Travel and Tourism 9789380075488

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First Edition, 2009

ISBN 978 93 80075 48 8

© All rights reserved.

Published by: Global Media 1819, Bhagirath Palace, Chandni Chowk, Delhi-110 006 Email: [email protected]

Table of Contents 1. Origin and Cultivation of Tourism 2. Cultivation and Growth of Travelling 3. Gradual Progress in Travelling 4. Evolution and Development of Tourism 5. Steady Development of Tourism 6. Rapid Growth of Travelling 7. Economic Significance of Tourism 8. Commercial Aspects of Tourism 9. Fiscal Aspects of Tourism 10. Social Orientation of Travelling

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism

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1 ORIGIN AND CULTIVATION OF TOURISM India boasts of various types of resources which make it a unique tourist destination. No other nation of the world fascinates tourists and travellers as does India. She has many natural, historical, archaeological and religious spots to offer to visitors of all types. Yet, it is sad to note that tourism has not earned considerable fortunes for India, though she still remains on the priority lists of many explorers and tourists around the globe. This industry is the third largest foreign exchange earner for our country. Our contribution to the world tourism trade is only 0.38 per cent.

Resources of Tourism Our guests like our resources (tourist spots, hotels, palaces, forts, lakes, theme parks etc.) but they point out that these are not very neat and clean. And we must admit that these are not well managed either. If we were keen to make tourism the largest foreign exchange earner (for our economy), we would have to refine our existing resources and create new resources

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to attract foreign tourists. In the context of the operations of a free market system, the first task seems to be an easier one but the second one is still a different ballgame altogether.

How to Define? Oxford Concise Dictionary (2002) defines the term ‘resource’ as “a stock of supply of materials or assets.” It also defines the same term as “personal attributes and capabilities that sustain one in adverse circumstances,” A resource is a type of power or asset that can be used to generate money, power and assets, or establish supremacy in a particular field. In the free economic world of today, one cannot survive and grow without resources.

Different Kinds These can be of 6 types, as follows : Man : It is the most vital resource of an organisation, department, state or country. Human Resource Management (HRM) is studied because management thinkers opine that humans are the most vital resource of the organisation. Money can be created, machines can be rebuilt, land can be purchased again and technologies can be altered to suit the need of a firm. But once a set of humans (trained employees) leaves a firm, the latter cannot recover from this shock, which can have social, economic and market-specific implications. As we move up the hierarchy of a firm, the human resource becomes more important with each step we take towards the owner(s) of that firm. Machine : This resource refers to the equipment, services, machines and other processing, inspection and testing gadgets that a firm uses to manufacture its products. All the products made by a firm ultimately give services to their users (customers). Good-quality products give good services and bad-quality products give bad ones. Despite the fact that machines depend upon technologies of various types, their use, purchase, overhaul and redundancy depend upon the market pries.

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Money : True, it makes the mare go ! No firm or individuals can survive without it. Material : These are the raw materials. Finished components, work-in-process goods, spare parts, accessories, oils and lubricants, toots, jigs and figures, office equipment and stationery and other similar things. These are used directly (so that they fully enter the final product), partially (so that they enter the final product only partially) or indirectly (sot that they do not enter the final product but are used to make it). Organisation : This refers to the organisation structure that a firm/organisation owns to achieve its objectives. This structure defines line-staff relations, flow of communication, channels of communication, various departments and authority levels. Methods : These comprise the technologies of manufacturing, processing, purchasing, delivery and service. Procedures for executing tasks are also a part of such methods as help the organisation achieve its coveted objectives. First of all, let us define the term tourism product. It is a unique concept in the parlance of tourism that satisfies some specific needs of the customer (tourist). Six P’s of marketing have been defined by Phillip Kotler. Out of these, the first P (Product) assumes importance because it is something that is actually delivered to the customer. Further, Kotler has also pointed out that every product gives a service of some kind. So, all the products, gadgets, equipment etc. deliver services; these are not meant to be kept in a showcase simply because these are attractive by virtue of their packaging and features, according to Kotler. There are 6 basic components of a tourism product. Accommodation : In this component, graded hotels, nongraded hotels, heritage hotels, inns, sarais, havelis and drivein hotels (motels on highways) are included. For the tourism industry, the buildings of such hotels, sarais, havelis etc. as well

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as the sundry facilities associated with these buildings are deemed resources. Such resources also include gardens, parks, clubs, swimming pools, huts, orchids and other attractive parts of these buildings or premises. Tourists use these places or spots for staying (for brief periods). They pay for staying in such hotels and motels. Thus, this resource helps the owners of hotels or motels earn money. Properties located at prime spots of a city or tourist spot naturally cost more. Hence, owners of these properties charge more from their clients in terms of accommodation fees. Taxes are levied in excess by the government for these spots. So, the tourist has to shell out more money in five-star and five-star deluxe hotels of New Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. Further, if the hotel or place of stay is located at a remote place, or if it is only one of its kind at that place, the tourist has to spend more money. That is because temporary places of stay demand more funds for their maintenance at such remotely located spots. Further, religious places, beaches, fun parks etc., also have such hotels or inns as are quite costly because of the attraction for these spots. Tourists do not mind spending extra to stay at such spots. Example : The hotels of Genting Highlands Resort (Malaysia). Recreation : This component of the product comprises activities of night-life, musical programmes, dance shows, theatre shows, cultural programmes and many more to tourists. They enjoy the unique cultural and social activities and festivals because they have come from different parts of the world. In this context, the dance and drama troupes (humans), various types of equipment (like drums, electronic playing services), furniture (facilities) etc., are a part of resources. Humans (the dancers, local people, tribal groups etc.), who actually present these shows, are also the resources for a tourism organisation. Example : The night show at Alcazar (Pattaya). Restaurant : It includes bars, food joints, food cafes, dining

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halls within hotels etc. Various types of foods are offered to guests. Continental, American, Chinese, Indian and European cuisine are available in many hotels and restaurants. Guests choose according to their tastes and eating habits. But they may break away from their traditional food habits and try new cuisine too. Religion plays an important part in this context, however. The Hindus do not consume beef and the Muslims shun pork, to quote an example. All the food items and equipment used to process these and finished products brought from outside (to be served as such to guests) are a part of the resources of the tourism industry. Attraction : The beauty of natural and man-made tourist destinations attracts tourists towards them. Further, places of historic and religious significance are also on the agendas of many a tourist. Water-based spots offer water skiing, parasailing and water scooter driving. Land-based spots offer skiing (on snow-clad terrain), horse riding, horse racing (for fun and betting), walking/running and visiting natural spots like gardens and zoos. Air-based spots offer hang-gliding, paragliding, bungee jumping, flying and other such activities as are related to travel in the air. All the equipment, aircraft, boats, gadgets and paraphernalia that are used to execute these activities are a part of the resources of their respective tourist organisations. In addition, historic spots, forts and palaces are also resources; these are invariably owned by the governments of these countries in which, these are located. Many of these are also would Heritage Sites. Example : The Sun Temple of Konark (Orissa). Transportation : Airways, roadways, waterways, cable cars, railways and pipelines are the basic modes of transport. Out of these railways, airlines, coaches, cruise lines and cable trolleys are frequently used by tourists to move from one spot to another. The aircraft, cargo handling equipment, buildings of terminals, computerised reservation systems, trucks, vans and

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machines used to repair the aircraft are a part of the resources of airlines. Coaches, buses, equipment used to maintain vehicles, fuel stations, machines used to lift cargo, cranes and other similar machines are the resources of road transporters. Railway engines, rolling stock, signaling systems, employees, godowns at railway stations and equipment used to transport railway cargo are the resources of a railway system. Steamships, cruise liners, equipment for handling sea cargo, vessel operators, sailors, fuel etc., are the resources of sea transport companies. Cable trolleys, ropeways, motors used to operate these trolleys and operators are the resources of the cable rope-way firms. These are available only at popular tourist resorts and not used for intracity or inter-city transport. Pipelines are not used to transport humans. Example : The coaches of Nice Tour and Travel, Kuala Lumpur. Shopping : Tourists love to buy gifts, mementos, jewellery and other such items from the tourist spots as are typically associated with these spots. Shopping, in the context of tourism administration, has become a roaring business nowadays. All the products to be sold in shops or bazaars of tourist spots are the resources of those shop owners. The products offered by in-house shopping malls of hotels and tourist spots are also deemed resources. Further, products, eatables, cold drinks etc., sold at beaches, lakes, parks etc. are also resources of the vendors of such items. Finally, the shops and buildings in which, these products are sold are also the resources of those vendors who own such shops and buildings. Example : A tourist may purchase the famous Feni from Panaji. Special Characteristics : We have discussed the concept of tourism product earlier. We have also discussed, which components of the product mix are the resources for the owners and operators associated with the tourism industry. Before we study the features of the tourism product, we should study the unique features of the tourism industry, as a whole. These are as follows:

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(a) Tourism is a temporary and short-term movement of tourists. (b) It involves the sale of products and services but the sale of services occupies nearly 75-80 per cent of the garment of tourism. (c) It is an activity concerned with utilisation of leisure hours. People become tourists for the sake of fun, or to explore new areas/spots, which were hitherto unknown to them. (d) Tourism is a composite industry; its components are transport, food, beverages, bar, musical and cultural programmes, various land-based, water-based and airbased activities, fun and frolic, purchase of goods and stay in the lap of nature. The tourist may also like to confront the relics of the past during his brief sojourn at a tourist spot. (e) Business and tourism are being mixed nowadays. This feature of tourism has received attention of transporters, hotel owners, resort managers and government authorities alike. (f) Efficient planning of a tour itinerary would decide how a tourism firm would fare in the local, regional, national or global markets. As this industry essentially involves the transport of customers to the products (and not vice versa), its characteristics and marketing strategies are quite different from those that relate to marketing traditional products and services. (g) Transport is an important component of tourism. Without adequate means of transport, this industry cannot survive. In the context of the aforementioned discussion, let us define unique features of tourism product, which are as follows : (a) The tourism product is an intangible item. Tourists cannot taste, touch or small a tourism product. They can only

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Travel and Tourism “go through” package tours and enjoy experiences during the courses of such tours. They have to avail the services first and then, learn about their quality. (b) As already stated, shopping sprees of tourists lead to sales of products. So, we can state that we are selling some products to tourists. But these products are not the focus areas of tourists. Their major objective is to enjoy the environs of a tourist spot. They may or may not indulge in shopping activities. So, visit to the place of tourist interest is mandatory because they have already paid for such services. But purchase of products, eatables, gifts and souvenirs are optimal because they would buy such items only if they want to buy these. (c) Attraction plays a major role in the operations of the tourism industry. Tourists are motivated to visit tourist spots of repute because they may have heard a lot about their bewitching beauty. So, if a tourist spot or place is really attractive, it can become a hot tourist destination (provided the government, private tour operators and travel agencies give unflinching attention to it). (d) The tourism product is a complex mix of products and services. Airline, coach or railway seats, local transport modes and other vital elements, which are associated with tourism, stay and travel, are important from the viewpoint of profit generation. The complex nature of tourism product demands unique marketing strategies. It cannot be sold like Maggie Noodles from a departmental store. It must be sold by in a well-furnished office by professionals (who have been trained to execute such jobs). (e) Tourism products are invariably costly. For the residents of the West, the costs may not be very high. But for the residents of the developing and least developed nations, such costs may seem to be whopping. Air travel and

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cruise line travel would prove to be very costly; however, airlines offer Apex and Super Apex Fare schemes during peak holiday seasons. Tour packages are cheap if only these are booked on a twin-sharing basis. Otherwise, a package tour of 8 nights and 9 days can cost anywhere between Rs 70,000 to Rs 1,20,000, depending upon the class of travel bought and the star categories of hotels opted for stay during the itinerary. (f) Customers of a tourism product always look for quality in the tour programme or in its various components. So, the functional responsibilities of the marketing professional, in the parlance of tourism administration, increase. (g) The State is always involved in creating, preserving or developing the infrastructure related to the tourism product. Example: A private firm cannot build roads that are thousands of km in terms of length. Lakes have to be developed by the agencies of the State. Even if a private firm were engaged to execute such Herculean tasks, the government would be required to provide support of finance, electric power, right of way, equipment etc. This aspect is relevant in developing countries, though trends are changing nowadays. Finally, historic monuments, palaces, forts, gardens and zoological parks are on the priority list of the State. Example : The Archaeological Survey of India maintains several monuments in India and many sites in India have been identified as parts of World Heritage. Thus, even if the tourism industry were privatised around the world, the governments (at local and national levels) would continue to play useful soles in developing, preserving and maintaining many vital components of tourism products that are under their jurisdiction. (h) Many components of the tourism product are of perishable nature. Example : If the seats of an aircraft

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Travel and Tourism are vacant, these cannot be filled once it is airborne. The airline loses the revenue that it could have earned, had these seats been sold off to passengers. The same fact is true for cruise line and coach bookings. If hotel rooms remain unoccupied during off seasons, the hotel owner has to spend money for their maintenance, but he cannot earn money simply because these are vacant. (i) Insurance, claims management, demurrage charges, banking, Internet operations, the CRS, medical insurance and first aid facilities and infrastructure (roads, railway systems, air networks etc.) are the components of tourism product. (j) All the elements of a tourism product mix must be synchronised in such a manner as to ensure good quality of the overall package that is being offered to the customer. Airport-hotel-airport transfers, amenities at historical sites, support of tour guides, fun and frolic activities, food, beverages, liquor etc., must be planned and a executed according to time bound schedules. This fact is true for the operations of domestic and international tourism. (k) The tourism product is designed to give pleasure to its buyer. Some other ingredients have been added to the recipe of pleasure now days, namely, research, seminars, conferences, quest for knowledge, exploration of new sites etc. But the basic purpose of delivering a tourism product is more of less the same—deriving pleasure and being relaxed at a new or beautiful spot. The modernday man is always under stress due to the daily chores of life. He takes a break by undertaking a tour and thus, escapes from the excruciating pain of his routine life, at least for some days. (l) The customer goes to the tourism product/service; it is not delivered at his doorstep. This is a unique feature of the tourism product.

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(m) Customers of tourism products are heterogeneous people. They can be rich, poor, whimsical, always in a hurry, very slow, egoists, very old, little children and even executives in their mid-forties. They may feel uncomfortable when they are huddled together in groups and taken to various tourist spots. If group tourism activities are executed, their personalised needs are given a back-seat, but that is quite natural. Group tours are cheaper than personalised (individual) tours. However, tourism marketers must try to understand the precise needs of each and every tourist in a group and make efforts to satisfy those needs to the maximum possible extent. While doing so, however, they must not forget the constraints that have been imposed on them by time, resources, tour itineraries and the tourism organisation they work for. Indian Tourism Resources : Our country is one of the most beautiful geographical regions of the world. All types of climate are found here. She is dotted with perennial rivers, mountains, hills, desert lands, ponds, beaches, plateaus and dense forests. Her peninsular shape makes her unique and attractive; so does her location. Her people are vibrant, warm and enlightened in cultural and spiritualistic terms. Her history dates back to 5000 years. Many foreign races invaded her; some of them made on her their home. The rich history of this nation tells us that we have imbibed the cultural and religious hues of all the invaders without any bias. This feature of our socio-cultural fabric makes us unique in the world. In this section, we shall discuss the tourism resources of India. We have divided our discussion into 5 distinct categories for the benefit of our valued readers. These resources or combinations thereof have attracted invaders, tourists and visitors of the world since times immemorial. The resources of a nation make her an attractive (or ugly) tourist destination. It is up to the peoples of that country to maintains those resources and

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upgrade their quality so that tourists could visit that country on a regular basis. Natural Resources : These resources have been given to us by nature; The government, NGOs and private sector firms (involved in various activities related to tourism) are responsible for preserving and maintaining them. Mountains : The great mountain zone is located in the northern part of the country. The Himalayas extend from the north to the north-east and have three almost parallel ranges. These ranges are interspersed with large valleys, namely, Kashmir, Udhampur, Kotli, Lahaul and Spiti, Chamba, Doon, Kullu and Chumbi. The length of these mountains is nearly 2,400 km and their depth varies from 240 km to 320 km. The Garo, Khasi, Jaintia and Naga hills run almost from the east to the west and join the chain of Mizo and Rakhine hills that lie from the north to the south. Important passes of these mountains are as follows : (a) Nathu La (Chumbi valley; Sikkim). (b) Rohtang Pass (Himachal Pradesh). (c) Jelep La (Chumbi valley; Sikkim). (d) Shipki La (Himachal Pradesh). (e) Khyber. (f) Thaga La (Uttraranchal). (g) Niti Pass (Uttraranchal). (h) Lipu Lekh (Uttraranchal). (i) Shiringa Kanth (Uttraranchal). (j) Muling La (Uttraranchal). (k) Darma (Uttraranchal). (l) Bara Lapcha (Uttraranchal). (m) Kungri Vingri (Uttraranchal). (n) Burzhil Pass ( Kashmir).

