase at the constant rate for the second half, the total visitor arrivals will be more than 2009 full year figure by about 3million. With the increase number of visitors to Hong Kong, the average hotel occupancy rate is therefore increased.

As mentioned in HKTB official website, the main source of visitors are from mainland China with approximate 10.5 million arrival for the first two quarters of year 2010, this account for about 62% of total arrivals. Having the total arrival figure being the highest half-yearly record, this is also the first time exceeded the 10 million marks for Mainland China tourists arrival. Overseas markets have also contributed to the increase. For short-haul market, countries such as Taiwan, 1.1 million of visitors were reported. There is a growth of 25.7% of visitors coming from Japan and South Korea. For long-haul market, due to the improvement of global economic situation, it is recorded to have a 10.9% growth compared to the same period in 2009. In particular, the European market and country like United State of America. Not forgetting the emerging market from Russia, India and Middle East, this result in more frequent flights between Hong Kong and the three markets.

Welcome to Incredible Tamil Nadu Tourism Tamil Nadu is one of the state of India, Its capital is Chennai is the main centre where the traditional and modern merge,.Tamil Nadu population of 72,138.95as of 2011 .Divided into 32 districts in Tamil Nadu. State 89 % of population are Hindus .11% population together Christians and Muslims. Tamil Nadu official languages Tamil and English. Tamil Nadu culture and tradition together which attracts tourists from the whole world. Tamil Nadu known as the ‘temple state of India’, and all across this magnificent state one will find a remarkable memorials, temples containing involved carvings and humbling gateways. It is characterized by a history ,dates back to over five thousands years and a rich culture. Each attraction most important will have a religious or creative story attached to it will leave one spellbound

Tamil Nadu Tourism revives the mind ,carry happiness, moderation , enjoyment gives to the Tourist. Tamil Nadu is taking a lot of opportunity for the development of tourism industry. It has many heritage centers, pilgrimage centers, long natural coastal line, perennial river system, hills station pilgrimage centers, and weather owing to lack of so many factors like infrastructure facilities, government cooperation, marketing facilities to mobile number to tourists within the India and abroad, proper planning and ideology

Tamil Nadu state that attracts a huge number of foreign tourists every year. Tamil Nadu State with several famous for tourism genre The credit should be given to the presence of unlimited attractions that include beautiful temples, mesmerizing hill stations, silent beaches and cities with rich heritage. The credit should also be given to the high standards of the facilities that the top tour operators in the state arrange for the visitors. Tamilnadu-tour.in claims to be a leading name in offering customized tours to the foreigners, expecting a lot from the state’s tourism industry.

INTRODUCTION;

Tamil Nadu Tourism one of the preferred hotspots for persons wanting a continuing heritage, cultural and beautiful splendour .religious experience.Tamil Nadu is breath taking hill stations and long sunshiny beaches ,provides to people who visit not only to marinate in the culture but people who want to relax and just let go for a while. Tamil Nadu coastline 910 kilometers (600 Mt) long, Tamil Nadu third longest coastline in the country .Foriegn visitors were The government of Tamil Nadu is now making peaceful promotional efforts and accord importance for tourism. Tamil Nadu to promote as an attractive destination of tourist at the International level to support the existing tourism in the state. Tamil Nadu state provide world class services to tourist. Tamil Nadu 2nd state in attracting foreign tourists and 3rd in domestic tourists. .Tamil Nadu Tourism should be become an exclusive offerings to overcome all the above advantages for development. Tamil Nadu is popular for its mysterious beauty and charms ,It will surely capture your gentleness a lot. Foreign and Domestric travellers can easily determine a number of comfortable stay in boarding places in the Tamil Nadu, tourist stay,seven star hotels, five star hotels,three star hotels ,budget hotels and resorts. According tourist preferred to stay in accomdation of the Tamil Nadu state. Tourist can look for magnificent lodgings in Chennai, Ooty Coimbatore, Karaikudi, Trichy, Kanyakumari, Madurai, Tanjore, Dindigul ,Rameshwaram,Kodaikanal and yercaud, Natural resources tradition and further socio-cultural assets numerical demographic dynamics like employment, population, income,occupation levels. Tamil Nadu state sixteen tourist information centres situated at airports and railway stations in the state information on tourism potential and services in Tamil Nadu Tourism

Tamil Nadu Tourism leads in

Medical Tourism.
Eco- Tourism.
Rural Tourism,
Pilgrimage Tourism
Heritage Tourism
Cultural Tourism
Adventure Tourism
Responsible Tourism
TOURIST ATTRACTIONS AND HISTORICAL PLACES IN TAMILNADU

HILL STATIONS AND BOTANICAL GARDEN;

Ooty

Ooty is famous as the ‘queen of the hill stations’ and contains of attractive varieties, of the local economy is now controlled by tourism

Kodaikanal

Kodaikanal is one of the finest beautiful hill stations in Tamil Nadu.Its located about 7,200 feet above the sea level. Kodaikanal is honey moon destination of several tourist Thalaiyar Falls, as rat-tail falls is unique of the highest (975aˆ? high) falls .The falls seen although roaming from Ghat road to Kodaikkanal by road.

Yercaud

An modest hill station, 30 km distance from Salem . Yercaud. isSettled mid the Shevaroy Hills of the Eastern Ghats, some of the places be visited are the Lake, Lady’s Seat, Arthur’s Seat, and the Shevaroyan temple. Tourists do make a point to pick coffee aswell as pears ,bananas and jackfruit Yercaud Lake is centrally situated and is the middle of attraction

YelagiriKolli Hills

Yelagiri is a popular hill station characterized by its scenic view

Sirumalai Hills
Valparai
Top Slip
Kalrayan Hills
Pachamalai Hills
Javvadhu Hills

BEACHES;

Marina Beach :

Marina beach is a second largest beach in the world ,Its located in chennai marina beach is a most tourist charm of the city

Kannyakumari Beach

Arabian Sea ,Bengal and the Indian Ocean the most exciting residences to go in Kanyakumari,and famous for Vivekanandar rock, Thiruvalluvar statue

Eliot’s Beach
Sottavalai beach
Mudaliarkuppam Beach
Sangutuarrai beach

WATER FALLS

Hogennakkal Falls
Courtallam Falls
Thirparappu Falls
Papanasam Falls
Akasa Gangai Falls

FAMOUS TEMPLES AND DECLARED MONUMENTS

Chola Temples (Thanjavur)
Siva Temple (Gangaikonda cholapuram)
Iravatheeswarar Temple (Dharasuram)
Monuments(Mamallapuram)
NavaTirupathi temples
Navagraha Temples
Six Residences of Lord Murugan

Temples Located at:

Kancheepuram

The traditional and modern merge. Kanchipuram is famous tourist Place and is also well known for its silk sarees.