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism

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(o) Trail Pass (Uttraranchal). (p) Zoji La (Kashmir). (q) Bhana (Dugri; Uttraranchal). (r) Bhara Hoti (Uttraranchal). Three major regions (or zones) of the Himalayas are— Greater Himalayas, Middle Himalayas and Outer Himalayas. Greater Himalayas have an average height of 6,000 m above the MSL; these have a breadth ranging from 120 km to 190 km. Important peaks in this region are—Hidden Peak (8,068 m), Everest (8,848 km), Kanchenjunga (8,598 m), Dhaula Giri (8,172 m), Nanga Prabat (8,126 m) etc. Mount K2 (Godwin Austin) has a height of 8,611 m. It is located in Pak-occupiedKashmir. Other peaks of this region are—Kamet (7,756 m), Bandar Poonchh (6,315 m), Mana (7,273 m), Chaukhamba (7,138 m), Trishul (7,120m), Dunagiri (7,066m), Pancha Chuli (6,904m), Nanda Kot (6,861m) and Badri Nath (7,138 m). Rainy season remains in force in this region from June to September. Rainfall varies from 100 cm to 200 cm. Trees are found only up to a height of 10,000 ft. The major types of trees found here are—sal, pine, sagaun, fir, sir etc. The middle Himalayas have on average height of 3,500 m to 5,000 m above the MSL. These extend in the south to the Shivalik range. These include Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal mountain ranges. Important hill stations of the middle Himalayas are Darjeeling, Almora, Nainital, Shimla and Mussourie. Snowfall is witnessed in these areas from December to February. These are one of the best-known tourist spots of the world. Train services are available from Kalka to Shimla. Darjeeling is also connected by rail. During summers, the temperature remains between 18 °C to 20 °C. Rainy season in July brings rainfall up to 150 cm. Outer Himalayas have an average height of 1,000 to 1,500 m above the MSL. The region is a chain of low-lying hills formed through fluvial deposits like sand, clay and pebbles. Rainfall varies 150 cm to 220 cm. It comprises Dehradun valley,

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Udhampur valley and Kotli valley. The Shivalik range is included in outer Himalayas. Summer temperature varies from 28 °C to 33 °C. Winter temperature varies from 4 °C to 9 °C. The Himalayan region has some of the best glaciers of the world. These glaciers give birth to perennial mountain rivers that are flooded during rainy seasons. Important glaciers are as follows : (a) Gangotri. (b) Milan. (c) Poring. (d) Nabhik. (e) Pindari. (f) Sunderdunga. (g) Kafani. (h) Baltro. (i) Biafo. (j) Hispar. (k) Siachen. (l) Yamunotri. Planes of Northern India : These planes were formed by Indus, Brahmaputra and the Ganges. Their width varies from 500 km in Punjab-Rajasthan to 200 km in Bihar. These cover on area of 7,00,000 sq km. They have unassorted sediments, marshy (terai) tracts, bangar (older alluvium) and khadar (new alluvium). The major sub-regions of these planes are—Rajasthan plane, Punjab-Haryana plane, Ganges plane and Brahmaputra plane. These are the most fertile and inhabited parts of the world. Important tourist spots of these planes are as follows : (a) Amritsar (Punjab). (b) Srihind (Punjab). (c) Patiala (Punjab). (d) Chandigarh (UT). (e) Panipat (Haryana). (f) Kurukshetra (Haryana). (g) Pehowa (Haryana). (h) Agra (UP). (i) Fatehpur Sikri (UP). (j) Sikandara (UP). (k) Bharatpur. (l) Jaipur (Rajasthan). (m) Udaipur (Rajasthan). (n) Allahabad (UP). (o) Varanasi or Kashi (UP). (p) Haridwar and Rishikesh (Uttranchal). (q) Lucknow (UP). (r) Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). Peninsular Plateau : It covers an area of 16,00,000 sq km. It has Archaen Gneisses and Schists with a tilt towards the east. The Arawalis form its boundary in the north-west. Rajasthan hills form the boundary in the north and north-east. In the south, at nearly 220 North Latitude, the Western Ghats (Sahayadris) and Eastern Ghats form its western and eastern boundaries, respectively. It has 9 sub-sections, namely, Aravali range, central plateau, Vindhya range, Satpura range, Deccan plateau, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Kathiawar and Kutch peninsula and Finally, Chhota Nagpur plateau. Places of tourist interest of this region are : (a) Ooty (2,500 m; TN); (b) Mahabaleshwar (1,438m;

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Maharashtra); (c) Kalsubai (1,646 m); (d) Salher (1,567 m); (e) Annai Mudi Park 2,695 m); (f) Mahendragiri hills (1,680 m; Orissa); (g) Udayagiri hills (Orissa); (h) Western Ghats (highest point 1,680 m, Visakhapatanam; AP); (i) Amarkantak (1,057 m); (j) Dhupgarh (1,350 m); (k) Panchmarhi (1,350 m); (l) Mount Abu and Nakhi Lake (nearly 1600-1700 m; Rajasthan); (m) Gurusikhar hills (1,722 m; Rajasthan); (n) Dodabetta (2,637 m; Nilgiris; TN); (o) Jog Falls (250 m; between Ratnagiri and Coorg; Karnataka); (p) Javadi hills (north Arcot; TN); (q) Gunjee hills (south Arcot; TN); and (r) Pachaimalai (TN). This list is not exhaustive. Coastal Planes : Those plains are narrower on the western coast than on the eastern coast of the Indian peninsula. Many deltas are found on the eastern coast because the ingredient is less steep on the eastern side of the Indian peninsular landmass. The western coastal plains stretch from the Rann of Kutch to Kanya Kumari, their total length is nearly 1,500 km. The Gujarat plane has been formed by Sabarmati, Mahi and other river systems. The Karnataka coast extends up to south of Goa for nearly 525 km. Shravasti is an important river of this area. This region has many rocky cliffs. The Kerala plane extends from south of Cannanore to Cape Comorin (Kanya Kumari; TN) for nearly 500 km. The eastern coastal planes start from the mouth of Subarnarekha and go up to Kanya Kumari; their length is nearly 1,100 km. Their average width is 120 km. Krishna and Godavari rivers form a large delta in this region. The Utkal plains include the Mahanadi delta. Important tourist centres of the eastern side of the Indian peninsula are : (a) Jagannath Temple (at Puri, Orissa); (b) Chilka lake (Orissa) (c) Araku valley (AP); (d) Secundarabad and Hyderabad (AP); (e) Pulicat lake ; (f) Kolleru lake; (g) Mahendragiri Hills (Orissa); (h) the Sun Temple at Konark (Orissa); (i) Bhubneshwar (Orissa); (j) Visakhapatanam (AP); (k) Pondicherry; (l) Angul (Orissa); (m) Thanjavur (TN);

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(n) Madurai (TN); (o) Rameshwaram (TN); (p) Kanya Kumari (TN); (q) Chennai (TN); (r) Tirumala Triputi Devasthanam (TN); (s) Thiruchirapalli (TN); (t) Madurai (TN); (u) Masulipatanam (AP); and (v) Horsely hills (AP). This list is not exhaustive. Important tourist centres located on the western side of the Indian peninsula are : (a) Goa (a total of 30 beaches); (b) Saputara (Daman); (c) Panchgani (Maharashtra); (d) Khandala (Maharasthra); (e) Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala); (g) Kochu Veli Beach (Kerala); (h) Kodaikanal (TN); (i) Ponmudi (Kerala); (j) Peermade (Kerala); (k) Devikulam (Kerala) (l) Waynad (Kerala) (m) Munmar (Kerala) (n) Surat (Gujarat); (o) Ahmedabad (Gujarat); (p) Dwarka (Gujarat) (r) Mallapuram (Kerala); (s) Coimbatore (TN); (t) Gandhinagar (Gujarat) (u) Rann of Kutch (Gujarat); (v) Vodadara (Gujarat); (w) Alleppy (Kerala); (x) Kottayam (Kerala); and (y) Porbandar (Gujarat). This list not exhaustive. Island : India has 247 islands out of which, 204 lie in the Bay of Bengal and the remaining lie in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Mannar. Andaman and Nicobar islands have their major island groups in the Bay of Bengal. The Nicobar group has 19 islands. The Lakshadweep island has an area of 32 sq km; it is located in the Arabian sea. The Minicoy island has an area of 4.5 sq km. These two islands, along with the islands of Rameshwaram on the eastern coast, are famous for their coral reefs.

Different Water Bodies Lakes : Six major types of lakes are found in India. These are as follows : (a) Tectonic Lakes : Wular lake and the lakes of Kumaon. (b) Lakes Formed due to Volcanic Activities : Lunar lake (Maharashtra). (c) Lagoon Lakes : Chilika (Orissa), Pulicat (TN), Kolleru (AP).

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(d) Glacial Lakes : Khurpatal, Samtal, Punatal, Malwa Tal, Nainital, Rakas Tal, Saat Tal, Bhim Tal and Naukuchia Tal (all in the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal). (e) Lakes Formed due to the Aeolean Process : Sambhar (Rajasthan), Panchbhadra, Lunakransar and Didwana (Rajasthan). (f) Other Lakes : Dal Lake (Kashmir), Udaisagar (Rajasthan), Pichhola (Rajasthan), Rajsamand (Rajasthan), Jaisamand (Rajasthan), Annasagar (Rajasthan), Loktak (Manipur), Vembanad (Kerala), Hussain Sagar (AP), Sukhna (Chandigarh, UT), Guru Gobind Singh Reservoir (Bhakra Nangal; Punjab) and Hirakud Dam’s Lake (Orissa). Wet Lands : Sixteen wetlands have been identified in India. These are as follows : (a) Kolleru (AP). (b) Wular (Kashmir), (c) Chilika (Orissa). (d) Loktak (Manipur). (e) Bhoj (MP). (f) Sambhar (Rajasthan). (g) Pichhola (Rajasthan). (h) Ashta Mundi (Kerala). (i) Sasthamkotta (Kerala). (k) Kanjali (Punjab). (m) Reuna (UP). (o) Nalsalovar (Gujarat). (j) Harike Pattan (Punjab). (i) Ujni (Maharashtra). (n) Kabar (Bihar). (p) Sukhna (Chandigarh, UT).

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Travel and Tourism Important Waterfalls of India

Name of Waterfall

River

Height (m)

Jog

Sheavati

MG Shiv

Cauvery Samundaram

90

Gokak

Krishna

55

Yena

Yena

Paikara

Paikara

—

Dhuandhar

Narmada

10

Vihar

Tons

10

Chute

Chamabal

18

Mandhar

Chambal

12

Punasa

Chambal

12

Hundai

Subarnrekha

74

Oasam

Kanchi

40

Sadni

Sankh

61

Gantandhara

Ram

85

Ghagri

Ghagri

42

Kakolat

Kakolat

24

Motijhara

The Ganges

45

Kempty

Himalayan Waterfalls

20

255

183

Rivers : The rivers of India can be divided into 4 broad categories, as follows : (a) Himalayan rivers. (b) Peninsular rivers. (c) Coastal rivers. (d) Rivers of the inland drainage system. Table gives all the data of these rivers in a nutshell.

Sources

From a mountain spur at Varinage Chenab At an elevation of 4900 mt. At Lahul Ravi Kulu Hills of H.P. Beas Kuku Hills near Rohtang Pass Sutlej At 4570 mt. Height near Dhama Pass Ganga and its tributaries Ganga Alaknanda at an elevation (comprised of of 7800 mt. at an elevation streams) of 6600 mt.

Jhelum

Indus and its tributaries Indus At an altitude of 5080 mt in Tibet near Mansarovar in India Lake

River

14442 20303 24087

725 460 1050 in India

861404

26750

1800 in India

2526

28490

400 in India

321290

(km2)

(Km) 28,80,709km

Area Drained

Total length

River and their tributaries

Yamuna, Ram-Ganga Gandak, Kosi, Ghaghara, Burhihead t w o Gandak, Gomti, Bhagirathi-at an Baghmati, Gomti, Son, Mahanada Kamla, Damodar, Jalangi, Bhairab confluence of Yamuna at Allahabad

Beas joins at Harike

Zanskar, Astar, Oras, Shyok, Skardu Skardu, Swat, Kurram, Shigar, Gilgit, Kabul Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej

Tributaries

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism 19

from a hot spring at Yamunotri, 6330 mt. Near Nainital, 3110 mt.

Sources

1080 425 (in India) 320 730 (in India) 541

596

30437

127950 9540 (in India) 10150 11600 22000

32412

359000

(km2)

(Km) 1300

Area Drained

Total length

Gomti East of Pilibhit Town 940 Brahmputra and its tributaries Brahmputra Chemayungdung glacier, 885 Near Mansarovar Lake

Near Manearovan Lake In the central Him. Near Tibit, 7620 mt. Busthi Gandak Somesar Hill, 330 mt. Kosi From Tibet/ Nepal Damodar Chotanagpur Plateau near Tori, 1366 mt.

Ghaghara Gandak

Ram Ganga

Yamuna

River

Contd...

Rajo-Tsngpo, Lihotse-Dzong, Ngang chu, Kyi chu, Glamduchu, Lohit Dihing, Disang, Dhansiri, Tista, Torsa

Chambal, Betwa, Son, Hindu Ken, Sarda. Khos, Gangan, Anil-Kosi, Deoha Join Ganga Below Farukkhabad Rapti, Sarda. in Nepal called “Narayani” Join Ganga near Patna. Join Ganga at Monghyr. Kosi, Arun, Tamur. Join Hoogly below Calcutta Gartus, Konar, Jomunia, Barakar. Sai, Barma, Saryu, Chuha,

Tributaries

20 Travel and Tourism

482 300

860 800 333 395

From Annasagar in Ajmer in Aravalli Hill

Luni Sabarmati

East Flowing Peninsular River Mahanadi in Raipur districts, 442 mt. Brahmani in Ranchi, 600 mt. Baitami in Bihar, 600 met. Subaranrekka in Bihar

141600 39033 19500 19,300

37250 21674

64145

724

Near Multai in Betul Districts, 792 mt

(km2)

(Km)

Tapi

Area Drained

Total length

98796

Sources

West Flowing Peninsular Rivers Narmada from a tank In Amarkantak 1312 Plateau, 900 mt.

River

Contd...

Konchi, Karffari

Sheonath, Harde, Mand, Lb, Uny Tel Kuru, Sonhked, Tikra

Wakai, Jawai, Mitri, Sei, Harnov, Hathmathi, Watrak, Meshwa

Burhner, Baiyar, sher, Dudhi, Shakkar, Tawa, Hiran, Tendoni, Barna, Kolar, Anjal, Machak, Kundi, Gol, Karyan Puna, Betul, wards Vaghur, Patkat Gangal, Dathranj, Bohad, Bori, Andhora, Khursi, Kapra, Sipra, Subi, Mor, Mautri, Guli, Aner, Arunavati, Gomai, Harki, Valer.

Tributaries

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism 21

from Trambak in Nasik, 1067 mt.

in Bihar district in buldhana range in Betul district in Seoni district in Kalahandi dist. in Sikaram Hill Mahabaleshwar, 1360mt.

Near Bhimeshwar village from Gomantak peak in Brahamgiri hills

Manjra Penganga Wardha Wainganga Indravati Sabari Krishna

Bhima Tungbhadra Cauvery

Sources

Godavari

River

Contd...

800

867

724 676 483 462 531 418 1,400

(Km) 1,465

Total length

69,144 69,562 87,900

30,821 23,888 24,087 61,093 41,663 20,427 2,58,948

(km2) 3,12,812

Area Drained

Narangi, Boardig, Kotri, Bandia. Silaru. Koyna, Yeria, Munerj, Varma, Panohgango, Dudhganga, Ghatprabha, Malprabha, Bhima, Tungbhadra, Musi. Ghad, Nira, Kagna, Sira. Runga, Bhadra, Hagari. Hemavati, Harangi, Shimas, Lokvani, Arkavati, Suvashavathi, kabbani, Bhavani.

Pravara, Mula, Manjra, Pranhita, Pranganga, Maner, Wardha, Wainganga, Sabri, Indaravati, Puma.

Tributaries

22 Travel and Tourism

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism

23

Ponds : These are small water bodies, which cannot be called Wetlands. These are seasonal in of nature. During rainy seasons, water is filled in these small or medium water bodies. This water is used by local people for bathing, drinking, washing clothes and bathing their cattle. It is normally not used for irrigation purposes. Most of these ponds are located in the southern parts of the country. Most of the temples of south India have ponds or sarovers near or within their premises. These are not found in hilly areas, deserts and coastal strips of the peninsula.

Different Biotic Resources Biosphere reserves fauna and flora are the resources that fall under this category. Let us discuss these briefly in this section. India is a rich nation from the viewpoint of biodiversity. The total number of types of living organisms found in this country is 75,000. Further, 45,000 types of plants and trees are found in this vast country. Fauna : According to the Zoological Survey of India, there are 89,451 species of fauna in our country. In India, there are: (a) 2,577 protista; (b) 5,070 mollusca; (c) 68,389 anthropoda; (d) 209 amphibia; (e) 390 mammalia; (f) 456 reptilia; (g) 119 protochordata; (h) 2,546 pisces; (i) 1,232 aves; and (j) 8,329 other invertebrates. Further, there are 550 types of bacteria, 23,000 types of fungi, 1,600 types of lichens, 2,664 types of bryophytes, 1,022

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types of teredophytes, 64 types of gemenosperms and 1,500 types of angiosperms in India. Flora : In terms of plant diversity, India is at the tenth position in the world and at the fourth position in Asia. The Botanical Survey of India has surveyed 70 per cent of the land area of the country and identified 47,000 species of plants. The vascular flora, which form the conspicuous vegetation cover, comprise 15,000 species of flora. Out of these, more than 35 per cent are endemic and not reported to exist anywhere in the world. The forest cover of India is nearby 63.73 million hectares (19.39 per cent of the nation’s land area). It should be 33 per cent, if land area of the country is the prime consideration. More than 800 ethnobotanical plants have been collected and identified by different centres of the Botanical Survey of India. Nearby 1,336 plant species of plants are deemed endangered. Nearly 20 species of higher plants have been declared as possibly extinct; these have not been found in India during the last 6-10 decades. Less forest cover and dwindling number of fauna species are posing serious environmental challenges to India. Landslides (in hilly areas), floods, deforestation and advances of the Thar desert of Rajasthan are some of the consequences of the receding forest cover. Excessive population levels have led to almost nude hillocks, hills and plains. If these trends were not checked, India could face an ecological disaster of a serious nature by the end of the current decade. The Tenth Five Year Plan has added the agenda of forestation in its Draft Paper. Trees and plants found in India can be divided into the 9 categories, as follows : (a) Western Himalayan Zone : Here, chir, pine, conifer, broad-leaf temperate trees (from Kashmir to Kumaon) etc. are found in abundance. In higher zones, forests of deodar, blue pine, spruce and silver fir are found in abundance. The height limit for this zone is 4,750 m above the MSL.

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism

25

(b) Alpine Zone : It starts from 4,750 m above the MSL. Trees of silver Fir, silver birch and jumper are found in this region. (c) Eastern Himalayan Zone : Oak, laurel, maple, rhododendron, alder and birch (in Sikkim, Darjeeling, Kurseong and nearby tract) are found in this area. Many conifers, junipers and dwarf willows are also found here. (d) Assam Region : Evergreen forests, bamboos, tall grasses (in Brahmaputra and Surma valleys) etc. are common. (e) Indus Plane Region : Natural vegetation, kelkar, babool, mango, eucalyptus etc., are found in Punjab, western Rajasthan and northern Gujarat. (f) The Ganges Plane : Only a small area is under forests. (g) Deccan Region : Various types of deciduous forests are found in this region. (h) Malabar Region : Coconut, betel nut, pepper, coffee, tea, rubber, cashewnut etc., are found in this region. (i) Andaman Region : Mangrove, beach, diluvial and evergreen forests abound in this region. Reserves of Biosphere : As on date, 13 biosphere reserves have been identified in India. Table describes these in a nutshell. Biosphere Reserves of India Biosphere Reserve

State

Niligiris

Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka

Nanda Devi

Uttaranchal

Nukrek

Meghalaya

Great Nicobar

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Gulf of Mannar

Tamil Nadu

Manas

Assam

Sunderbans

West Bengal

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Contd... Biosphere Reserve

State

Similipal

Orissa

Dibru Dhaikowa

—

Dehong Deband

—

Panchmarhi

Madhya Pradesh

Kanchanjunga

Uttaranchal

Agasthyamalai

—

Out of these, 3 biosphere reserves have been recognised on the World Network of Biosphere Reserves by the UNESCO. These are—Nilgiris, Sunderbans and Gulf of Mannar. Note that biosphere reserves are multipurpose protected areas and are developed to protect genetic diversity in ecosystems. Mangroves : These are the salt-tolerant ecosystems that found mainly in tropical, sub-tropical inter-tidal regions of the world. They have large numbers of plant and animal species that are associated with one another over an evolutionary pe he fury of the seas. In 1997, the total mangrove area of India was to the tune of 6,000 sq km. A total of 32 mangroves have been identified for conservation and management purposes. Table describes 15 such mangroves in a nutshell. Mangroves of India Mangrove

State of Location

Northern Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Andaman & Nice

Sunderbans

West Bengal

Bhitarkanika

Orissa

Loringa

Andhra Pradesh

Krishna Estuary

Andhra Pradesh

Godavari Delta

Andhra Pradesh

27

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism Contd... Mangrove

State of Location

Mahanadi Delta

Orissa

Pichavaram

Tamil Nadu

Point Calimere

Tamil Nadu

Goa

Goa

Gulf of Kutch

Gujarat

Coondapur

Karnataka

Achra

Maharashtra

Ratnagiri

Maharashtra

Vembanad

Kerala

Different Societal Resources Types of Society : An expert states (modified statement), ‘The history that we know deals with types of society, which came into existence fairly late in the group development of the tool-using animal, man. The common feature of these recent societies is division into whereof classes. This means not only division of labour, but also a basic tension that emanates from the existence of two major sections. One of these sections produces a surplus and is controlled by the other, usually by right of ownership under property relations, enforced at the time by a particular conglomeration of human beings. However, not only in general, but also in India, there existed various aggregates of men and women before the period when any real surplus could have been produced even before human beings become producers of the indispensable item, not obtainable as simply as air and water, namely, food. The reason is that even gathering food implies some form of collective action and its irregular supply can be counteracted only by storage, which means use of crude techniques. The food-gathering people, who immediately preceded food-producers, were also clustered together.”

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Source of Prehistoric Information : A noted historian writes (modified statement), ‘This is known from two different sources. The first one is tribal remnants, to be observed even today all over India, which (through inertia, tribal solidarity, common rituals) stubbornly remain food-gatherers and increasing scarcity of unoccupied land and natural products, force them to drift into developed areas. They generally continue to gather food by begging or pilfering. The customs of such tribes show that they had formerly other methods of gathering food; they usually hunted through scared games, or scanned the forests. The tools these people use, unless forced by hunger to participate for a while in agricultural or other labour, are few and very simple. Though these implements are now of iron and steel, it is clear that the users themselves cannot manufacture their tools, nor could they possibly have manufactured in the past without fundamental changes in their life-styles,” The second source of information, archaeology, tells us that in digging up the past, we come down ‘ at a certain (variable) level to strata, which show no metal tools at all. Yet, below the metal-age layers, there are clearly marked ancient deposits, showing occupation by human beings who used stone tools: scrapers, cleavers, hand-axes, knife-like flakes, arrow heads and microliths. These are the work of human hands. Many of these imply the additional use of wood, as for example, the arrow-heads or microliths that must have been sickle-teeth set in a wooden holders. Some others might have been crafted or used to build up compound harpoon or javelin heads on a wooden base coated with gum. These archaeological strata are easy to date but the layers give a well-defined chronological sequence. At places like Rohri in upper Sind, extensive plots covered with flakes show the early manufacture of stone tools, indicating some division of labour. The tool-makers could probably have exchanged their products for other necessities instead of using them personally. It seems that pre-historic caves might be of less importance in India than in Europe, Iran or Afghanistan.

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism

29

Reptiles, insects, vermin and wild animals would reduce the usefulness of a cave except during the rains. Tribal Society : Historians believe (modified statement), “It is still not possible to establish a general sequence of development from the stone age down in the most densely settled areas, namely, the Gangetic basin, Punjab and coastal strip of the peninsula. Yet, India shows extraordinary continuity of culture. The Hindu scriptures and observance sanctified in practice by Brahmanism, show adoption of non-Brahmin local rite’s. The process of assimilation was mutual, a peculiar characteristic of India. The casual use of stone tools does not necessarily imply a classless society, particularly in a country of enduring survivals like India. Punjab went through a cycle of urban civilisation and decay, the Gangetic basin saw theological controversies and the rise of great empires when the most primitive societies were ruling in the Indian peninsula. Pre-class society was organised, when we start describing the development of society, into tribals. Birth alone did not qualify the individual for its full membership; some sort of initiation ceremony was necessary when the person came of age. For the tribesmen, society began and ended with his tribe; members of other tribes were hardly recognised as human: at least, killing a stranger or robbing him was often a duty, not a crime as it would have been with a fellow-tribesman. However, a foreigner could be adopted into the tribe, with full membership rights. The tribes were sub-divided into exogamous units; a family of the clan was further divided, when food was scarce, into groups of half a dozen households or less, for gathering food. Each clan originally specialised in some particular type of food gathering that was regarded as its very substance and due to which, it enjoyed unity. This could be an edible fruit, insect or animal. The tribal food was generally a tree or living creature. It is possible that tribes

30

Travel and Tourism

may have originated by the coalescence of several classes. Though a tribe could, at times, split into such units, the general trend was towards large collections, presumably on the basis of exchange of food products. At this stage, eating the particular totem animal or fruit becomes forbidden (tabu) to class men of that totem, except on ceremonial occasions. Exchange of human beings between clans took place along with food: primitive marriage, which means mating with another member or members of the tribe (endogamy) but outside the clan of the person mated (exogamy) crystallised clan units. The first marriages were between groups, the clan being matriarchal. Descent and inheritance were in the mother’s line, the father being of no importance, often not even recognised as having any procreative function. Matriarchal institutions still survived in those parts of the country that took in the end to the plough economy. Example : Natives of Travancore-Cochin and some tribesmen. The reason is that, originally, there existed no concept of property except for the few tools prepared by the individual that contained some extension of his personality; Land was the territory, not the property. Games and food gathered were shared with all. The first division of labour was between men and women; women were the first potters, basket-weavers and agriculturists. They adopted hoe cultivation or the pots and storage baskets. Milling also became necessary when cereals were a respectable source of food. But grain had to be produced, not merely gathered. The change of male dominance came only when the special property of man developed. Generally, this meant cattle, which were first herded initially for meat and later, for milk products and skins. These products were used in exchange. Finally, cattle were used as a source of power in activities related to agriculture and transport. During this process, people began to live more efficiently at the expense of their environment. Man first produced more surplus through his labour than was necessary to support the individual producer. Thus, patriarchy, individual property and class division became

Origin and Cultivation of Tourism

31

possible, though not always inevitable. A slave could handle the cattle as a slave; and so could a plough man. But slavery implied warfare and turning arrows and harpoons (used in hunting or fishing) against other men. The process was accelerated by the use of metals, particularly copper or bronze, which were scarce enough to remain a monopoly of the warrior class, nobility or aristocrats. Using iron, they developed cheap metals and extensive agriculture. Hard work of the majority of the population led to the comfortable lives of a few people, hence the bitter connotation of the Iron Age. With regular activities in agriculture, cattle manure fertilised land that was quickly exhausted by older tribal slash and burn cultivation. So, permanent occupation of a Field became the motive, tending towards acquisition and protection of private property. The ideas of ritual and sacrifices also developed before gelling of the concept of classes; these were the first ever efforts on the part of mankind to control a mysterious environment beyond its logical and technical powers. Imitation of hunted animals led to better techniques of chase but it was visualised as sympathetic magic that supposedly gave them control over such animals. Thus, religion began its marathon run. The dances, graphic art, poetry and music and fire seem to have been used even by Paleolithic savages. These arts were so difficult to generate, control, maintain that sacrifices were made to sustain them. Virgins were dedicated to their use. The original idea of a sacrifice is not clear but primitive man may have noted way that it was the kind of animal that was not eaten during the last season that had produced another edible animal. Next year, seeds cast away (not consumed) sprouted the next grain crop. Thus, it is possible to interpret the origins of sacrifice as the primitive magic for the perpetuation of systematic agriculture and animal breeding. Why this should lead to mutilation of a finger, extracting pieces of bones from the skull or resorting to ritual sacrifices of human beings is not known, though magical powers of blood

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were generally accepted by the tribesmen of the yore. A just small diet and an uncertain livelihood were meant to stimulate nature to reproduce in sympathy. There arose a mysterious dread or taboo of a male touching, even by accident, clothes of a woman or her clothes during her periods. This practice is still being followed in Indian villages. This taboo was followed along with worship of the Mother Goddess and of the moon whose cycle corresponds to the menstrual cycle of the human female. Sublimated into a mystical discipline, but with the gross, obscene and gruesome ritual details, the most primitive fertility rites appeared as tantric practices. Less Important Groups : The second less important group of rites is connected with death, visualised as the long sleep or as return to the womb of the great mother, the earth. These concepts reflected themselves in burial customs. Generally, the immediate purpose was producing society’s profit for the priest class, which insisted that certain observances/rites were necessary. At a deeper level, the unwieldy mass of ritual served to petrify the later society to discourage innovation, help preserve the class structure and the status quo. This was also the reason why some communities still remain atrophied as food gathers. In the earlier stage, the priest was a tribal chief, head of a clan, dedicated medicine man for patriarchal groups, goddess, chief priestess or member of a sisterhood with superiority of matriarchy.

Cultivation and Growth of Travelling

33

2 CULTIVATION AND GROWTH OF TRAVELLING Travel today is the most popular form of happiness. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that a large part of humanity these days is incarcerated in prisons of one sort or another. Or perhaps it might be more correct to say that travel is one of the focal points of happiness. For, if you ask the man in the street, what would you do if you won a big sweepstake? You generally receive one of the two replies: Either “Oh, I would travel - see the world”, or “I would build myself a house.” These two replies, apparently contradictory, are unanimous in expressing two fundamental human longings for faraway places and home, sweet home. And in this, they bear the same relationship to each other as breathing in and out. Holiday travel has become the most conspicuous phenomenon of our time. Neither mass migration nor the world wars have succeeded in putting so many million people on the road as the desire for a holiday does year after year. People voluntarily leave their homes to enjoy their vacation in distant places. For more and more people in the industrial countries

34

Travel and Tourism

of the world, an annual holiday trip is an accepted way of life. In Germany, for instance, holiday tours took the top spot in ‘consumer hit parade’, leaving behind savings and household purchases. In other words, holiday tours are the first item on the shopping list of a German household—the erstwhile luxury has become a regular feature of life and a necessity. In Great Britain, seventy-five per cent of the British population took a holiday for four nights or more away from home in 1990. In the same year, fifty million short holidays of one to three nights away from home were taken. The percentage in West Germany and Scandinavia is even higher. A holiday is the ‘year’s sugar allowance’ in the bitterness of the industrial work-a-day world. Tourism has grown during the last fifty years in most areas of the world as an unplanned activity. The result has been haphazard and a sudden boost in tourism facilities like hotels, rail, air and road transport in places that become popular holiday resorts or to meet the demand to satisfy the profit instinct of the promoters. Examples: Hawaii, Miami or Spain. The patterns have been repeated in some Asian countries, especially in Japan, Thailand and Singapore. In Thailand, large hotels were built at a beach resort called Pattaya—about 150 kilometres from Bangkok. Now, the occupancy of the hotels does not even average 50 per cent a year. Anyone, who has visited a few of these popular holiday resorts in the world, cannot but be aware of the depressing circumstances under which commercialisation has taken precedence over the care or protection of the landscape and environment. A large number of people are going to the same spot at the same time. Holidays are concentrated in certain specific months of the year. The results are crowded beaches, mountains and lakes, ever-widening roads, increasingly bigger parking lots, queues of cars on border crossings, and bumper-to-bumper crawling of vehicles. It is ironic that some of the resorts offering relaxation literally choke with traffic during the holiday season, while there are cities in Europe—like Munich,

Cultivation and Growth of Travelling

35

Zurich and Dusseldorf—where there are traffic free zones and shopping malls.