Rameswaram
Chidambaram
Thanjavur
Madurai
Srirangam
Thiruvannamalai
Kanyakumari

CHURCHES:

Santhome
Velankanni
Manappad
Ponnimadha
Pannimaya Madha Church

MOSQUES:

Thousand Light Mosque(chennai)
Nagore Durgha
Thengaipattinam
Keelakkarai
Erwadi
Kalyalpattinam

PALACES:

Thirumalai Naicker mahal
Thanjavur Palace
Chettinad palace
Padmanabhapuram palace

BIRD SANCTUARIES:

Vedanthangal
Karikilli
Koonthakulam
Karaivetti
Pulicat
Udhyamarthandapuram
Vaduvoor
Chittirankudi
Pichavaram Mangrove Coast
Vettangudi
Vellode

WILDLIFE SANCTUARIES:

Mudumalai ; Madumalai is a famous for its wild life sanctuary
Mundathurai
Berijam
Kalakkad
Kodaikarai

NATIONAL PARKS:

Anaimalai Indira Gandhi National Park
Gulf of Mannar
Maraine National Park
Guindy National Park

LIST OF TOURIST ATTRACT DAM IN TAMIL NADU

Tamil Nadu to satisfy there are many small and large man-made. dams

Amaravathi Dam
Mettur Dam
Krishnagiri Dam
Noyyal Oarathuppalayam
Mukkadal Grand Anicut
Bhavanisagar Dam
Vaigai Dam
Upper Anaicut
Varattu Pallam
Vaigai Dam
Kamaraj Sagar
Perunchani Dam
Perumpallam
Shanmuganathi Dam
Solaiyar Dam
Sathanur Reservoir

Above all tourist destinations in the air reached from Ooty, the nearest airport, from Coimbatore, 100 km .Coimbatore is well attached to, Bangalore, Mumbai, Madurai and Chennai.. Ooty well attached by road to many cities. regular bus services attaching Ooty to Tiruchirapally, Coimbatore, Chennai ,Madurai, Mysore, Bangalore, Kanyakumari, Calicut, Ooty attached to Mettupalayam to toy train organisation on the narrow tracks

PESTLE ANALYSIS OF TAMIL NADU TOURISM:

PESTLE Analysis are Political.Economic,social,Technology,Legal and Environment

(P)olitical Consequence on Tourism Industry:

One of the earliest Political parties was south Indian Welfare Association founded in 1916. In 1960 made DRAVIDA MUNNETRA KAZHALAGAM standard more powerful political force in the state, In 1967 election DMK captured of state government,split from DMK in 1972 ALL INDIA ANNA DRAVIDA MUNNETRA KAZHALAGAM was founded , since 1967 this two political parties has power in the Tamil Nadu state . IN 2011 election ALL INDIA ANNA DRAVIDA MUNNETRA KAZHALAGAM head selvi J.Jayalalitha took control of the Tamil Nadu state .Governments announced several projects in tourism Industry leaders say much can be done to rebuild tourism reputations. although Tamil Nadu state .has often political violence, The Government targete travelers and foreigners and domestic touristBut with the right government and industry reactions, visitors people, most of them foreigners. ow a days one of the world’s most famous destination Tamil NaduTourism, more visitors.from foreign investors and hotel operators.opportunities for tourism, The Tamil Nadu minister for Tourism, That was prepared successfully by the Tamil Nadu themselves, said.Industry analysis say tourism to expand promptly over the future twenty five years. But, the key, they say, is that Tamil Nadu governments find ways to prevent political violence, and action quickly to composed

(E)conomic Consequence on Tourism industry:

Tamil Nadu 2nd largest Tourism economy, one of the most advanced states in India .Its worth of economic effort, the GSDP, stands at INR 4.28 lakhs crore, as of 2012 Tamil Nadu a. An investor sociable state with the government expressing policies for the development of the Tourism activities .Tamil Nadu will continue to stay in the top stage of the country, with an annual growth .Tamil Nadu Tourism With medical care in Vellore Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu Government undertaking tagline adopted to promoting tourism ,has a strong banking system huge potential for tourist economic ,basically best Industrialized state ,Urbanized state and Tourism state in India

(S)ocial Consequence on Tourism industry:

In Tamil Nadu there are more cultural sharing by tourist visitors ,tradition a common locality by its manner of behaviour and speech, the style of dress and embellishment, the food behaviours and the social arrangement of life Tourist,people important contribution to sociality Tamil Nadu will reach a high standard of sociality development, with the Human Development of the state equivalent those of established countries

(T)echnology Consequence on Tourism industry:

Tamil Nadu 2nd largest software technologyexporter in Indiais central to Tamil Nadu’s foreign position and accounts for over Tamil Nadu is well placed to adventure its force in the IT sector to these management systems. Tamil Nadu has a moderately advanced technology,TamilNadu Infrastructure that is accomplished of searching, storage and supervision information.

(L)egal Consequence on Tourism industry:

Legal of Tamil Nadu provides several simulations The application for respect shall be the recognition as an permitted Travel Agent shall be decided by the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, for five years, based on the Inspection Report Approvals of a Committee comprising of the Travel Agency should be under the charge of the Owner a full time member is sufficiently trained, proficient in matters ,concerning ticketing, , transport, accommodation currency,facilities, customs tourism, regulations and travel services. effective ,statement skills, knowledge of overseas languages, other than English.

(E)nvironment Consequence on Tourism industry:

Environment is gradually gaining standing eco-friendly journey tours are also gaining in Tamil Nadu Tourismseveral perfect locations to attract the tourist. The Eco Friendly areas of Tamil Nadu are for sightseeing the Environment at its finest and to be a measure of it. Tamil Nadu tourism Introduce the use of recycled paper ,polythene bags to possible Tamil Nadu alternatives encourage the planting of trees and greening of the local environment of tourism industry

TAMIL NADU FUTURE TOURISM ;

THREE RANGE OF YEARS IN

Vision 2022

Vision 2030

Vision 2037

VisionTamil Nadu Tourism 2022

Tamil Nadu Tourism sets the plan for organisation development for the state to reach the preferred outcomes by 2022. Capital income of Tamil Nadu’s people will reach USA $10,000 per annum Income countries, Tamil Nadu Tourism provide to its people, high quality infrastructure arrangement overall state comparable with the finest in the world.Important to reaching Vision 2022 is classifying the organisation requirements.Tamil Nadu Tourism plans to develop the vital facilities. This Vision 2022document statements the inter-play in the middle of 3 crucial constituents of development, specifically should be the long term growth goals of Tamil Nadu Anything are the inputs required in terms of infrastructure, investments policies be the targeted amount produced mix in terms of financial income, sectoral structure and pace of development should the benefits be spread in people balance between growth and environmentVision 2022 include tourism industry enhanced economic enthusiasm, finest in class human development indicators, a well established organisation