Systematic Growth The serious situation caused by haphazard development has made people and the governments aware of the need for planning of tourism development based on scientific research of the requirements of the travel market and the capacity of the area to take in the tourists. The need for planning is paramount. We do not provide more seats to a plane or rooms in a hotel beyond its maximum capacity, taking into account the passenger’s comforts. Why should a resort or an area be choked with people? Planning of tourism development, however, is of recent origin. It was specially taken note of during the last 65 years after public voices were heard against the unplanned invasion of tourism. In 1950, Gerhard Noble called mass tourism “one of the great western plagues hardly less evil in effects than the epidemics of the middle ages.” In a conference held in Limuru, Kenya, the tourist inflow was referred to “as a dangerous invasion.” These remarks, however, may be exaggerated apprehensions of the environmentalists. But no one disputes the fact that where modern industrial life makes inroads into ancient societies, traditional values begin to totter. Tourism is a form of social industrialisation with all its advantages and disadvantages. Its advantages have to be grasped and utilised with care so that the impact of the disadvantages is minimised. It is here that planning comes in. Planning is of greater benefit to developing societies where tourism is a new phenomenon and has had little or no adverse effect so far. The World Bank warned us as early as 1972. In many areas of the world, tourism development has produced great disparities in the standards of amenities provided for the visitors and for the local population. This cannot be entirely avoided, but in the long run, the improvement of standards for the local population is probably a condition of successful

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Travel and Tourism

tourism development. The development of a new resort by the provision of infrastructure costing perhaps millions of dollars has a great impact on land values in the area affected. Were these benefits to accrue largely to a few private landowners, the Bank would have difficulty in financing such a project. The acquisition of land by government or a public agency prior to development... eases the problems of planning on an integrated basis, and of enforcing proper zoning and building regulations. It also helps to ensure that windfall gains do not accrue solely to private landowners and provides the opportunity for the public agency to offer serviced sites to hotel developers at prices which can include, if necessary, an incentive element. There is a very close relationship between land prices and building densities, and by appropriate land pricing the development authority can help to ensure that acceptable physical planning and density standards are maintained. The statement makes two significant points: (a) Planning should be integrated to avoid as far as possible, disparities in the standards of amenities for the visitors and local population. (b) Tourism planning should not be left totally to private enterprise in search of profit. Government must actively participate in it. In the past, tourism planning was looked at from a simplistic point of view. Planning simply implied that new hotel construction should be encouraged, more airlines should start operation, promotional campaigns may be launched within the country and abroad and border crossing must be eased. Although it worked to some extent, it was at best an erratic method of planning tourism. That is how most developing countries started their own tourism planning, resulting in a number of mistakes. Tourism has become a major industry in many countries of the world and has thus a pervasive effect on the economy of the nations as well as their social structure. Unplanned tourism can hamper a nation in getting maximum benefits from its development. The development of the tourism sector is one of the several options before a government, making claims on its resources

Cultivation and Growth of Travelling

37

which, in most cases, are limited. It is, therefore, necessary for tourism planners to place their case before the government in justifiable terms listing anticipated contribution to the economic development of the country through tourism development. The two economic arguments in favour of developing tourism are: (a) the contribution in terms of foreign exchange; and (b) multiple employment potential of the tourism industry. Tourism development has to be planned in relation to the total development of the country and the available resources. The chart below shows how tourism features in a country’s overall economic life: National Planning Regional Local Functional Areas Trade

National Resources

Industry Commerce

Education

Health Human Resources

Housing

Agriculture

Law And Order

Finance

Social Services

Banking

Recreation

Services (Tourist)

Other Social Services

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Travel and Tourism

Initially, in the fifties and sixties, most countries except USA were interested in measuring international tourism because this was what mattered to them in economic terms. Meanwhile, USA and subsequently Europe discovered the value of domestic tourism. Its effect on economy was as good as international tourism. In fact, it provided more regional balance than international tourism. In several countries, an annual survey of domestic tourism is conducted and its findings are available to travel industry. Similarly, US Database, a travel research organisation of the USA, has been gathering all kinds of data on domestic and international tourism for more than two decades. Presently, almost all National Tourist Organisations in developing countries have divisions dealing with domestic tourism. But, only feeble attempts have been made to quantify domestic tourism. For instance, the Government of India has not yet ordered an all-India survey to determine the size and magnitude of domestic tourism. A few Tourism Departments of the State Governments have set up their research sections to quantify the size of domestic tourism in their states. The following are some reasons for the need of statistical measurement of tourism: 1. Statistical measurement is necessary to evaluate scale and magnitude of tourism to a destination. It can relate to a country, region or a city. The research helps a country forecast future demand over a long period— say, ten years. 2. The results of these researches are important to take decisions relating to physical planning and area development, keeping in view the requirements of the visitors and the local population. In the absence of timely research, a lot more investments will be needed for future expansion. In the sixties, the Government of India built a new airport in Calcutta and by the time it

Cultivation and Growth of Travelling

39

was completed, it was already short of requirements. It was built without adequate research on future demand. 3. Statistical information is required for marketing and destination promotion. The people in charge of marketing want to know which are their prime markets, how market profiles change, information about the emerging new markets, etc.

Benefits of Searching Tourism research is needed by different people for different purposes. Government would like to know how tourism can bridge the balance of payment gap. The providers of tourist services want tourist research to know the size of the market and how they can expand their services in years to come in line with the market demand. Airlines wish to know the data on inbound and outbound tourism. Travel Industry Organisations wish to have facts about the behavioural pattern of the visitors— why people from one area do not come to their destination and why they come from other markets: Why do they come in winter and not in summer, etc. Tourist statistics can be divided into three main categories: Volume : Counting the number of people who come and the number of days they stay at a destination. Expenditure : Estimating the expenditure incurred in the destination by visitors while they stay. Characteristics : The tourist marketeers want to know the profile of the tourists—where they come from and why, the class from which they come, the income and age brackets, etc. This is called behavioural pattern. The basic information in international tourism research is the number of visitors coming from abroad in a given period, say in twelve months. This can be collected from the records of the Immigration Department.

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In compiling this information, we must be careful in separating the excursionists from tourists. The excursionists do not spend the night and must be excluded from the planning of hotel accommodation in a destination. The UN definition for a tourist is that he must spend 24 hours in a destination. If we follow this, the research becomes comparable. For domestic tourism, the information can be compiled from the records of hotels—the people who stayed in hotels and how long they stayed. This method has its disadvantages. It is not totally reliable as all people who stay in hotel are not necessarily tourists. India has defined its domestic tourist as a person who travels more than 100 kilometres and stays overnight in a commercial accommodation. Under the present circumstances, it is the only rational approach for collecting information on the size of the domestic market. The value of tourism to an economy is determined by the volume of expenditure incurred by the visitors. For international tourism, it covers all the expenditure incurred by visitors at a destination including money spent on domestic air, rail and road transportation. The expenditure incurred by them on international airline ticket and paid in their own country is not included in this expenditure. By dividing the total visitor expenditure at the destination by the number of visitors, one can arrive at per capita expenditure of visitors. We can also calculate the daily expenditure by dividing the per capita expenditure by the number of days spent at the destination—average stay. The tourist expenditure can be worked out either by the Central Bank of the country which ultimately gets information about all foreign exchange transactions, or by a national sample survey of visitors. India has been using both the sources. The Reserve Bank of India provides information on all miscellaneous foreign exchange transactions which are related to tourism while the Government of India conducts expenditure surveys

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from time to time and cross-checks the results. It is not easy for the Reserve Bank of India to identify all tourist receipts from out of the numerous miscellaneous receipts. A similar approach can be adopted for estimating the expenditure by domestic travellers. It will include the cost of travel to and from the destination as well as the expenditure incurred at the destination. It has to be done on the basis of sample surveys of the visitors. To make correct decisions about marketing and promotion, people entrusted with the job of promoting a destination need to know the characteristics and profile of the visitors—where they come from, what their purpose of visit is, the age group, sex, occupation, income, etc. The information on behavioural pattern gives meaningful content to research. The behavioural characteristics include time of the visit, whether travelling alone or in a group, travelling independently or on an inclusive package, the type of accommodation preferred, the type of transport used and the activities at the destination. To proceed further in the profile, attempt is made to find out the type of newspapers and magazines they read, how they make their holiday decisions and plans and their impression about the destination. Another important area of profile could be reasons for preferring a particular destination compared to others—the information enables the authorities in developing a realistic marketing plan. A similar profile can be developed for domestic tourism. Let us take the example of Goa. The Department of Tourism, Goa, can undertake a survey to find out who are its visitors—what states they come from, what age and income bracket they belong to, what kind of transport they use to come to Goa and what type of hotels they prefer. Goa tourism is already doing it in a modest way.

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Methods of Measurement : The basic statistics relating to the volume of tourism are prepared in the following three ways: (1) Enumeration at the point of arrival and exit. (2) From accommodation records of tourists. (3) By organising special surveys of visitors at the destination or in their homes on return. The first method is fairly reliable for international travellers as most countries have only a limited number of entry points where immigration checks are done. But this no longer holds good in many European countries where the residents of one country can travel to the others without any immigration formalities. It has also its disadvantages in quantifying tourism between Canada and USA where there are no immigration checks for citizens of both countries. The second method relates to counting the tourists at the places of their stay—hotels. The check-in cards of the guests at the hotels can tell you where they came from, how long they planned to stay, etc. This method, too, has its difficulties as it needs legal authority to enforce the hotel-keeper to share this information with the Government. Besides, this does not apply to visitors who do not stay at hotels. The third method is holding of periodic surveys through random sampling method. For instance, interviewing every tenth visitor arriving or departing to find answers to pre-set questions. It is usefully done at the point of leaving. If the surveys are fairly detailed, they provide information on the duration of stay, the regions or tourist centres visited by them, the type of hotels used, expenditure incurred, as well as their impressions of the host destination. Similar research can be done by mailing structured questionnaires to the homes of tourists. The disadvantage of mailing the questionnaires is that tourists cannot recall after a gap of 3 to 6 months how much they spent

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and what they did at the destination. Sometimes, they exaggerate or underestimate. This method is more useful for measuring a country’s domestic tourism. Qualitative Research : While quantitative approach to tourism research is widely understood and accepted, lately, emphasis has shifted to qualitative aspects of tourism. Qualitative research is done to know the reasons why people behave as they do. Studies are done about when and how the holidays are planned and by what type of people, how they chose their time and why they chose a destination in preference to others, etc. Such data is not easily available through structured questionnaires. It requires the use of other qualitative techniques. It may need more indepth interviews, panel interviews and other methods which are more time-consuming and expensive. But the results of such research cannot be subjected to statistical probability tests. Nevertheless, they provide a useful insight into the behavioural pattern of visitors. Presently, most demand forecasts are quantitative. They indicate the volume of demand and how it is changing. It is also important to have qualitative forecasts. These indicate the trends in the mix of customers—Why does a group of customers prefer a particular package? What is the relative importance of holiday tourism and business travel? How is it changing? What are the customers’ preferences pertaining to certain types of holidays, and how are they changing? What are their preferences about the modes of travel? Both types of forecasts are needed to develop a good marketing plan. Researchers have questioned the reliability of quantitative methods on the ground that it is difficult to gauge the honesty and accuracy of the mailed questionnaires. How do we expect the tourists to recall what they did at the destination after a gap of many days and weeks?

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Each country has to decide on the method of statistical measurement in tourism most suited to its needs. The available research through the methods outlined above can be used to project demand. The researchers would need a certain degree of statistical or mathematical sophistication as well as familiarity with computers. We do not plan to explain in great detail all methods of tourism research within the limitation of this book. However, readers interested in learning more about research methods can refer to Tourism-—Principles, Practices and Philosophies, by McIntosh and Goldner—seventh edition. Another new publication is Tourist Research—Critiques and Challenges, edited by Douglas C. Pearce and Richard W. Butler published by Routledge London/New York, 1993. The book contains articles written by leading international researchers explaining many research related problems of tourism. Available Research : A number of organisations are involved in conducting tourism research for one reason or the other. World Tourism Organisation (WTO), Madrid, is the best source of information on international tourism. It bases its findings from reports of the National Tourist Administrations and presents analysis on tourism of member countries through its staff researchers. WTO publishes every year World Tourism Statistics Annual Report and Tourism Compendium. Similarly, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), San Francisco, publishes an annual survey of tourism statistics of its member countries in Asia Pacific. Another good source is Travel Industry World Year Book published annually from New York. Aircraft manufacturers like Boeing Company, Airbus and Macdonald Douglas conduct their own researches on pattern of demand in coming years which they share with the public. Individual airlines conduct in-house research regarding their markets—which they sometimes like to share with those who are interested.

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Travel research is now fairly well spread. Many of the decisions can be made on the basis of available research without spending too much money. It is called Desk Research. Most countries of the world publish their annual tourism statistics which are available to the travel industry. United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand regularly produce studies on their markets for guidance of the travel industry. These surveys and researches are widely circulated and sold to travel industry members and the public. India, too, has conducted surveys and studies from time to time—specially the expenditure surveys. One survey was done in 1977 followed by another in 1988. There has been no recent survey after 1988. India does not conduct specific market surveys. Their advertising agencies in foreign countries conduct informal surveys or studies before launching a new advertising campaign. This information is available to the travel industry on request. Summary : The word ‘Tourist’ has been defined as a person who travels away from his home to a place where he does not reside normally and stays in paid accommodation for one night or more. He may stay in the destination up to a year but does not undertake remunerative work. This definition is applicable both to domestic and international tourism. Travellers who do not spend a night away from their home are described as ‘excursionists’ and are not counted as ‘visitors’ under the definition accepted by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO). WTO uses the term ‘visitor’ for tourists in all its documents. People travel for many reasons—recreation, cultural, discovery, sports, health, business or for conventions. There are different forms of tourism—domestic tourism, international tourism, holiday tourism, long-haul tourism, shorthaul tourism, business tourism, incentive travel, convention and conference tourism, etc.

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Tourism operates within the framework of a travel industry network which is not highly integrated. It consists of several small businesses joining hands to serve the needs of travellers. Tourism product means different things to different people. For an NTA official, tourism product is the attraction of the country which he represents. An airline seat is the product of the marketing manager of an airline. For a hotelier, it is his empty room which he must sell today. Ideally, a tourist product is a package tour put together by a travel agent which includes the airline seat, hotel room at the other end of the journey, three meals every day, sightseeing, entertainment, etc. But a traveller can also buy all the components separately from different vendors. Since tourism has a major economic impact on the economy of a country, governments wish to know how much income it brings to balance their budget and how much employment it generates. On the basis of answers to these questions, they take decisions on developing super and infrastructure of tourism in the country. The answers are provided by tourism research. Most National Tourist Administrations have a section for the collection and interpretation of tourist statistics—both international and national. The accepted method of statistical measurement of tourism and forecasting future demands is called quantitative research which can be done in three different ways. But lately, there has been a shift of emphasis to qualitative research by which you try to know the behavioural pattern of the visitors—why they prefer one destination over other and related matters. Qualitative research has to be done on the basis of indepth and panel interviews and through other modern techniques—which cost more and are time-consuming. The judicious approach would be to make use of both selectively. For worldwide tourism, World Tourism Organisation (WTO) with headquarters in Madrid and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), San Francisco, for Asia Pacific are the best sources of

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information. They produce research on domestic and international tourism. There is plenty of existing and published tourism research available. A smart marketing man can source this from the libraries. It is called Desk Research. In recent years, scores of books have appeared on all aspects of tourism including problems relating to research. Another interesting source of tourism research are the manufacturers of aircrafts who have well established research departments to keep themselves abreast of tourism trends. They share their research with travel industry.

Devising Schemes Tourism is part of the services industry. Its importance— economic and social—has to be balanced by a government in relation to the competing priorities of a nation. A government must take a decision as to whether tourism is important for its economic, social and political interests. And, if the decision is positive, planning based on indepth research is imperative. The economic advantages of tourism are so overpowering that decision in most cases has been favourable. The erstwhile USSR under Joseph Stalin was forbidden to foreign visitors till 1960, but it opened up with a vengeance when Stalin died. The new Russian state immediately switched to international tourism to get its share of the tourist dollar. Other East European states and the newly independent Republics which once-formed part of the Soviet Union are now trying to attract travellers. China was a closed society a decade ago. Now, it is one of the top 15 among the tourist receiving countries, thanks to the massive foreign investments it received from multinational companies. While tourism planning is usually thought in terms of developers and promoters in specific projects, it must be seen from national, regional and local levels. Tourism planning and development has to be seen from two levels:

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Travel and Tourism 1. The geographical level within which the tourism activity occurs—the destination. 2. At the level of individual operator—resort or a hotel.

Aims and Goals Decision at the national level has to be taken by the government, preferably in consultation with various interests involved. A national policy is called for incorporating the directions in which tourism development should take place. The policy should also spell out national goals and objectives. National objectives could be as under: 1. To develop infra and super-structure to provide recreation facilities for visitors and the resident population. 2. Preservation of cultural resources and the heritage. 3. To maximise economic benefits in terms of improvements of standards of living of the people. 4. Generation of new employment. 5. Stimulation of development at regional levels. 6. Ensuring development at tourist centres and resorts consistent with the needs of each area. 7. Maximising visitors’ satisfactions.

The Production Tourism development is a complex phenomenon requiring indepth study of resource and demand pattern in each country. The local visitors have their own preferences regarding what they want to do during their holidays. In Great Britain, a 1990 study revealed that 60 per cent of domestic visitors go to the sea for their holiday which is accessible in a few hours from any part of the country. Fortunately, for Britain, most overseas visitors are not interested in sea holidays. For them, London is a tourist ‘Mecca’. Some 10 million foreign visitors add to the congestion of London, annually, along with another 15 million

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domestic visitors. The French also prefer the sea. In the case of France, the sea is also the focus of attention of the foreign visitors adding to the congestion on its beaches. The Italians prefer the lakes, while the visitors opt for the history and culture of Rome and many other cities of Italy spreading millions of visitors thinly all over the country. India, as a large country, is in a position to distribute the tourists evenly though Delhi and Bombay have pressure in peak winter months. The pattern of traffic has to be kept in mind while planning the development of tourism in a destination, specially at the supply side as it is not flexible. Hotels are not built in a day nor are the airports. It took Los Angeles several years to expand its airport to host the Olympics in 1984. For successful tourism planning, current and future supply has to be correlated to current and future demand.

Effective Elements The following are some of the factors which influence tourism development in a destination area: 1. Size of the existing population. 2. Diversity and vitality of already existing tourist activity. 3. Whether the facilities were planned and planted in the area or grew spontaneously because of some manmade or national attraction. 4. Availability of land and finance. 5. Impact on the local community—benefits and social costs. 6. Attitude of the local people towards the tourism projects. 7. Magnitude and speed of development. 8. State of the local economy—options of alternate development.

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Travel and Tourism 9. Availability of local manpower—a dynamic population. 10. Whether the area is extensive for future expansion or only limited expansion is possible.

Resentment by local population against tourism projects, however beneficial to the community, can create problems, as it happened in Australia. Yeppon is a small town on the coast of central Queensland—Australia’s sunshine state described by its 6,000 inhabitants as ‘Paradise’. It has beautiful views and miles of glorious beaches. A Japanese businessman saw the area and fell in love with it, deciding to develop it into a resort. The beach here is 10 times longer and wider than Waikiki in Honolulu. He bought 20,000 acres to develop it into an international resort, building a number of hotels, guest houses, wildlife parks and several other attractive features. The scheme was approved by the Australian Government but the local residents did not like it. They could not tolerate the idea of thousands of tourists crowding their beaches all the year round. The investor tried to woo the local population, offering them millions of dollars to build a retirement home and other facilities. In November 1981, a bomb exploded under a motel under construction destroying property. This is an example of the type of problems a developer can face—if local cooperation is not sought.

Gravitational Factor Planners must know what makes a tourist destination click. The following are some of the factors which would create tourist attraction: 1. Scenic - Natural beauty. - Wildlife, flora and fauna

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- Attractive coastline/long beaches - Mountain location, rivers - Wildlife safari parks. 2. Cultural - Ancient buildings, archaeological sites, history and culture - Religion - Customs and traditions. 3. Way of Life - Folk arts - Handicrafts - Traditional music - Classical and folk dances - Festivals/Fairs - Art. 4. Entertainment and Amusement - Theatre, cinemas - Night life - Local leisure, good food - Health resort, spa, springs - Recreational/Amusement parks - Sporting activities, adventure sports - Zoo and ocean marinas 5. Climate - Mild temperature - Hours of sunshine. Any or several of these attractions lure visitors to a destination.

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Necessary Step As discussed earlier, research is a precondition for planning in tourism. It is surprising that in the tourism field, an insignificant amount of money is spent on research compared to total turnover of tourism earnings. The spectacular tourism development in certain areas like Majorda in Spain or Hawaii in the United States was due to the fact that these were some of the first areas developed for a particular type of holiday. Today, they are no longer alone in the field. The sun, sea, sand and reasonable prices are available at other places too. Fast jets have made inexpensive travel possible to distant lands—like Sri Lanka, India, the Maldives, Thailand and Malaysia—where prices are much lower. Therefore, for any new resort development, planning, both physical as well as economic considerations, are essential. A country which decides to develop tourism should take a hard look at places offering similar attraction, study their economics and call for specialists to prepare a tourism development plan. Competition must be identified. Technical assistance from foreign experts is useful as they can provide an objective assessment of the tourist resources of a country. Among the aspects to be studied are: 1. Characteristics of the land available for development, and the price structure. 2. Speed of construction to attract public investment. 3. Composition of the facilities to be provided—hotels, non-hotels and other services, industries like restaurants, stores and beach services. 4. Total cost of infrastructure and superstructure in the area proposed to be developed. Infrastructure includes all forms of construction on and below the ground, that is, roads and parking areas, railway lines, airports, water supply, power houses and sewage disposal.

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Superstructure consists of hotels, motels, restaurants, entertainment, and shopping facilities. 5. Possibility of direct and indirect taxes from tourismrelated activities to justify public investment.

Phases of Scheme Planning has to be done on two levels—national and local. At the national level, the central government will be involved in developing selected areas on the basis of research and study. The guiding principles in the selection of the areas are their marketability as tourist spots to international and domestic travellers, anticipated receipts from the tourism sector, and projections of future demand. The national plan shall also lay down the broad framework for development at local and regional levels. The detailed planning of the local needs has to be done at the local level though the central government may give financial assistance or subsidies to some of the activities. This arrangement is prevalent in countries where tourism is not highly developed and the state has to play a pivotal role. In India, although the government is involved in tourism planning, the private sector plays a significant role in developing tourist facilities. Some of the facilities are planned, developed and managed solely by the state. Now, most countries including China have opened their tourism sector for private participation. It may, however, be understood that a government cannot afford to do everything at once. They have to select priority areas for development where some infrastructure may exist and whose tourist attractions are relatively better known. The development of completely new areas, though a worthwhile proposition in time, has to take its turn depending upon the resources of the country and the political will to develop tourism on the part of the government. In October 1977, the World Tourism Organisation published

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an inventory of tourism development plans of various countries. Out of the forty-three member-countries, which replied to the WTO questionnaire, thirty-seven had an integrated planning system at the national level. But in majority of the cases, the plans remained on paper and when these were acted upon, action was half-hearted or partial implementation. Some countries, like the United States and Canada, have, strictly speaking, no national tourism plans. In the USA, a study for making federal policy and programme involvement in tourism more coherent and responsive to national interest was undertaken only in 1976. After six years of intensive efforts by the travel industry, President Ronald Reagan signed into law a National Tourism Policy Act on October 16,1981. Under this Act, the US Congress created the US Travel and Tourism Administration to ‘optimise’ the contribution of tourism and recreation industries to economic prosperity, full employment and international balance of payments to the US. In 1996 USTTA has been axed in an economy drive by Clinton Administration. In Canada, each of the ten provinces and two territories are involved in tourism development planning. In USA, states are more actively involved in the promotion of tourism even more than the federal government. France has a full-fledged Ministry of Free Time which deals with tourism and leisure affairs.

Solid Programme There has been little coordination and regulation in physical planning for tourism development. Resorts have developed in attractive settings while ancillary facilities like transportation were created belatedly to meet the demand. Industrial and commercial cities found themselves receiving more visitors. The new, substantial facilities created were shared by foreign visitors and the local people. Existing infrastructure designed for the requirements of a relatively static age came under the strain of a new and mobile society. The need for replanning of the existing use of land and planning of new areas became

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paramount. This realisation, however, came only in the second half of the twentieth century. Simultaneously, the transport revolution opened new parts of the world for touristic exploration. The tourism planners, therefore, had two different tasks— one of physical planning in new areas with potential but with little or no existing touristic activity, and the other of re-shaping the areas where tourism already existed. Two, replanning of existing high density tourist areas. Where should the planners begin? The first thing is to analyse different types of national or other tourist resources— of which each country has many—that could attract tourists. These may be of scenic beauty, history, a mystique, and so on. An inventory of all these resources of the country has to be made. Then, there are cities like London and Paris which have their own natural draw for visitors. London, the biggest tourist attraction in the world, is visited by over 10 million tourists and Paris by about 20 million foreign visitors annually. After preparing the inventory, areas have to be selected for tourism development keeping in view the economic resources available. While taking up the areas for development in a city, it is necessary to define the minimum urban planning parameters which, if respected, may prevent the degradation of the environment through unregulated building activity. The Mediterranean seacoast is an example of such unregulated development leading to ugliness and confusion. The basic parameters in planning a sea resort should indicate (a) the space between buildings, (b) the distance of the road from the beach; and (c) the capacity of tourist accommodation on the beach or off the beach. The guidelines should also give building specifications, length, suggested dimensions, and characteristics of the road network providing access to the sea. The creation and development of a green belt should be clearly marked. No unregulated or unplanned structures should be allowed in the

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area proposed to be developed. Similarly, the tourism development plan of an area with historical monuments as a major attraction requires that the view of the monuments should not be concealed by any haphazard construction in the area surrounding the, monument. For instance, no new construction should be allowed near the Taj Mahal, which may obstruct its view. To sum up, the following must be considered in any area planning: 1. Preparation of overall inventory of national tourist resources. 2. Determination of broad parameters of urban planning and architectural specifications. 3. Cost benefit studies of the proposed projects. 4. Exploration of possibilities of investment in private and public sectors. Investment and Income in Tourism Development : When a tourism project is taken up for implementation, the time relation between investment requirements and revenue expectation has to be kept in mind. The chart on this relationship and the involvement of the public sector in this chapter explains the position. The following 8-point project structure for tourism planning and development is recommended: 1. Establishment of goals after a feasibility study. 2. Market and resources analysis. 3. Conceptual planning. 4. Approval of the plan. 5. Master planning. 6. Staged implementation programme. 7. Evaluation and direction.

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8. Monitoring operations to ensure quality of services and operational success. Systems must be set up to provide continuing feedback on volume of tourism and levels of satisfaction provided. Such programmes are directed against decline of a destination.

Responsibility of State To make a tourism plan work, Governments have to create a favourable climate for investment through regulations and fiscal measures. Since most private investors would expect a reasonable return on investment, special financial incentives are necessary to make tourism investment attractive. A tourism project needs to be assisted at two stages: first at the time of making investment, and subsequently at the operational stage. Participation in the development of a tourism plan by government may be more attractive to investors, if the government offers direct financial subsidy. Another form of help is special credit facilities for tourism projects as in countries like UK, France, Spain and India. A common form of credit is long-term loans for hotels at less than the market rates of interest. Since tourism financing is different from other industries, some countries have created special institutions to disburse such loans. France has Caisse Centrale de Credit Hotelier; Portugual has its Tourist Fund, Israel its Tourist Industry Development Corporation. In India, hotels are financed, on the recommendation of the Department of Tourism, by Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) at central level and State Financial Corporation at state level. In the late eighties, an India Tourism Finance Corporation (TFCI) was created to finance tourism projects and it is doing a good job. Other organisations also continue to finance tourism projects. Tourism related industries could have a preferential rate of interest. Other alternate measures could be grant of interest rebate on tourism investment by making up the difference

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between the commercial rate and the rate proposed for the hotel industry. This is one of the several incentives given to hotels in recent years in India. Special facilities for the purchase of land at concessional rates for tourism superstructure can be a powerful incentive—specially in the backward regions of the country. Some governments recognise tourism as an export industry, as in India lately and offer same fiscal benefits and incentives as are available to other export industries. These include duty free import of equipment required for tourist services or reduction in customs duty or their waiver. The government can also make tourism investment attractive by giving tax relief at the operational stage to improve profitability. No tax for the first 2 to 5 years. The following chart explains the relationship between tourism investment and revenue derived from it once it is developed. Expenditure Public Sector

Master planning

Land Developacquisition ment of markets

Infrastructure development

Monitoring Mainteprivate nance sector development

Private Sector Feasibility analysis

Planning

Construction

Operation

Import duty

Sales tax

Income tax

Shops

Transport

Revenue Public Sector Property taxes Private Sector Hotel Revenue Lead time.

Entertainment

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The Government can help tourism planning through manpower development by running hotel and tourism training schools/courses. Finally, the extent of government concessions to tourism is basically linked with the importance a state attaches to the tourism sector compared to other sectors of economy. The involvement of the government in tourism planning, development and promotion varies from country to country. A model organisation which could be effective is suggested below: A Suggested Model for Tourism Administration Minister of Tourism Chairman, Tourist Board/Director General, Tourism/Governor, Tourism Authority

Education & Training

Marketing

Tourist Services (Tourist Offices within the Country)

Overseas Promotion (Overseas Tourist Offices)

Minister of Finance

Permanent Secretary, Department of Tourism

Development

Planning

Research & Statistics

Standards

Financial Help

InterGovernment Coordination

Incentives

Travelling and Atmosphere The control of planning of physical environment in tourism is imperative. The following points must be taken into consideration: (a) What facilities should be erected and when? (b) Alternative uses of land (c) Pollution

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Travel and Tourism (d) Serenity of atmosphere (e) Integrity of landscape (f) Cost of land and its ratio to building and development costs. (g) Traffic circulation (h) Zoning and density (i) Services—water, electricity, gas, sewerage, etc.

Architectural style, building regulations, site-layout density, and preservation of the natural features of the land are part of the environmental control. Protecting lakes, hills, beaches, rivers and historical monument from the onslaught of large masses of visitors are also the responsibility of the government. A couplet in the Atharvaveda says: “Whatever I take from the Earth may that have quick growth again. O Purifier! may we not injure the vitals of Thy heart.” The Atharvaveda pronounced these words of wisdom more than five thousand years ago when Indian culture was being formed in the magnificent forests teeming with wildlife. It is remarkable that people in that age realised that the resources of the earth were not something which could be damaged at will. The following words of philosopher Krishna Chaitanya provide another warning: If we do not realise that the beauty and variety of the earth are autonomous values in their own right, if we believe that we have life and health on earth and not with the earth, we will exploit it greedily and come to ruin speedily. If we treat the earth without reverence and ruin its beauty and order, the end will be the failure of the earth to produce any food for us. Demands for tourism are as diverse as the resources. It is not easy to match the supply with the demand, for tourism can create pressure on local facilities; can affect the landscape and the lifestyle of the people.