Tamil NaduTourism will be amongst India’s maximum economically successful states by 2022, achieving the growth countries worldwide. Tamil Nadu will show a highly complete growth pattern – it will mostly be a deficiency free state with occasions for gainful and productive occupation for disadvantaged, Tamil Nadutourism will be India’s most important state in social growth and will have the peak Human Development . Tamil Nadu Tourism development will improveWater & Sanitation, Dynamism, Transportation, Connectivity, Irrigation Education and Healthcare. Tamil Nadu Tourism will be one of the top favourite investment destinations in Asia and the best preferred in India repute for good organization and competitiveness.Tamil Nadu Tourism will be known as the modernisation hub on the asset of world class organisations in various grounds and the best human ability.Tamil Nadu Tourism will safety zone ,Peace, Security and Fortune for all citizens and trade, supporting free movement of ideas, people, business and rest of the world

VisionTamil Nadu Tourism 2030:

Tamil Nadu Tourism development plan ”Vision 2030” has suggested to establish nearby villages for the development of the area.The vision document evaluated that about Rs 18,940 crore needed to be invested for the development of the areas for high tech tourism spots . The Tamil Nadu Tourism Department would invest the improve Government accomodation,star hotels, resorts and budget class hotels. More Foreign visitors to attract will open new parks ,bullet rail and moreInternational Airport in the state.The particulars finding in several levels of tourism Tamil Nadu will reservation and care for it Eco Tourism and Heritage Tourism Tamil Nadu Tourism Industry will actively address the sources of liability of the state ,its people owing to reservations arising from accepted causes, profitable recessions, and extra man-made motives and mitigate the effects.Vision 2030 Tamil Nadu Tourism will develop culture of responsive the see-through ability the security, and equivalent chance to all stakeholders.

Vision Tamil Nadu Tourism 2037 :

Vision 2037 document, prepared by specialists on behalf Tamil Nadu government, has underlined that the natural resources state can be transformed future investment on “creative economy”.The vision 2037 future document, which is a highway map for future development, Tamil Nadu Tourism administration is preparing vision 2037 document for raise of tourism, keeping vision 2037 in mind. Is prepared by a board headed by tourist can revenue full value of creative economy. Infrastructure for Tamil Nadu tourism includes growth of resorts, hotels ,theme parks and entertaining hitech mallsimprovements to heritage monuments, development of places of tourist interest and the Tamil Nadu state targets a foreign tourist of 30 million by vision 2037. The estimated total investment in various projects amounts to Rs. 30,000 crore.

SUSTAINABILITY IN TAMIL NADU TOURISM

The Tamil Nadu Tourism Department is focusing on growth of sustainable tourism and in coming days all plans will be in sustainable Tourism model, The sustainable development method involves that the natural, cultural and other resources of Tamil Nadu Tourism All tourism simulations in coming days will be based on eco-tourism ,heritage tourism pilgrimage tourism, educational tourism model in Tamil Nadu Tourism.At present Tourism is one of the huge Industries in Tamil Nadu which are receiving more foreign tourists, every year. The Tamil Nadu Tourism Department, also the role of local media saying that local media is very active Tamil Nadu Tourism in and have been importance many local issues on systematic basis. This approach is really significant because utmost tourism development depends on charms and activities related to the natural location, important heritage and cultural patterns of areas ‘It’s heartening to see that in a like Tamil Nadu Tourism compared to several states, activities and participation of local media is very very high,TamilNadu is sustainability place in tourist attractions its contain towering temples pristine beaches, , , churches, mosques, scenario mountains wildlife. Other important fact of sustainable improvement relate to stress on pilgrimage-based tourism and quality tourism. This method to tourism focuses on forecasting and development process

The Art, culture and planning represents all attractions. The Tamil Nadu Tourism cultural tradition invites foreign tourists. TamilNadu tops in foreign tourist visit in Medical Tourism and natural resources experience the enchanting TamilNadu present sustainability position involves related to the airlines, cruise and responsible Tourism Industry.Sustainable tourism generate benefits besides provided that tourist attractions, services and Facilities for`good value for money’ tourism resources and Charm the varieties of tourists. It is important to appreciate that sustainability and the movements required are part of a package with amongst the tourist

Tamil Nadu Tourism is an motivated and statement that aims to Tamil Nadu to achieve likely along compound scopes of economic success, fullness, social progress, cultural plurality, and environmental sustainability. It dimensions on the strengths of Tamil Nadu sustainability due to natural the hard work of her citizens, and the results of governance. The focus of this document is on the physical, social and institutional infrastructure that needs to be established in Tamil Nadu if the growth rates in several sectors under to be achieved Taken in part or realized piecemeal, they are not probable to succeed. The goals set are achievable but call for a stretch by all investors the Tamil Nadu State government .

You are the event manager for large company in the entertainment business. You have been asked by the managing director to write a briefing paper for a group of interns who have been recruited to help arrange a large festival. You were asked to explain the importance of planning and administering an event of this topic from the media or their own business practice but have no formal knowledge about it.

Your briefing paper needs to concentrate on the topic above, explaining the rationale for managing the event.

Your briefing paper must deal with.

Why an action plan is necessary for any event.

Techniques that can be used to monitor progress

The importance of monitoring and evaluating each stage of the planning cycle

The role of event manager when building and leading a team

The importance of incorporate lead time into the schedule.

INTRODUCTION

Events are growing with the passage of time which are using for many purposes like promotion of business, culture, sports, tourism, political and charity. Events are very important part of society because event shows their culture and tradition. So event manager should be very careful regarding what he is presenting.

As event manager I have to organize musical event for large company in entertainment business. Managing director asked me to help a group of interns in organizing the musical festival and explain them complexities and difficulties in planning, implementing and arranging of different stages of musical event. Show event manager’s different qualities and characteristic to interns which will help them in future life as event manager like leadership, planner, problem solver and team work etc.

Define event manager

Event manager is person who plan and execute event. Event manger is creative, good leader and team builder.