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The problems of conservation were taken note of in the early stages of tourism development. America established the Yellow Stone Park within an area of 3,350 square miles in 1872. The British founded a national trust for places of historic interest and national beauty in 1895. A separate Ministry of Town and Country Planning was created in 1943 in Great Britain. National Physical Planning began in the United Kingdom as early as in 1947 with the passing of Town and Planning Act. The National Park Access to the Countryside Act in 1949 established a National Park Commission with the objective of natural beauty and provision of opportunities for open-air recreation. The ten national parks created in England covered nine per cent of the land area. In 1971, a Department of Environment was set up in England. In India, too, a Ministry of Environment and Forests was set up when Rajiv Gandhi took over as Prime Minister in 1985. The concern for preservation of ecological balance was not confined to the USA and the UK; it has its worldwide impact. In 1968, the Council of Europe launched the Air Pollution and Water Charter and Water Conservation Campaign. The African convention for conservation of nature took place in the same year. In the USA, the Council of Environmental Quality was established in 1970 and President Nixon promulgated a 37-point programme of preservation of environmental quality. India is already facing problems relating to environment mainly due to pressure of population and only partly due to tourism. The case of Dal Lake in Srinagar (Kashmir) proves our point. Tourism can be a boon to any country, especially to a developing country like India. But tourism planning has to ensure that India preserves the Himalayas in their original glory, and the wide variety of wildlife, which is a great asset for tourism. The government took a wise decision in banning the hunting of tiger, panther and other species which were in danger of

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becoming extinct due to wanton killing. The Tourist Development Council, an advisory body of the Government of India, in a resolution passed as early as 1972 at Goa, requested the Government of India to take steps to ensure that: (a) Any new construction in the vicinity of monuments should meet aesthetic requirements. (b) Any unnecessary interference from electric lines, power plants, petrol stations, advertisement hoardings be avoided. (c) Special care should be taken to prevent pollution of water and air, working of mines and quarries, dumping of domestic, commercial and industrial waste in the vicinity of monuments. (d) Deforestation of the area around monuments be avoided. (e) Financial assistance be given by the state governments, local bodies to improve and beautify roads and environment of monuments and other places of tourist interest. (f) To avoid haphazard peripheral growth, the location of facilities like canteens, bookshops, curio shops, etc., in the vicinity of important monuments may be done only after clearance from the Archaeological Survey of India and the Department of Tourism. As a follow-up on this resolution, the Department of Tourism selected ten archaeological complexes of tourist importance comprising thirty archaeological centres. Master plans for these have already been prepared.

Relevant Issues As part of the concern for tourism in relation to environment, WTO conducted a survey of tour operators in United Kingdom about their views on environments. To a question whether tourists were concerned about the

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environmental quality of the destination they visit, 63 per cent of the tour-operators surveyed answered yes. In reply to another question whether they offered any products that might be classed “environmental friendly” or “Green”, 61 said yes. Seventy-nine per cent of the group said that they offered green products in Europe, 16 per cent in Asia Pacific, 13 per cent in Americas and 37 per cent in Africa. It seems that tour-operators were taking their business to alternate destinations from areas where environmental degradation was accentuating. Fifty-nine per cent said that they were moving their business from areas where environment was not safe. It is an important signal for any destination seeking to promote tourism. India has to take note of it especially as it is still in the process of development.

Indian Scenario India adopted a policy of development through planning in 1952 when the first five-year plan for development of Indian economy was drafted by the newly established Planning Commission. Although tourism activity had started in a modest way in the early fifties in India, the Planning Commission did not take note of it till the second plan (1957-62). A modest provision of Rs. 336 lakhs was made in the plan for development of tourist infrastructure for a five-year period within central and state sectors. In the fifties, there was little awareness in the country of the economic or social significance of tourism. Development had to begin with the provision of basic infrastructure, especially at important places of tourist interest where there were little or no facilities. The plan was divided into three parts. Part-I schemes dealt with the development of accommodation at places of international

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tourist interest, where foreign tourists could be attracted. The expenditure on such projects was incurred totally by the central government. Part-II schemes included development of tourist facilities at places of interest of domestic tourists, which could also interest overseas visitors. On such projects, the central government met half the expenditure and the states met the rest. Part-Ill scheme included projects which were primarily of domestic interest and were financed by the state governments. A number of tourist bungalows were constructed all over the country under the Part-I scheme, now named “Travellers Lodges”, and some of them are still managed by the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC). Most accommodations built under Part-I scheme were transferred to the States. In the third plan (1962-67) this practice was continued resulting in a network of tourist facilities in areas where none existed before. Bodh Gaya, Khajuraho, Bhubaneswar, Konark, Mahabalipuram, Sanchi, Tiruchirapalli, Kanchipuram, Madurai and several other places were provided basic facilities acceptable to foreign tourists. The fourth plan (1967-74) had a chequered story. Since there were not enough funds for a continuous plan, separate annual plans were prepared and executed. Under the new arrangement, the Central Department of Tourism completely took over the planning and development of facilities suitable for overseas tourists while the state governments were assisted to develop facilities for domestic tourists. State governments were free to shape their plans the way they liked. No matching subsidies of fifty per cent was given by the centre. It was a good decision as the states started developing their own plans independently of central help though central guidance through the Department of Tourism and the Planning Commission was available. In the annual plans, in addition to the development of infrastructure, tourism promotion overseas, especially the production of tourist literature for overseas markets, became part of the plan. The new arrangement enabled the Central Department of Tourism to expand its tourist promotion

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overseas by making available adequate quantity of better quality and variety of literature in a number of foreign languages. The highlights of the fourth and fifth five-year plans were the beginning of two major projects in the central sector to attract destinational tourist traffic, that is, those who come primarily to holiday in India and not on transit through India. According to a survey carried out by the Indian Institute of Public Opinion for the Department of Tourism, the share of destinational traffic to India in 1961-62 was only 43.2 per cent. It rose to 52.2 per cent in 1964-65 and 73.3 per cent in 1972-73. Destination traffic at present is estimated to be over 75 per cent. Another change noticed in the pattern of traffic was the predominance of the younger age group among international tourists visiting India. The largest number of tourists visiting India were in the age group of 31-50 years followed closely by 17-30 years. Occupation-wise, the largest -group consisted of professionals, educationists and students, followed by businessmen and those who professed no business—presumably retired or dependent housewives. The primary reason for a change in pattern of traffic to India was the introduction of reduced fares on international air sectors. The approach to planning and development of tourism had, therefore, to undergo a change too. India was getting more destinational tourists who could be persuaded to stay longer. A whole new field of recreational activities had to be developed in the country. It was decided in the mid-sixties to meet the requirements of the new class of visitors. A programme drawn in the fourth plan and continued in the fifth plan started with impressive allocations, but every year, it had to be pruned due to constraint on resources. In spite of all these difficulties, sixteen youth hostels of international standard were constructed and furnished in different parts of India to serve as catalytic models for the states to construct similar hostels elsewhere. Several forest lodges, tourist bungalows and two major resorts— the Kovalam Beach Resort and the Gulmarg Winter Sports

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Resort—were the results of the fourth and fifth plans, for destinational tourist traffic. The preamble to the fifth five-year plan for tourism explained the role of the centre and the state governments. The centre would undertake projects which relate to the promotion of international tourism and the states were advised to confine their projects to serve the needs of domestic tourists or budget tourists from overseas. The objectives laid down for the Central Department of Tourism were the provision of accommodation and transport to match the anticipated growth in international tourism, to develop new resorts and tours to spread the traffic to different regions of the country. The sixth five-year plan envisaged very high targets of tourists.—1.7 million by 1985 and 3.5 million by 1990—based on fifteen per cent annual growth of visitors to India—an impossible target. The targets, obviously, were highly exaggerated dreams which never materialised. For the first time in the sixth five-year plan, the Planning Commission recognised the importance of tourism in the following words: Tourism, both domestic and international, had rapidly won considerable recognition as an activity generating a number of social and economic benefits like promotion of national integration and international understanding, creation of employment opportunities, removal of regional imbalances, augmentation of foreign exchange earnings, thus redressing the balance of payments situation, etc. It is significant that many of these beneficial aspects of domestic and international tourism have special relevance to the socio-economic scene in India as emerging in the Sixth Plan period. Tourism also tends to give support to local handicrafts and cultural activities, both in urban and rural areas. Expenditure by tourists has a multiplier effect and also generates

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considerable tax revenue for government, both in the Central and State sectors. It is also relevant that the various multi-faceted socio-economic benefits of tourism are achieved with a relatively low level of investment. Having put forward the case for tourism convincingly the plan provided a meagre outlay of Rs. 187 crores for the period 1980-85 under the central and state sectors. This worked out to 0.18 per cent of the total plan—one of the lowest allocations for any sector. Two interesting concepts were introduced in the sixth plan—the concept of travel circuits and tourist villages. Sixty-one travel circuits were identified with 441 centres to be developed in the decade of the eighties. No tourist villages have been identified even today. The travel circuits approach aimed at spreading tourism geographically and to enable every state in India to offer something to the visitors. Although the objective was desirable, the concept led to spreading India’s resources so thinly that there was no visible development at any place during the eighties. The diversification of tourist centres all over India had to be matched with consumer demand. The consumer—especially the foreign visitor—was not likely to change his preference simply because it was a political necessity in India. As for tourist villages, the concept is laudable as it brings the visitors close to the Indian realities. But, again the plan remained on papers. At times, one wonders whether Indian planners read the previous plans when they write a new one. The concept of Janata hotels, developed by the Janata government during the brief period they were in power, was given up in the new plan. The cost of building Janata hotels was not very different from better hotels. It was not possible therefore to offer low tariffs. The lonely Janata hotel at Janpath in New Delhi—Ashok Yatri Niwas—now charges Rs. 500 to Rs. 1,000 per night.

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There were, however, provisions to expand in the sphere of supplementary accommodation like youth hostels, tourist bungalows, and tourist lodges, etc. Some expansion did take place in this area. Focus on Outdoor Holidays : In the seventh five-year plan (1985-90) tourism received significant notice. Tourism-related activities were given the status of an industry which implied that such business activities would in future be entitled to the same incentives and concessions as were applicable to an export industry. The concept of a large number of circuits gave place to the emphasis on outdoor holiday tourism—developing and strengthening infrastructure at beach and mountain resorts along with the normal activities of cultural tourism. India hoped to attract more people coming for an outdoor holiday. Financial allocations for the Department of Tourism of the central government were enhanced from twenty-one crore rupees in the sixth plan to Rs. 120 crore in the seventh plan. Similarly, allocations for the states were increased three hundred per cent. The India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was asked to fend for itself—its allocation in the seventh plan were only eight crore rupees against forty-two crores in the sixth plan. It was directed not to build any more luxury hotels and to confine its activities to building only three-star accommodation. Development through Private Sector : The eighth fiveyear plan underlines the fact that 15 states and 3 union territories had already declared tourism as an industry—four more states had declared hotels as an industry. The plan recommended that other states may also accord similar priority to tourism. The thrust during the eighth five-year plan was through the private sector. State governments, however, were expected to play a significant role in providing the essential infrastructure for tourism. An important scheme included in this plan was the involvement of the private sector by providing better incentives and equity support towards the project costs.

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Another significant scheme for strengthening the tourism infrastructure was the “Special Tourism Areas” scheme under which participation of central/state governments and private sector is envisaged. Thrust in this plan was also on various activities concerned with adventure sports and adventure tourism, including mountains and beach tourism. The government has recently announced a number of measures in the areas of industrial policy, trade policy, exchange rate management, fiscal policy, financial sector reforms and overall macro-economic management. The initiative taken by the government allows direct foreign investment up to 51 per cent in high priority industries, and hotels and tourism-related industries are part of the list. Industrial licensing has been abolished in most industries and hotels and tourism are among those freed from licensing. Non-resident Indians have been given a special package of incentives to participate in tourism projects. The total allocation for the eighth plan for tourism was Rs. 990 crore of which Rs. 385 crore was earmarked for development of tourism infrastructure, Rs. 315 crore for marketing and publicity, Rs. 100 crore for Tourism Development Fund; and Rs. 60 crore for manpower development through Hotel and Tourism Training Institutes. The plan also envisaged the establishment of an Institute of Water Sports in Goa at a cost of rupees 5 crore. An Institute of Mountaineering and Skiing had a provision of Rs. 4 crore. Domestic tourism, hitherto ignored received attention of the central government with an allocation of Rs. 73 crore for its promotion. The Tourism Department Fund, a new scheme, envisaged the construction of tourist accommodation of all types and other tourism-related projects like establishment of golf courses, amusement parks, recreational and adventure sports activities with the help of the state governments.

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The Ninth Plan—1997-2002—for tourism is ambitious—it envisages an expenditure of Rs. 1000 crores on tourism development over the five-year period. Like the previous Plan, the 9th Plan expects the Government to act as a facilitator using the synergy of the private sector for developmental using tax concessions and other facilities as baits. It also envisages the strengthening of India’s tourist organisation—and expansion of training facilities for human resource development. Case Histories : The profile of the tourist coming to India in the fifties and early sixties was predominantly around-theworld visitors transiting through this country. This gradually changed into predominantly destinational visitors who wanted to stay longer. It prompted the Indian planners to develop two major resorts—one at Gulmarg in Kashmir for winter sports enthusiasts, and the other at Kovalam in Kerala, for beach lovers. Another major project in hand is the development of sacred places connected with the life of Lord Buddha to attract Buddhist pilgrims from all over the world. The focal point is Bodh Gaya, the sacred spot where the great master achieved enlightenment. Gulmarg Winter Sports Resort : Gulmarg was acclaimed by experts as an ideal place for winter sports development. In 1960, Rudy Matt was invited by the Department of Tourism to advise the Government of India on the selection of a suitable location for the development of winter sports. His unqualified choice was Gulmarg. It may be appropriate to mention that as far back as in 1939, Gulmarg was used by the British officials as a winter-ski centre and even a Ski Club of India was established. A decision to develop Gulmarg was taken only in 1968 when the Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering was established by the Department of Tourism to train ski-instructors. A group of young men selected for training in 1968 became qualified instructors in 1971.

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Side by side with the training of the ski-instructors, steps were taken to put up various installations required by the skiers. At present, the following installations exist at Gulmarg;-chairlift 500m, T-bar for beginners, two portable lifts, rope-tow, etc. A ski-hire and repair shop were also established. The shop hires out ski-equipment. To train visitors to Kashmir in skiing and other winter sports, the Institute offered a series of courses lasting twenty-one days and ten days. Winter used to be a very lean season for Kashmir. There was little tourist flow from India or overseas. Even Srinagar hotels were closed in winter due to little tourism. But the Gulmarg project changed the scene. With an investment of only Rs. 30 million spread over a decade, Indian planners succeeded in placing Gulmarg on the ski-map of the world, attracting skiers in winter from different parts of India and also from overseas. Skiers from Asian countries which did not have such facilities in their home states came to Kashmir to enjoy the snow and do some skiing—specially visitors from Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Thailand. Sadly, the skiing activities in Gulmarg have been disrupted since 1990 due to terrorism. Kovalam Beach Resort : The lure of the ‘sun and sand’ in modern tourism is fairly well established. The English aristocracy of the Victorian period used to move to the south of France on the Mediterranean coast to relax on the beautiful beaches. This led to the establishment of the famous seaside resort of Nice in the south of France as a centre of beach holidays and the meeting place of the English and European aristocracy. With the development of the notion of the “Grand Tour” of Continental Europe, which was a ‘must’ for the rich, the sun and sand vacations became socially important. It was, however, after World War II, that beach holidays

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became a dominant trend in European countries. The introduction of ‘package holidays’ concept by charter carriers, as distinct from scheduled airlines, opened immense possibilities for average European holiday makers to enjoy the sun, sand and sea, which hitherto was the preserve of the rich few. The success stories of present-day tourism in Spain, Yugoslavia, Italy and other. Mediterranean countries are founded on sun, sea and sand tourism. Nearer home, Thailand, Sri Lanka and now the Maldives depend primarily on the tourists who are being flown by chartered carriers to these destinations. The story of the Indian venture into sun, sea and sand vacation resort began in 1959 with the efforts made by Club Mediterranean, to establish a beach holiday village in Kovalam— a beautiful beach area just outside Tiruvananthapuram in Kerala. Their negotiations with the Indian government did not come to a successful end. In 1966, the Department of Tourism picked up the threads— seven years after Club Mediterranean had dropped their proposal—and decided to develop Kovalam as a major beach resort in South Asia. The location of Kovalam near the Kerala capital had advantage in its accessibility. Tiruvananthapuram already had a developed airport and was on the network of Indian Airlines. Besides, it was within easy reach of Kanyakumari, the famous Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary, Cochin, Bangalore and Madras. Since a resort is “a place where people go principally for the purpose of relaxation, leisure and recreation with the intention of spending more than one night and where they expect to find a multitude of activities and attractions to carry out their leisure pursuits,” the development of Kovalam had to visualise all this with Indian distinctiveness. As a result of the efforts of the government, architects, environmentalists and the travel trade, a beautiful resort came to be established. It involved conceptual planning for ensuring a regulated growth. The various components of the complex were:

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1. Forty cottages called Kudils. 2. A beach hotel with one hundred rooms. 3. Beach Service Centre (to be expanded to meet the growing requirements). 4. Yoga-cum-massage centre which offered classes in Yoga and Kerala oil baths. This feature gives the resort a typical Indian character. 5. Open-air amphitheatre for the performance of Kathakali and other entertainments. 6. Recreational activities—swimming, surfing, sailing, boating, snorkeling, scuba diving. 7. Provision of staff quarters, laying of roads, paths, electric wires, telephone cables, water supply and drainage system. (More rooms have since been added.) The project is operated by India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) with an average of occupancy of 50 per cent annually. ITDC, a government undertaking, is not known for an impressive record in marketing and profitability. Although the government has allowed direct charters to both Goa and Kovalam, there are hardly any charters to Kovalam while Goa had 400 charters in 1995. Charters to Kovalam also are likely. Goa and other Beach Resorts : By far Goa is the most successful example of Indian planning in beach tourism, though governments’ roles in tourism development in Goa in the early sixties was minimal. The Taj Group of Hotels took the initiative in building Fort Aguada Beach Resort at Goa—three hotels in one complex. Although Goa was known for its fantastic beaches and unique Portuguese cultural ambience in the East, there were no good hotels on the beaches. The Taj Resorts was so good and beautiful that the late Prime Minister, Mrs. Indira Gandhi, invited Commonwealth heads of States for a brief holiday in Goa

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in 1983. The photographs of the Prime Minister and Presidents of several Commonwealth states enjoying a beach holiday in Goa appeared all over the world making Goa a popular destination for foreign visitors. Initially, the Government of India did not allow direct flights of charters and foreign traffic was therefore limited. Visitors had to come to Mumbai first and then take side trips to Goa. Once charters were allowed to land in Goa from any part of the world, there was no stopping its development. Other hotel chains like the Welcomgroup, Oberois and Ramada Inn followed. At present, over 400 charters land in Goa every year from Europe—two to three plane-loads every day during the season. Goa hotels are doing extremely well. Even at the time when tourist traffic was very much down in 1992 in the aftermath of Ayodhya episode, Goa continued to do well. The plague scare of September 1994 also did not scare the European visitors coming to Goa. The Aguada Beach Resort is a good example of merging man’s creation with that of Nature. Goa has a great future as a beach resort. Planning too has been done with great care—most hotels are one or two-storey structures seldom higher than the tree tops. The only exception was Hotel Oberoi Bagmalo Beach Resort (now with a different name) which is, a multi-storey construction built before the government regulations came into force. Goa was also protected by government enforcing that hotel buildings should be located 500 metres away from the high tide. Recently, the government has reduced the distance to 200 metres. In most other countries, hotels have been built right on the beach itself, changing the landscape. This gives Goa its distinctiveness. For the first time in 1995, Goa welcomed 1.1 million visitors—2,50,000 among them foreigners. Visitors outnumbered this local population which is only one million— also for the first time.

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Mahabalipuram Beach Resort : Mahabalipuram, near Chennai, is another example of a successful beach resort. Here, sufficient accommodation is available in the form of private resort hotels. Two Traveller’s Lodges are operated, one by the India Tourism Development Corporation and the other by Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC). Here, one is within the shadows of the ancient architecture of the Pallava period and this feature makes it extremely interesting. For art lovers, it is a great place for a holiday. Development of Buddhist Pilgrimage Centres Yet another example of good planning, though of very slow implementation, is the development of Buddhist centres of pilgrimage in India. It started in the sixties, but the net results have not been impressive. Some accommodation units have come up—two of them with Japanese cooperation and money. The principles of the planning are sound. In planning of beach and mountain resorts, an attempt was made by the government to develop facilities in harmony with Nature. Planning in the case of Buddhist centres of pilgrimage required a different approach. Some monuments were already there. Planning envisaged development of facilities that did not overawe old monuments associated with the life of Lord Buddha or Buddhism. So, the planners built simple structures in line with the Buddhist philosophy of absence of luxurious living. Bodh Gaya, Kushinagar, Sravasti, Rajgir are as important for the Buddhists as are Mecca to the Muslims and Varanasi to the Hindus. Accordingly, under the cultural tourism programme of the Department of Tourism, an effort has been mounted to develop tourist infrastructure and tourist facilities at Bodh Gaya, Kushinagar, Sravasti, Rajgir, Nalanda and Sarnath. The first step in this direction was to prepare the master plans (land-use plans) of these centres. These have been completed. The next step was to request the concerned state governments—in these cases, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar—to notify the areas covered

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by the master plan. The intention is that no material changes in the old buildings or in the existing physical environments be made without the prior approval of the central authority. No new structure can come up without their consent. The purpose is to preserve what is old and beautiful and at the same time regulate new constructions to be in harmony with the surroundings. Gradually, the areas are being demarcated for the provision of new tourist facilities such as hotels, car parking areas, approach roads to the monuments and other facilities, protecting the monuments from encroachments and unauthorised constructions. Provision of essential facilities in the vicinity of the monuments and landscaping the areas around the monuments has been done to enhance the beauty of the area. It is fortunate that many of these centres are in the rural areas and until recently, were not accessible to an average tourist. Therefore, it is the right moment to embark upon the work of a master-plan to ensure regulated growth in harmony with the monuments. An Assessment : If planning is forecasting a country’s ambition in a particular field and achieving objectives in a given period with the resources available, India’s efforts at planning are not impressive. Planning is also concerned with future implications of current decisions. In all eight five-year plans, the targets set were too high and the resources available were too little. Now, the Ninth Plan is ahead on. Not that India had any dearth in talent in successful tourism planning. India’s first Director General Tourism in the late S.N. Chib was invited by the United Nations to plan Sri Lanka tourism which he did extremely well. Later, he was hired by the Bahamas to do that country’s tourist planning and promotion. A few of India’s tourist officers have been deputed to other countries to advise them on how to plan their tourism. India’s concept in tourism planning has never been deficient. At times, the country got foreign experts to help as political

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masters tended to listen to foreign experts more than the home grown experts. But, political will and understanding were missing. Every two years, the minister-in-charge of Tourism and Civil Aviation changed—changing also the focus on development of tourism. For the Minister, the focus became the state from which he came and his state became the centre of attention irrespective of the fact whether that state had tourist resources and attractions. An unfortunate fact was that senior bureaucrats who are expected to take objective decisions bent head over heels to ministerial whims. New tourism circuits were discovered in his state where none existed and Indian Airlines’ new flights were introduced to his state with scant regard to the viability of operations. It is doubtful if the ministers ever read the current or old five-year plans for continuity. New ideas were incorporated at will, often forgetting the old plans. The resources were thinly distributed over a number of projects that resulted in delays and cost escalations. Apart from the political pressure from the central minister for his state, each state minister felt that his state was the victim of central discrimination. Each one was convinced that his state needed central attention the most. In order to please all states, the centre attempted to satisfy them by giving a Tourist Bungalow here and a Forest Lodge there and a Youth Hostel in the third place, even though the state had no saleable tourist attractions. The decision to locate a Travellers’ Lodge or Youth Hostel was taken on considerations other than merit. Out of fifteen travellers’ lodges built during the three plans, only four were profitable. The Department of Tourism is still subsidising India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) for the losses incurred on these lodges. No tourist place in India has been developed which can be cited as a good example of successful total planning. All projects have been victims of delays with little monitoring of their actual progress.

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The building of youth hostels all over the country was a good decision. But the selection of sites was not based on objective surveys. Most of these hostels are located far away from the downtown area. The management pattern evolved had dual control—both of the state and the central government. The occupancy ratio was low and all youth hostels are incurring losses in spite of increasing popularity of travel. Their existence can be justified only on the basis of social justice. The forest lodges constructed in the central sector are also economically not viable and have still to be subsidised. The two destinational projects—Kovalam and Gulmarg— though laudable in their conception, are far from being profitable. The accommodation built at Kovalam in the public sector has an annual average occupancy of less than 50 per cent. The Gulmarg winter sports project was ambitiously conceived, but resources could not be found to put up a good 100-room hotel and a two-thousand-metre-long aerial ropeway with ancillary facilities to make this project economically viable. On hindsight, the delays were providential. As a result of the limited resources being spread over vast areas, the national objectives in tourism development were seldom achieved. A plethora of demands are received by the central government from the states for mounting sound and light spectacles, floodlighting of monuments, resort development, construction of aerodromes, air-linking of centres, etc. As a result, the available resources are spread thinly—preferring quantity to quality. The scarce funds were spent in providing airlinks and extending tourist facilities in the constituencies of ministers. The sixth plan (1980-85) proposed the development of 61 travel circuits with 441 tourist centres, with little money to achieve results. The arrivals target were set at 3.5 million—up from 800,000—another impossibility considering the available international and domestic air capacity. No attempt was made

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to liberalise the entry of more international airlines to increase the capacity for the required growth in arrivals. The domestic air capacity was not adequate even to meet the demand at the 1980 levels. No expansion of Indian Airlines was on the cards to meet the target of 3.5 million arrivals. As the government changed, the circuits were forgotten. India crossed 2 million mark in arrivals only in 1995. A sad commentary on Indian planning! Had India concentrated on ten circuits instead of 41 during the plan period, some visible development would have been on the ground in five years. Training is another area where planning was not very effective. There was expansion in Hotel Management Institutes but the quality of training suffered due to poorly trained teachers. Trainers and instructors were seldom sent on Refresher Courses. The hotel industry has undergone complete transformation with the introduction of high-tech information and reservation systems. But, Indian institutes have not been able to catch up with the new systems. There is no system of retraining the teachers in foreign institutes or in the training institutes of leading hotel chains. The Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management (IITTM) has also changed course depending on the state to which the minister-in-charge belonged. A foreign expert recommended its location in Bangalore as the then minister was from Karnataka. After the minister quit, it was located in Delhi, but it was relocated at Gwalior as the incumbent minister was from Madhya Pradesh. Some senior faculty members opted out leaving the institute in the lurch. The best part of the Indian planning has been the loans disbursement to the hotel sector followed by other government incentives thrown in. The hotel industry has received tremendous boost with the availability of loans and incentives. Presently, India appears to have an adequate supply of rooms to meet

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the current demand except in metro cities and more rooms are in the pipeline to meet the increased demand in future. In principle, one cannot find flaws in India’s planning for tourism development. It has been good conceptually. The flaw was in setting high goals to achieve objectives—to gather political mileage. The required coordination with the states was missing and in some cases absent altogether. At best Indian planning can be rated as good but its results were uneven due to tardy implementation. To summarise, planning for tourism development started some 50 years ago when the effects of unregulated development became evident in countries like Spain and France. The World Bank, the World Tourism Organisation and the United Nations have shown concern over the degradation of environments, and the impact of tourism on heritage and culture of host destinations through unplanned tourism. The governments have since stepped in to introduce regulations concerning land-use, zoning, density of population, environments, design, architecture, traffic circulation, etc., to make tourism good for local residents as well as visitors. Every destination has a carrying capacity and attempts are made through planning to ensure that no overcrowding is caused resulting in resentment among the local population. To achieve the best results, tourism planning seeks to match supply with demand. Governments play an important role in tourism planning as private sector, which is motivated by profit alone, cannot be allowed to use the land according to their whims. At the national level, the tourism planning process passes through the following stages: 1. Establishment of goals based in research. 2. Market and resource analysis.

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3. Conceptual planning and approval thereof. 4. Master planning. 5. Staged implementation of the programmes. 6. Evaluation, direction and monitoring to ensure quality. India was one of the late starters in tourism field. Tourism became part of the Indian planning only in the second five-year plan (1957-62). Initially, tourism was a very minor part of the total plan. Various plans enabled the Government of India to put up tourism infrastructure at tourist centres where none existed. Government also undertook some major projects like development of a ski resort at Gulmarg and a beach resort at Kovalam in Kerala. In the eight five-year plan, (1993-97), tourism was recognised as a significant factor in bridging the balance of payment gap. In the eighth plan, tourism development was virtually left to the private sector under new government guidelines. To encourage development in the tourism field, a number of economic and fiscal incentives have been offered to private entrepreneurs. Foreign equity has also been allowed up to 51 per cent and even higher in tourism-related projects including hotels.

3 GRADUAL PROGRESS IN TRAVELLING For the purpose of promotion, the most important function of marketing is to bring about an awareness of the product in the minds of the consumers in the market areas. This is done by way of promotion. Tourism promotion is one of the elements of the marketing mix and an important tool for marketing. The term promotion is interpreted and defined in many ways. Basically, the purpose of promotion is to inform, to persuade, to encourage or, more specifically, to influence the potential customers or trade intermediaries (travel agents, tour operators, reservation services, hotel and charter brokers), through communications, to think and to act in a certain manner. Successful marketing in tourism cannot rely only on a product of the right kind, on a market-related pricing policy and on a reliable and effective distribution network. Systematic communication with actual and potential customers and with the trade intermediaries, bridging the gap between producer on the one hand and the consumer on the other, is also needed. The basic function of all tourist promotion activities is to have an

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effective communication with the consumer. The consumer must be aware of the existence of a tourist product. How is this awareness to be brought about in the minds of the consumers in the market areas? Some of the easily identifiable methods are advertising, sales support and public relations. These are the three major marketing tools which every organization uses to inform the actual as well as the potential customer about the product.

The Publicity In today’s changing and competitive international marketplace, advertising is important. Advertising is an activity designed to spread information with a view to promoting the sales of marketable goods and services. As such, it operates in two ways: first, by spreading information amongst consumers about the possibilities of consumption, and second, by seeking to influence their judgement in favour of the particular goods which are the subject of the advertisement. Any organization which uses this promotional instrument has to use certain media space which is paid for. In other words, we can also define advertisement as “paid public messages designed to describe or praise a product”. This product in tourism is any destination area which is visited by a tourist. The media space for advertisement can be bought in newspapers, general and specialized magazines, in the form of posters or billboards. Besides the use of paid media space in the form of newspapers, magazines, etc., use of media time is also made in radio and television in order to transmit a pre-determined message to a predetermined audience. Advertising has several inherent advantages in this method. The biggest advantage is its wide coverage. Advertising is especially appropriate for communication with a large number of prospective purchasers of a commodity or a service. A uniform sales message is directed towards all prospective purchasers.

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An advertisement can be placed before a large number of prospective customers as compared with the efforts of a salesman. Frequency is another advantage. It can make its appeal more frequently, whereas the calls of salesmen are usually not so frequent. Another advantage is its accessibility. It may reach prospects whom salesmen would find difficult to interview, owing to lack of interest, or inaccessibility to salesmen. Advertisement may reach such prospects through many types of media and under a variety of circumstances, and may thus attract their attention and arouse their interest. Lower cost is another major advantage. Large numbers can be reached economically, i.e. at a lower cost per contact than in any other technique available. Advertising may be used to do a variety of selling tasks. A great deal of advertising attempts to win acceptance for the product. Such advertising may produce few specific demands for the advertised brands, yet when retailers display or show advertised goods they sell more readily than non-advertised ones. Therefore, retailers often hesitate to handle non-advertised goods unless they are obtainable at low prices. Advertising thus directly stimulates sales to retailers. Advertising may at times be used to make the complete sale. Some direct mail and periodical advertising attempts to make sales by requesting readers to forward orders accompanied by the necessary payment. When the number of potential buyers is small and when they are widely scattered, it could be extremely costly to reach them through salesmen. Advertising then becomes the most economical means of doing the entire sales job. Planning the Advertising : While planning the advertising, the agency must give careful consideration to the actual makeup of the advertisement. This headline copy, illustrations, colour scheme, size, layout, and method of printing or reproducing the advertisement must be planned very carefully. This is necessary in order to gain attention of the customer, maintain his interest in the message, and secure the action desired by the seller.