The successful completion of an event depends upon the knowledge and skills possessed by the event manager in handling the event. The ability of the event manager to perform the entire task in a most appropriate manner would lead to the success of the event. However, the task of a event manager is not an easy one. It comprises of lots of complexities and difficulties, which need to be handle with great care.

Why an action plan is necessary for any event?

Action plan is very important and necessary for any event success. Without action plan nobody knows where he is going, how to achieve the goal, what to do, when to do and how to do it. For event manager action plan is first and most important step to begin. I am event manager of large company in entertainment business. I have given the task to arrange large music festival and for that first I am making action plan which is given below.

Music festival

Budge

Booking of venue

Booking of music bands

Interior designing

Health and safety

Catering

Security

Ticket price

Promotion

Music festival

Music festival will be family festival. There will be no age restriction because music is for everyone and everyone has right to enjoy. Also if anyone wants to come and we put age restriction he will feel ignorant, his thinking about us will be change in wrong way, he will never listen our company music again so we have to very care regarding all this things. We have to spared love and peace through music because music is for everyone.

Budget

First we should know about how much budget we have to make all arrangements. We should set the budget for everything separately like venue booking, catering and booking of band, security and promotion. So we all know how much we have to arrange all these things within budget.

Booking of venue

As we plan an indoor music festival because of cold weather in December in Birmingham so we decides to book symphony hall Birmingham. It has its own parking .symphony hall exists in city centre of Birmingham. Hall is walking distance to railway station, coach station, taxis rank and about half hour drive from airport .so it is perfect venue for music festival.

Booking of music bands

After booking of venue we know date which is 29 December so we have to book music bands which are available on 29 December and also within our price range.

Interior designing

As now we know there is capacity of 2200 people are going to gather for music festival so we have make sitting arrangement and also decorate its interior with some extra colourful lights on stage as well as on audience to make it more batter for enjoyment.

Health and safety

Health and safety is very important we have carefully check heating system as well as fresh air to maintain the level of oxygen. We have to arrange ambulance and first aider in any case emergency he should be always there during the music festival. We also have to check fire alarm smoke detectors are in proper working condition.

Catering

We have to order for catering for 2200 people like sandwich, burger, drinks and snacks etc. make a separate corner for this whomever feels hungry take food at any time in interval as well as during the music festival.

Disable audience

In our venue there are about fifty seats for disable persons. We are going to make special arrangement for them so they also enjoy music festival with other people because they also have right to live and enjoy.

Security

Security is very important for event. Security play vital role in success of the musical event and without security we can’t handle the crowd and run the event smoothly.

For security we need about two three security guards for checking the tickets. More security guards are around the stage for the music band safety and some security guards around the end of sitting area for keep eyes on crowd.

Close circuit cameras are also used for security purpose which are very helpful for security.

Ticket price

After calculating all the expenses we have to decide ticket price as we know the how many tickets we have to sell. Set ticket price which makes us profit as well as in audience range.

Promotion

After doing all hard work we have to promote the event which is most important for its success. We have to do advertisement in news paper, television, internet, school, colleges, universities and public places.

Techniques that used to monitor progress

Monitoring is defined as to keep track of implementation process.

There are different techniques which can be used to monitor progress like reporting, meeting, communication, feedback, graphic presentation and project schedule chart.

Reporting

Reporting is very useful technique to monitor progress like booking for venue if two or three persons are going venue checking in different location. After checking the venue all of them make report about their venue details and price for and the venue availability send report back to manager so reports will helpful for manager to make decision.

Meeting

The next technique for monitoring progress is regular meeting during preparation of music event. In these meeting everything is going to discuss for progress like in which part we are going right pace on right track and on other hand in which part we are lagging behind. In one way or other we have check everything and rebadged if needed.

Graphic presentation

The next technique for monitoring progress is graphic presentation. In graphic presentation two things are compared like time and work progress. This show a line is drawn from start which goes on with the passage of time and work, which shows how we are progressing in event.

Communication

Communication is next technique which is very helpful for monitoring progress. Communication can be done in lots of ways like mobile phone, internet, meeting, feedback etc.

If we are using mobile phone for monitoring progress we are going to ring that person and asked how much work he has done and how much left and also how long it going end so in this way we know work progress in minutes.

Project schedule chart

Project schedule chart is given below. Chart involves different stages of event management.

http://www.kudosmatrix.co.uk/Images/chart.gif

The importance of monitoring and evaluating each stage of the planning cycle

For event manager monitoring and evaluating each stage is very important. Event manager should always keep monitoring and evaluating the planning cycle that’s how event manager comes to know where we are leading and where we are lagging behind. Where we are spending the money and how much money we are spending. Is money within the budget for that or we are spending more than our budget.

For booking of venue is it booked within our set budget or it takes more money for booking of venue if so that will going to affect other areas of planning cycle. Same thing for booking of musical bands so we have to keep monitoring for making sure it remain within the range of set budget.

We have to monitor and evaluate security system is it working, is it in proper order if not we have fix this up within time and keep checking.

The role of event manager when building and leading a team

Event manager should be good leader and should know how to make a good team and how to work with team and lead them to success.

Characteristic of good manager as leader are given below.

Manger focuses on

Goals and objective

Telling how and when to do

Shorter range planning

Organized and structure in working

Manager is autocratic in decision making

Restraining

Maintaining

Conforming

Imitating

Administrating

Directing and controlling

Procedures

Consistency

Risk avoidance

Bottom line is that good manager is doing the right things.

Event manager as a leader should be good in communication so there is no gap between him and employees. If manager is not good in communication so there is lots of confusion between employees that will surely affect his work progress and quality as well.

Event manager should also be good in prioritizing the work. Event manager should make to do list so that important work should be done in time and so that less important work should not take more time, in this way both time and cost can be saved.

The importance of incorporating lead time into the schedule.

The lead time is very important in schedule as well as in planning. Lead time means that time limit for doing things. If we are going to plan musical event in 28 December so that’s mean we have about eight weeks in our hands. For booking of venue the lead time is one week so we have to arrange venue within one week to proceed ahead. Then we have seven weeks left after booking of venue. In these seven weeks we have to book music bands, catering and security also we have to promote the music festival event and also make preparation for it.

We have to book music bands in second week and also make other preparation in this week. So now we have left six weeks. We have to do all preparation and setting in next two weeks time. We have to very careful with time because we are going to promote the event for about minimum three weeks for the success of the music festival.

Conclusions

Music festivals and other events are very important in to now day’s busy stressful life. Music festivals should be arrange in regular intervals which will very helpful to slightly divert mind from work and will fresh up the mind. Music festivals also bring people close to each other because in todays busy nobody has time for other so it provides opportunity to meet other people.

I recommended music festival to the people for enjoyment and to know about the custom and traditions of the socity.

A patient going to a different country for either urgent or elective medical procedures is called medical tourism. Medical tourism is a term that has risen from the rapid growth of an industry, where people from all around the world are traveling to other countries to obtain medical, dental, and surgical care, while at the same time touring, vacationing, and fully experiencing the attractions of the countries that they are visiting. Medical tourism is next booming sector in India as information technology. Patients going to a different country for either urgent or elective medical procedures are fast becoming a worldwide, multibillion-dollar industry. The reasons patients travel for treatment vary. Many medical tourists from the United States are seeking treatment at a quarter or sometimes even a 10th of the cost at home. From Canada, it is often people who are frustrated by long waiting times. From Great Britain, the patient can’t wait for treatment by the National Health Service but also can’t afford to see a physician in private practice. For others, becoming a medical tourist is a chance to combine a tropical vacation with elective or plastic surgery. And more patients are coming from poorer countries such as Bangladesh where treatment may not be available. Medical tourism is actually thousands of years old. In ancient Greece, pilgrims and patients came from all over the Mediterranean to the sanctuary of the healing god, Asklepios, at Epidaurus. In Roman Britain, patients took the waters at a shrine at Bath, a practice that continued for 2,000 years. From the 18th century wealthy Europeans travelled to spas from Germany to the Nile. In the 21st century, relatively low-cost jet travel has taken the industry beyond the wealthy and desperate. Countries that actively promote medical tourism include Cuba, Costa Rica, Hungary, India, Israel, Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia and Thailand. Belgium, Poland and Singapore are now entering the field. South Africa specializes in medical safaris-visit the country for a safari, with a stopover for plastic surgery, a nose job and a chance to see lions and elephants. Health tourism is another name or synonym for medical tourism. However it is sometimes used in the context of wellness, where people are looking to make healthy lifestyle choices such as eating better, practicing yoga or undergoing spa treatments. Medical Travel is another name or synonym for medical tourism.

Medical Wellness and Spas

Medical Spas and Wellness is sometimes called Health Tourism. Medical Wellness and Medical Spas have become an accepted industry within healthcare. People’s wellness in general has been seen as a way to heal the body naturally. Many hospitals around the world have started to integrate medical wellness. Sometimes these medical wellness and spa treatments are called “complementary” or alternative treatments. The mayo clinic recommends for certain people the following forms of medical wellness for cancer patients, Acupuncture, Aromatherapy, Biofeedback, Exercise, Hypnosis, Massage Therapy, Music Therapy, Relaxation, Tai Chi, and Yoga.

Medical Packages

The health care sector in India has witnessed an enormous growth in infrastructure in the private and voluntary sector. The private sector which was very modest in the early stages has now become a flourishing industry equipped with the most modern state-of-the-art technology at its disposal. It is estimated that 75-80% of health care services and investments in India are now provided by the private sector. An added plus had been that India has one of the largest pharmaceutical industries in the world. It is self sufficient in drug production and exports drugs to more than 180 countries.

Bone Marrow Transplant

Brain Surgery

Cancer Procedures (Oncology)

Cardiac Care

Cosmetic Surgery

Dialysis and Kidney Transplant

Drug Rehabilitation

Gynecology & Obstetrics

Health Checkups

Internal/Digestive Procedures

Joint Replacement Surgery

Nuclear Medicine

Neurosurgery & Trauma Surgery

Preventive Health Care

Refractive Surgery

Osteoporosis

Spine Related

Urology

Vascular surgery

1.2 Medical Tourism in Karnataka

Situated in the southern part of India, the state of Karnataka spreads over the Deccan Plateau. At 300 BC., it had formed the southern tip of the Mauryan Empire. Its boundaries enlarged or receded swaying to the drum beats of history & today it accounts for a sixteenth area of India & has a population of about 45 million. Its language is Kannada & its people are known as kannadigas. The three distinct regions are a narrow coastal area along Arabian Sea; high hills, the Western Ghats; & sprawling plains towards the east. Karnataka popularly known for Carnatic Music through out the World has given much more to the World than Carnatic Music, a unique form of Classical Music patronized by many across the continents. Karnataka with all its richness in culture and traditional grandeur is also one of the fastest growing states in terms of industries and facilities. Karnataka is also known as the Capital of Agarbathi (Incense Sticks), Arecanut, Silk, Coffee and Sandal Wood. All this is apart from the fact that it has been the culture center for hundreds of years and its testimony stands spread across the state pulling millions of tourists from all parts of the world to Karnataka. Karnataka was known as Karunadu (elevated land) in ancient times. It is also believed that the name Karnataka has come from “Kari-nadu” meaning the land of black soil say the scholars & some others hold that Karunadu also means beautiful country; either way the land is celebrated as beautiful throughout its ancient literature. The western strip across the Arabian sea is humid & warm in summer, water-soaked in monsoon, profuse with coconut grooves & paddy fields criss-crossed by strips of silvery streams & sparkling stretches of sand. The hilly uplands of Malanad, One of the wettest regions of the world, where the bamboo flourishes wild & areca, teak, rosewood & matti are grown. It is also the home of the stately gaur & langur. In its southern reaches frequent kheddas are held to capture roaming groups of elephants. Also the swift deer & the deadly tiger, roam animatedly in the forests. The east of the ghats is strikingly bare. This elevated stretch is supposed to be the oldest land on the earth where ancient rocks of earth are seen jutting in & out odd shapes. Rivers like Cauvrey, Sharavathi & Ghataprabha pass through upgraded valleys & resulting in water-falls & occasional rapids.

1.2.1 The Capital par excellence

The capital par excellence Bangalore today has become an Industrial Metropolis. It is also called India’s science city. Sophisticated industries in the public sector employ thousands and thousands of workers. It is also called the Electronics city because most of the country’s basic electronic industries are based here. It is the fastest growing city in Asia. Aircraft building, telecommunication, aeronautics, machine manufacture, etc., have taken giant strides here. Bangalore was known for its salubrious climate, which however is now being debated because of the accelerated progress of modern industry. It is also called an air-conditioned city and a pensioner’s paradise. Karnataka is beautiful not only in the eyes of her sons and daughters. She captivates any one who sets eyes on her. It was the great Mauryan Emperor Chandragupta who traversed all the way from Magadha to distant Sravanabelagola to lay his remains in this land before entering the Kingdom of God. The course of Karnataka’s history and culture takes us back to pre-historic times. The earliest find of the Stone Age period in India was a hand axe at Lingasugur in Raichur district. The Ashoka’s rock edicts found in the state indicates that major parts of Northern Karnataka were under the Mauryas. Chandragupta Maurya, the great Indian emperor abdicated the throne and embraced Jainism at Sravanabelagola. Adding new dimensions to the cultural and spiritual ethos of the land, many great dynasties left their imprint upon the aesthetic development of Karnataka’s art forms. Prominent among them were the Chalukyas, the Hoysalas and the mighty Vijayanagara Empire. The Chalukyans built some of the very early Hindu temples in India. Aihole turned up as an experimental base for the dynamic creations of architects. The Hoysalas who ruled from the 11th to the 13th century chiseled their way into the pages of glory by building more than 150 temples each one is a masterpiece in its own way. The amazing dexterity and fluidity of expressions at Somnathpur, Halebid and Belur open themselves to the wide-eyed wonder in one’s eyes. Vijayanagara, the greatest of all medieval Hindu empires and one of the greatest the world over, fostered the development of intellectual pursuits and fine arts. “The eye of the pupil has never seen a place like it and the ear of intelligence has never been informed that there existed anything to equal it in the world” is what Abdur Razaaq the Persian ambassador had to say about Krishnadevaraya’s time.

The Vijayanagara Empire with its capital at Hampi fell a victim to the marauding army of the Deccan Sultan in 1565 A.D. As a consequence of this, Bijapur became the most important city of the region. This city is a land of monuments and perhaps no other city except Delhi has as many monuments as Bijapur. The Bahmani Shahis and the Adilshahis of Bijapur have played a notable part in the history of Karnataka by their contribution to the field of art and architecture and also by their propagation of Islam in the state. Hyder Ali and his valiant son Tipu Sultan are notable figures in the history of the land. They expanded the Mysore kingdom on an unprecedented scale and by their resistance against the British, became personages of world fame. Tipu was a great scholar and lover of literature. His artistic pursuits were also many and he made rich gifts to the Hindu temples. Tipu Sultan “Tiger of Karnataka” was killed in 1799 A.D., and the Mysore throne was handed over to the Wodeyar’s. The whole of Karnataka came under the control of the British in the beginning of the 19th century. The new state was named as new Mysore and the Maharaja of Mysore was appointed Governor by Independent India. This unified state was renamed as Karnataka on November 1, 1973.

1.2.2 Karnataka on global medical map

Karnataka and especially Bangalore is now an acknowledged global medical destination. This is because of referral quality health services supported by qualified and experienced medical professionals, reputed medical research institutions, well connected for travel, conducive climate and cost of treatment being just one tenth that of global hospitals. Between 2005 end and 2006 August, the state has also witnessed a funding of 445 crore from leading corporate hospitals as a part of the brownfield and green field projects. These include a Rs. 200 crore from the Manipal Health Systems, Rs. 140 crore from Wockhardt Group of Hospitals, Rs. 100 crore from One World Hospital and Healing Centre promoted by Maureen Berlin and Rs. 5 crore by HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG), a leader in oncology care in the private sector in India. “Bangalore has been acknowledged as the city with the highest number of multi speciality medical centres which have successfully treated a large number of international patients. These hospitals have proved the clinical competence and clinical delivery systems,” In the last 18 months, there has been a major growth in the healthcare sector in the state. From new hospitals to expansions and partnerships, the healthcare sector is on an upward swing both at the government and private levels, stated the health minister.

Under the state government’s medical tourism project, six ISO 9000 certified district hospitals strategically located at tourist spots in Mandya, Hubli, Chitradurga, Kolar, Belgaum and the Vani Vilas Hospital in Bangalore are now ready to administer treatment during tourist emergencies. One of the main reasons why patients from the west come here is the long waiting period for a surgery in their country. Hence healthcare in Karnataka is on an expansion mode, stated Vishal Bali, vice president, Wockhardt and president, Confederation of Indian Industry (Healthcare). The state attracts foreign tourists in large numbers right through the year and many of the medical facilities can provide treatment on par with international standards. The team of qualified doctors, paramedics and extremely low treatment costs open up a huge business potential arising out of the difference in the cost of treatment. “The ISO processes has helped in putting in place standardized protocols for functioning in all the departments of the hospitals in terms of processes and work instructions which are drawn from handling patients from reception to discharge. This has allowed the state to offer medical tourism services,” stated Bali. Foreign tourists can cash in on the treatment cost factor which is one tenth lesser than in other countries stated Premachand Sagar, vice chairman and CEO, Sagar Hospital.

Bangalore is also known for its leading medical facilities in all disease segments which include cardiac, nephrology, oncology, mental health, neuro care, orthopedics, ophthalmology, general medicine. Hospitals here get patients from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the Middle East and several African countries. Patients come here even from the UK and the US, informed Dr. Nagendra Swamy, Manipal Hospital. The hospitals identified for the medical tourism project are A.J Hospital and Research Centre, Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital, Hosmat Hospital , Mallige Medical Centre, Mallya Hospital, Manipal, Sagar Apollo, St.. John’s Medical College Hospital, Bangalore Institute of Oncology, Bangalore Kidney Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Rajan Speech and Healing Centre and Shekar Nethrayalaya. Besides, the International Holistic Health Centre (IIHC), headed by Dr. Issac Mathai. IIHC where its health and medical centre referred to as ‘Soukya’ a recognised exclusive world class therapeutic facility which adopts the concept of holistic healing combining all systems of medicine and therapies is also a recognised centre by the Union government. Soukya-India is a full-fledged health and medical facility at Whitefield near Bangalore which is thronged by patients from 42 countries. “More hospitals, better services and corporate management have all created more jobs in the healthcare sector in Karnataka not just for doctors, nurses and technicians, but managers, administrators and IT-enabled services as well,” stated government sources. For 2006-07, MHS will invest around Rs. 200 crore for setting up new hospitals and acquisitions. In Bangalore, a 300-bed facility will come up in 2009 neat the new international airport at Devanahalli in Yelahanka. This will be a one-of-a-kind Quardinary Care Centre focussing on multiple organ transplant among other specialities. “We need to deploy a combination of concepts in healthcare management like mergers, acquisitions and new investments which is an approach to survive in a high-risk business besides chalk strategies to keep ahead. In terms of bed strength, MHS is the highest in the country with a capacity of 5,000,” informed R Basil CEO, Manipal Hospital.

Wockhardt Hospitals Group has commissioned its state-of-the-art second hospital in Bangalore which is on the Bannerghatta Road. The multi specialty 400-bed facility with cardiac care, brain & spine, bone & joint and women’s health is expected to touch Rs. 140 crore investment once it is completed. The facility will have the highest intensive care unit of 75 beds. For paediatric cardiology it will become the National Referral Centre with a neonatal ICU of 15-bed. Between the two hospitals in Bangalore, the Group will have 520-bed offering. It will have the latest equipment from medical technology majors like Medtronic, GE Healthcare, Philips and Siemens and with the best medical professionals. A 200 bed One World Hospital and Healing Centre promoted by Maureen Berlin at an investment of over Rs. 100 crore on a 10 acre area within the premises of the leading 1,200 bed missionary medical centre, St. John’s National Academy of Sciences campus. Is expected to be commissioned in late 2007. This is a multi super specialty hospital with eight operation theatres, 44 intensive care unit beds. The treatment and therapy is based on the ‘blended medicine’ concept proven and tried by Dr. Earl Bakken co-founded Medtronic, Inc. and inventor of the first transistorized cardiac pacemaker and founder, the North Hawaiian Hospital in the Big Islands, Hawaii. Hence the hospital will integrate modern medical practices along with yoga, Pranic healing and Reiki besides aqua-therapy proved by the western healthcare specialists HealthCare Global Enterprises Limited (HCG), a leader in oncology care in the private sector in India, has raised Rs. 5 crore in equity from IDFC Private Equity Fund II, a fund managed by IDFC Private Equity. The funds are to develop a nationwide network dedicated to oncology. Under the first phase of the project which entails an investment of Rs. 1.5 crore , 13 new cancer treatment centres at various locations and expansions to Bangalore Institute of Oncology will be made. Besides, PET-CT centre and GMP radiopharmaceutical unit and Central reference laboratory and clinical trials management centre will be set-up, stated Dr. Ajai Kumar, Chairman and Promoter of HCG Enterprises.

1.2.3 Dual Purpose Tourism

According to an official from the Karnataka Tourism Department, healthcare in Bangalore came into the limelight when Noor Fatima from Pakistan came to Narayana Hrudayalaya in July 2003, and was operated on by Dr Devi Shetty. After that, there was no looking back for the city. Her surgery was a landmark because not only did it help in thawing the hostility between the two neighbouring countries, but also drastically reversed the table in the medical scenario of the city for the better. Hospitals and corporate establishments in the city have realised the potential of this niche market and have accordingly channelised their needs and facilities. Travel agents and hotels are structuring their packages and holiday schemes in accordance with the inflow of foreign patients coming into the city. Corporate bigwigs like Apollo have collaborated with travel agents to come up with SitaCare in a bid to attract more tourists to the city. It’s not just the Indians and the NRIs from the neighbouring countries who are streaming into India for medical treatment. Apart from NRIs, foreign patients mainly come in from the Gulf, Europe (mainly UK) surprisingly from South East Asia and the US. They come to Bangalore with a dual strategy in mind to get their medical treatment at one-third the cost and to explore Bangalore. A spokesperson from Thomas Cook India informs, “International patients mainly go to Coorg, Mysore, Hampi, Ketur, Belgaum and Bagalkot.” In the long run, they add to the foreign exchange of the country. The idea is to kill two birds with one stone.

1.2.4 Bangalore as a destination

From being a global outsourcing centre, Bangalore has now become a health giver to the world. Medical tourism as a phenomenon is only eight to ten years old in the city. Compared to metros like Mumbai and Chennai, Bangalore was a late starter in the race. However, considering the entrepreneurial spirit of the city, it has caught up. Today, the city aims to become the numero uno in attracting foreign patients from all across the world. So the question is, why Bangalore? How has it managed to emerge as the hot seat for healthcare both for domestic and for offshore patients? Experts point out myriad reasons. Dr Kishore Murthy, CEO, Hosmat Hospital explains, “Bangalore is a well-known brand in the world. It is a knowledge city, has the top hospitals and also offers pleasant weather for patients coming here for treatment.” Vishal Bali, CEO, Wockhardt Hospitals echoes, “Bangalore has a tremendous impact in the world. Today, people abroad associate India with Bangalore. There is a lot of new health infrastructure. Courtesy the IT industry it is known as the knowledge hub and the hospitals here are internationally acclaimed.” According to a spokesperson from Manipal Hospital, “The weather of Bangalore is perhaps the biggest factor for foreign patients coming into the city. It suits almost all patients. Patients say that unlike other cities, they are extremely comfortable with the weather here.” Vittal Murthy, Secretary, Kannada Culture Information and Tourism throws light on another aspect. “Bangalore has always been the hub for healthcare since the British era. Now, it has become the centre of attraction primarily because of the large number of top hospitals in the city and the innumerable medical institutes and colleges. Hence, the number of medical experts and professionals are also increasing by the day.” Another source from Karnataka Government Tourism points out, “Most of the hospitals in Bangalore have capitalised on the growth of the floating population and the growth of the income bracket.” Additionally, holistic health centres in the city also offer alternate systems of therapy like yoga, Art of Living courses and Ayurvedic therapies. Moreover, most experts from the industry acknowledge the fact that the cost of surgeries like cardiac surgeries, cancer treatment or an orthopaedic surgery is one-third the cost charged in developed countries like the US or the UK. There is also a close nexus between technology and the healthcare sector in Bangalore. “There have been cases in our hospital where a patient had not been diagnosed of a particular disease abroad but when they came here their disease was detected,” adds the same spokesperson from Manipal. “Online appointments with doctors and specialists have made treatment easier and the waiting period for patients has considerably reduced. This in turn has led to an inflow of foreign patients into the city,” informs HOSMAT’s Dr Murthy. The concept of telemedicine is being used on a large scale by hospitals such as Manipal and Narayana Hrudayalaya. Resumes of doctors are displayed online so that international patients can choose their doctors.

1.2.5 International Collaboration

Internationally-acclaimed doctors and specialists choose to venture out in this city-this is yet another feather in the cap for the city, which till date was only associated with IT. This is not all. Hospitals are having tie ups with internationally acclaimed medical brands. Bali adds, “Perhaps the plus point for Wockhardt is its association with Harvard Medical International (HMI), which has a reputation across the world for the quality services rendered to its patients. This in turn has led to more foreign patients coming into our hospital. International patients are very discerning. Before venturing out for treatment to another country, they see to it that they are well informed and not kept in the dark.” At the end of the day, patients are always on the look out for quality services, and that is exactly what hospitals in Bangalore are aiming to achieve-to strike the perfect equilibrium between quality and quantity.

1.2.6 Different Strokes for Different Folks

Different hospitals adopt different strategies to attract overseas patients. Sagar Apollo Hospital, for instance, has systematically planned its strategies. “We have standardized almost all protocols in terms of smoother licensing with international system of integrated health-oriented value additions, holistic health solutions as well as conceptual health-oriented options. For instance, we have started with a system of cashless payment with providers and working on a new concept healthcare focusing not only on the highest international standard healthcare but also on integrated health and hospitality snergy where the services are not just promoted as a package. It is rather positioned as an effort to highlight Bangalore as just not a medical hub but as a place which in technology travellers in taking their healthcare beyond boundaries at their personal standards.” Hospitals in Bangalore are now providing the services usually provided by a five-star hotel. Accommodation in hotels, which is usually a herculean task for foreign patients, is provided both for the relatives as well as the patients. HOSMAT Hospital even has a building within its campus to accommodate relatives of patients. Airport drops and pick-ups for patients and relatives are all rendered by the hospitality division of the hospital. Most of the hospitals have come up with a travel desk to cater to foreign patients and their relatives. Manipal Hospital, for instance, has an International Patient Care Centre. Additionally, a lot of emphasis is laid on the infrastructure of their hospital. Manipal, for example, has specially designed delux rooms, with posh decor and offers myriad facilities like pantry service and a wireless Internet connection. HOSMAT Hospital is coming up with two floors in its premises dedicated to international patients. These two floors alone have around 80-100 beds. This is indicative of the growing realisation about promoting medical tourism in the city.

1.2.7 Government Does Its Bit

Apparently the Karnataka Government is taking a slew of initiatives in promoting medical tourism in the state. An expert says, “Not just the Karnataka Government, but State Governments all across the country are realising the potential and the benefits that can come about through medical tourism.” Most experts from the industry have acknowledged the fact that the State Government is supportive and enthusiastic in promoting medical tourism in the city in particular and the State as a whole Commissioner, Department of Tourism, Karnataka, states, “We have regular annual meets wherein we talk with the medical industry on a one-to-one basis. We do have plans to form a council of the medical community, but it is in a nascent stage as of now.” The Karnataka government right now is working in a meticulous manner. They first conduct research to study key players in the field, which include not just the top hospitals but travel agents and consulates in the city. Their performance over the year is reviewed and simultaneously suggestions are taken. “Consulates and travel agents have their networks abroad. So, it is easier for us to have international conferences and contacts,” adds Tourism commissioner. Vittal Murthy also gives an interesting bit of information. “After the advent of the IT industry in Bangalore, the IT park was opened up. On similar lines, with the advent of the healthcare industry here, we are contemplating opening up a health park.” However, the endeavour is still in its ideation stage and will take some time before it takes shape. The Government also holds health tourism expos. A recent one was held at Bahrain. Such meets are a platform for the Government to meet international experts from the medical fraternity and brief them about the competence of Indian healthcare industry. It’s not just the State Government which is putting in a lot of interest. The Central Government, realising the potential of this sector, has come up with a national agenda and is holding tourism trade fairs at regular intervals around the year. This has given new impetus to medical tourism. Naik diplomatically adds, “We are open to anything that will promote medical tourism. Ultimately, it is the doctors and experts from the medical fraternity who are responsible for the boom of medical tourism in the city.” This remark is indeed a testimony to the positive nexus of private healthcare with the government.

1.2.8 Travel Reaps the Fruits

It is not just the hospitals which are grabbing the limelight. Travel agents and hotels are cashing in on the situation and are coming up with schemes and packages to attract foreign patients to the city. They are gradually realising that immense benefits can be reaped. The Leela Palaces and Resorts, Bangalore, which purely caters to the corporate class, have now decided to spread its wings according to the change in times and trends. The five-star hotel group has decided to tie up with Manipal Hospital. Nitienaa Arif, Head- PR and Communications, Leela Palaces, Bangalore mentions, “We are a business hotel, but understanding the need for medical tourism in the city, we have tied up with Manipal. Everything is in the processing stage.” This is not all. The five-star hotel has also joined hands with Globe Health Tours. Air Travel Enterprises (ATE) also offers a whole lot of packages to foreign patients. EM Najeeb, Chairman and Managing Director, ATE, points out, “We offer packages for cardiac surgery, plastic surgery, dental surgery, Ayurveda and orthopaedic surgeries.” In addition to this, ATE has a meticulous plan chalked out. “We first identify patients who want medical treatment in this part of the country. We then recommend them to hospitals. Their arrival, departure and accommodation are all handled by us.” An important point to remember is that the role of travel agents and hotels is only in its elementary stage. Purnima Castelino-D’abreo, Public Relations Executive, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Bangalore, states, “Medical tourism is in a nascent stage, but we are looking at cultivating it as a potential segment.” The opening of the international airport in the city has attracted the attention of not just the tourists but even players in the hotel industry. Altogether, there are 39 projects coming up in the city. This, in the long run can eradicate problems of accommodation in the city. It will take some time before these agents become one of the major forces in promoting healthcare in Bangalore. Vigilance and patience are the keywords-perhaps the means to achieve that end.

1.2.9 Hurdles to Overcome

The grass always looks greener on the other side of the fence. But the fact remains that for any upcoming trend, the journey is not smooth sailing. There are always two sides to any story. As of now, the major obstacle that might hamper the growth of this promising trend is the unsystematic infrastructure of the city. Due to increase in the floating population, the roads are congested and traffic snarls have become the order of the day. Hene, commuting in the city has become a major problem. Paucity of hotel accommodation within the city for patients and relatives also poses an obstacle for international patients coming to the city. Despite an increase in service flats and a boom in the real estate business, there is no change in the problem. International flights have commenced in Bangalore, but there is connectivity only to a few countries. Bali points out, “The first impression is lasting in the mind of a person visiting Bangalore for the first time. International patients in particular get dismayed at the appalling conditions of Bangalore’s infrastructure in contrast to the plush decor of the hospitals.” Daniel gives another interesting aspect, “In case of medical evacuationswhere patients have to be airlifted, at least eight seats have to be reserved. Most of the time, this is not possible. Moreover, a lot of money is required to transport the doctor, the attendants the patients and their relatives.”

1.2.10 Possible Solutions

Government officials have chalked out a solution to this problem. “In another one to one and a half years, the international airport in Bangalore will have connectivity with almost all the major countries across the globe,” predicts Murthy. He further adds, “We are also coming up with a Metro Rail Project and five townships in the city to ease congestion.” There are plans to launch air ambulances and helipads to facilitate easy transport of patients from other countries. And as far as the problem of accommodation is concerned, most hospitals are coming up with accommodation within their premises for patients as well as t