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Closely related is the question of periodicity of advertisement. How frequently to advertise? For instance, is it better to use a full-page advertisement once a month or a quarter-page weekly? A frequently presented thought is likely to force itself into our consciousness. People are inclined to believe statements they hear or see repeatedly and hence the logic of frequent repetition of advertisements. In starting a special campaign the advertisements should not be spaced regularly. Early in the campaign they should be used close together, while later on they can be issued at much longer intervals. This is desirable because consumers forget rapidly; at first and much more slowly later on. After the facts are retained; by the prospects, the advertisements can be presented at much longer intervals. Media Selection : The advertiser should give careful attention in planning to the selection of the medium or media especially adopted to his needs. The selection will depend upon the factors like the area to be covered, the type of audience to be reached, the appeals to be used and upon the services and facilities of the particular medium in relation to costs. The important factors which influence the media selection are: (i) media habits of the target audience; (ii) product characteristics (for example, TV may be the appropriate medium for those products which may require a demonstration of their operation for effective impact on the target audience); and (iii) cost of the media. Message Selection : The message selected for use in the advertisement should be such that it retains the interest in the minds of the customers about the product. The customer must maintain his interest in the message, and secure the action desired by the seller of the product. The objective is to present the advertiser’s message in such a way that the illustration may lead the reader to favourable considerations of the advertisement. The important characteristics of an effective message are: Information: It should be adequate for a decision;

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Interest: It should be able to catch the attention of the target audience; Authenticity : It should avoid exaggerated claims; Persuasion: It should be capable of creating a favourable conviction in the target audience; and Memory Value: It should have something in it which can help the target audience to remember it. Cost of Advertising : The agency must relate the estimated cost of the objectives planned and the contribution expected from advertising. Can the advertiser carry on a campaign large enough to make it effective? Are the funds available or will they become available through the sale of the product. How much the agency spends for the advertising? The various methods commonly used are: Affordable Method: Here, the advertising budget is set on the basis of what the agency can afford. Percentage of Sales Method: In this case, the agency sets the advertising budget on the basis of specific percentage of sales. Competitive Parity Method : Here the company sets its budget to match those of its major competitors. Objective and Task Method : In this the advertising budget represents the outlay required to perform the various tasks which are necessary to achieve the properly defined advertising objectives of the company. This method is considered the most rational. Defining Advertising Effectiveness : In today’s world, advertisement through any medium has become extremely expensive. Hence, it is important for the agency to ensure that the money spent on it does bring returns by way of increased sales. This could be done by way of evaluating or testing the effectiveness of advertising. Testing methods may be used to

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evaluate the results of an advertising campaign. By evaluating and analysing the effectiveness of advertisements that have been used, future advertisements may be improved. In addition, tests may be applied before advertisements are run. Pre-testing of an advertisement prevents expenditure that would not be profitable and leads to expenditures that give the best results. In determining advertising effectiveness the commonly used methods are given below. Inquiries: Answer-back coupons, with same inducement, are incorporated in many advertisements. The amount of response is an indication of the effectiveness of the concerned advertisement. Recall Tests: Here the respondents are shown the magazine cover or any other medium in which the concerned advertisement has appeared. They are then asked to tell which advertisements in that publication they remember. Recognition Tests: Here the respondents are shown the advertisements and asked if they have read them. Sales Tests: Here the actual sales results before and after the concerned advertising are examined. The sales results in the selected ‘test markets’ are also compared to those in some chosen ‘control markets’, i.e., the markets where the concerned advertising is not done. This is done to eliminate certain factors, other than advertising, which may also have influenced the sales. In tourism, advertising is used extensively for promotion of various tourist products. This is a far cry from the era when colourful folders and posters were the only apparent form of travel promotion. In the field of tourism, advertising is mainly used to create initial awareness and interest in the tourist service or destination to be promoted and motivates potential tourists to decide to make further enquiries about costs, bookings, facilities, etc. It implies indirect communication with selected target groups—the potential tourists—through paid messages

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designed to praise a particular destination or an area. For a country which is trying to attract tourists, there can be two principal forms of advertising: (i) consumer advertising and (ii) trade advertising. To reach a wide number of consumers, such media as newspaper advertisements, radio spots, TV primetime advertising are used. However, this form of advertisement is very expensive. For a developing nation it is extremely difficult to afford such a type of advertisement because of financial constraints. Trade advertising, on the other hand, is an indirect form of advertising and an economical method. A large number of people today travel in groups. A tourist for various reasons chooses to travel as a member of a group, as opposed to travelling individually. The result, therefore, has been that a number of large tour operators have established their offices in such market areas. While the tour operator puts together inclusive tour packages, the tourist merely pays one package price for all services and is assured of a holiday. Such packages are then sold in retail by numerous smaller travel agents located in various market areas, and the result is that a group is formed. For a country which is trying to market its product, the area towards which these efforts are aimed is thus narrowed down to the important tour operators/ wholesalers. The media used to achieve this is large-scale advertising in travel trade journals and newspapers of international repute having travel sections. Advertising plays a crucial role in marketing a tourist product. If the right combination of conditions is present the effect of advertising would be to increase the demand for the particular country’s tourist product. Among the factors favourable to the successful use of advertising are the rising trend of demand in the particular product and an opportunity to stimulate selective demand, i.e., preference for the particular product. This is most likely where, there is a possibility of product differentials, and where consumer satisfaction depends largely on hidden qualities that cannot easily be judged at the time of purchase,

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or where strong emotional buying motive exists as in the case of tourism. The American Marketing Association has defined advertising as “any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor”. However, there have been several other definitions of advertising. One definition that may be accepted as related to all kinds of advertising is “the planned and controlled communication of persuasive ideas to a defined audience”. The question may arise as to the selling function of advertising. The answer to this question is that while advertising will certainly be contributing towards sales, it cannot and does not always complete the sale. A variety of other factors contribute to this and include pricing, distribution, dealer cooperation, etc., and all these jointly with advertising make up what is today called marketing activity. Mail order advertising, where readers send in written orders in response to press advertisements or home-delivered catalogues, is perhaps the single instance of directly related advertising selling. In other cases advertising acts as the communication factor contributing to the total selling function. In the case of service products such as tourism, banking and insurance, the direct selling action of advertising is rather limited. It must, however, be stressed that this does not mean that advertising is less important for such products. Advertising Campaign : Any organization, in order to promote its product, has to resort to advertising to achieve desired results. Tourism organizations all over the world resort to this communication tool. Launching an advertising compaign for promoting a product is very crucial and has to be done in a planned manner. The term ‘product’ in the larger sense includes not only tangible products like furniture or a motorcar but also service products such as tourism, insurance, etc. There are various stages through which any advertising campaign must evolve.

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Defining the Product : Before one can develop any communication of advertising for a product it is essential to know what it is that the product offers to consumers. This is very important. When you advertise soap, you are not advertising a cake of compound of alkali and oil in an attractive printed pack, but you may be advertising beauty or deodorant protection or youthfulness. To assess, therefore, what the product means to the prospective users we have to first ascertain the benefits that the users will derive from the product. Here are a few examples of this kind of benefit derivation: • Car tyre can offer confidence, security or safety; • Household cleaning can offer convenience, pride or hygienic conditions; • Cosmetics can offer romance, self-confidence or glamour; • Cigarettes can offer social status, confidence; • Travel can offer rest, relaxation glamour, confidence or status. The above examples show that in most cases the user benefit is not always apparent as a product feature. But it must be remembered that people buy things for the benefits they derive when using them. We must look at the product through the mind and eyes of the user. To do this it is sometimes necessary to conduct research amongst users or prospective users to find out what it is that they get from particular products. One can, at the same time, assess their knowledge, attitude and usage of competitive or substitute products so that the strengths and weaknesses of one’s own product are known. This study of consumer assessment is important as in any system of communication the idea existing in the mind of the receiver will affect the interpretation of the message being received. In some cases it may prevent the message from either being noticed or perceived, let alone being received or understood.

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Once we have arrived at this product benefit definition, we must then study this in relation to other factors. First, relative importance to the consumer of the several product benefits— the more important the benefit the greater its motivating values. Second, the relative position of one’s own brand and substitute brands in regard to these product benefits—to create a unique and memorable message, the main ideas or benefits should be as distinctive and different from others as possible. Let us now assume that we have studied our product and its users and potential users attitude towards the product and have arrived at a definition of product benefits which we feel are most important. Defining the Market Segments : We have a product. We know what users expect or want from it. Now we must assess how many users we have and where they are located. Most of this information will have been collected through various sources and supplied by the organization marketing the product. The kind of information that should be available will relate to the following: Consumer Information Type of Consumer : Number, sex, age, socio-economic profile. Location of the Consumer: Whether they will be found in cities, small towns or rural areas or in all and in what proportion in each. Geographic Distribution: Whether there are any regional variations in the market spread and if so, why. Shopping Habits: The amount or size of individual purchases, the frequency or number of times a product is brought during a month or a year, whether bought on a regular planned basis or through an impulse decision ,at point of sale. Decision Making: Often the person who actually buys the product does not always make the decision. It, therefore, becomes

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important to find out who it is that makes the decision and also the extent of the actual buyer’s role in changing or influencing this decision. The reason for finding this out is to get an idea as to whom the advertising message should be directed. The person who decides is very important and in the case of joint decisions it may well be necessary to direct the advertising to two or more decision makers. Distribution Information : Types of outlets, number of such outlets and the importance of each type; the location of these outlets in different cities, towns and rural markets; the dealer’s part in the selling activity. Sales Information : The trends over the years and any significant shifts that may have occurred in different geographic areas and the reasons for these changes is very important information. Seasonal variations that may be related to weather, festivals and other local and national reasons are also very important. In giving us all this information the manufacturer will not merely be giving us information about his product but also of competitive and substitute product against which his product will compete. All this information will provide us with a knowledge of the dimension of the market so that we will be in a position to assess which particular markets are of greater importance. This will also assist in creating the media plan to reach each market and also in creating relevant messages for each. In terms of media selection, the statistical information that will be supplied will enable to plan a campaign using media which will provide cover, reach and frequency related to the market definition. Attitude Segmentation : This relates to segmenting the market by user motivation. For example, it has been shown that certain types of people use certain products in larger quantities and more regularly than others. In the same way, some people travel more often than others. These groups are termed the

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heavy-user group. And, in most cases, it is not the usual socioeconomic categorisation that distinguishes them. This may be termed as attitude segmentation or separation. The problem in such segmenting or separating into two groups is that unlike socio-economic segmentation it is difficult to physically isolate the group. This can, however, be achieved through segmenting as it were the advertising message. It is important to note, however, that this sort of segmentation should not be overdone. Social appeals or segmented campaigns should only be developed if it is found that there are large enough groups of consumers who have attitude which would respond to such appeals. Often, however, it is not only the advertising that is segmented but the product itself is separately produced for each of the segments. At this stage we will have progressed from product definition to a knowledge of the market, its size, location and, different segmentation patterns.

Understanding the Demands What we have been discussing until now is information of the environment in which the advertising campaign will have to work. As we know, since advertising is only the communication aspect of the total marketing function we have to take into account the marketing plans of the both enterprises in the longterm and short-term, and relate the advertising to these. The marketing objectives that are given by the enterprise will detail the plans that the enterprise has for its product in the coming year and in some cases for a few years ahead. These plans would cover items such as: (i) The sales targets for the coming years broken down into regional targets or others, as the case may be; (ii) The distribution, merchandising and sales promotion activities planned to support the sales increase; (iii) The role that advertising is expected to play in creating consumers;

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(iv) The inhibiting factors which will work to prevent the enterprises from achieving the target, competitive products and their advertising, consumer attitudes, etc. It is important to note that in any marketing operation the product formulation, packaging and pricing, distribution and availability at point of sale are all of vital importance. All that advertising can do is to bring consumer to the point of sale. But if the product is not properly made, packaged or priced or is not well merchandised or promoted at point of sale and, therefore, is not visible, then it is quite possible that the sales effect of the advertising will not fructify. This brings out the importance of integrating these various activities. Once we have got clearly the marketing objectives of the enterprise and their plans in relation to these objectives, we can see what advertising has to communicate and to whom with a view to provide the maximum relevant support to the agreed marketing plan.

How to Advertise? We now know what we have to sell, to whom we have to sell, where the prospective consumers are located and also how the product will be made available to them. Our object now is to create an advertising campaign which will reach target audience and motivate them to come to ask for and buy the product. We have now processed all the facts that the enterprise has given and have perhaps had a dialogue with the consumer, through research, to ascertain his knowledge, attitude and usage of the product and its competitors. As a result, we have found out the proposition that we feel would be most motivating. We have also found out where the consumer is located, how and when he buys the product. We are now in a position to get down to work on two aspects which make up an advertising plan. These aspects are: (i) the creative strategy and (ii) the media plan

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Creative Strategy: Creativity in advertising is very crucial as on this depends the comprehension of the customer to understand the product. We now have to transform proposition or statement into an idea which is to be communicated to the customer. In converting the proposition into an idea, use of creativity is of paramount importance. Creativity must take into consideration direction and relevance. For the bright idea to be useful, there must be a right idea. It is this idea which has to be communicated to target group. In order to communicate the idea, media personnel, production personnel as well as creative personnel will have to be involved in this area. Finally the idea will have to be channelised into various material that will be required for advertising campaign. This can range from press advertisements to film commercials, to radio spots and TV spots, to posters and other point-of-sale material. All these items will be creative interpretation of the idea. The Media Plan: While creativity is perhaps most closely related in an agency with the development of an idea and its interpretation into advertising material, it also plays a role in the development of a media plan. Let us know briefly the way in which an agency constructs a media plan. Media may be defined as vehicles of mass communication which are used to carry advertising messages. Very rarely, except in the case of directmail advertising, are media developed solely as advertising communication vehicles. One may broadly classify media into two groups: (a) Media which are read, seen or heard by the consumer for their ’editorial’ worth. These are the newspapers, magazines, the radio programmes cinema shows, TV programmes which are read or tuned into or watched by the consumer for the ‘editorial’ material which they offer. The advertising benefits from the editorial climate of this media.

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(b) Media, usually more ‘reminder’ type of media such as outdoor media, hoarding, transportation signs, posters, kiosks, neon signs, etc., which are noticed in passing only. They obtain consumer exposure due to the fact that the consumer’s living habits cause him to pass by them. For instance, commuters in trains and buses, motorists and pedestrians on roads are all exposed to such media. The above group also includes point-of-sale items. In preparing media plans one has to study the behaviour and exposure of consumer groups with regard to both kinds of media. We have to study both kinds of media. We have to study what media our target consumer looks at for ‘editorial’ pleasure and when he does so and in what frame of mind. By studying consumers living habits and pattern of movement we can assess which of the second group of media he will be exposed to as a general rule. In the more advanced countries it is possible to get detailed statistics on the kind of audience that each medium has. In advanced countries this information is very detailed indeed and permits one to prepare accurate media plans. In other countries, however, this information is still very scanty and apart from basic circulation information it is rare that one gets much else. However, through experience one gradually builds up a fund of knowledge which enables one to select appropriate media for appropriate markets. Here, apart from the circulation information a study of the quality of the medium in terms of editorial content and style is a very useful method of evaluating reader types.

Role of Media Media planners have to create what is known as the media mix, consisting of various types of mix comprising various types of media. The selection of these media will depend upon the following:

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Target Audience that is to be Reached: Its reading or media exposure habits and its location and movement and shopping habits will permit us in selecting such media as will reach target consumers most effectively. The Product to be Promoted and its Use by the Target Audience: If one were selling holiday travel to a businessman and one were also selling machinery to the same businessman, it would perhaps be inappropriate to release the former advertising in technical magazines though they might provide adequate coverage of this particular businessman. It would be equally inappropriate to release the latter advertising in a leisure magazine reaching the target audience. The Nature of the Message: Whether it is a persuasive long-copy story, or whether it requires demonstration of the product in action or presentation of the product in colour. All these factors would influence the media planner. Magazines would allow long-copy stories, while film or TV commercials, project demonstrations, posters and colour press advertising would present the product in colour for easy identification. Media mix suggests that a number of different types of media are frequently required to provide total coverage for any campaign. For example, while one might use press or TV to put across the main informative story of a product it may be necessary to utilise some outdoor and point-of-sale media in order to effectively remind the consumer of the product on his way to the market or at the time of buying. This interlinking of different media brings into focus the importance of designing creative material with a unified theme so that the reminder media material can bring back to mind the advertising message conveyed earlier by the informative media. Competitive Activity: It is considered good media tactics to design a media plan that will let the advertising dominate competitive activity. Often, when the budget is smaller than that

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of the competitor the media planner recommends heavier use of fewer media so as to achieve this dominance. Budget Restraint : The media planner has to assess carefully the different buys he can make within budget and then recommend what he feels will give the best impact value for the particular campaign. At the end of the exercise the media planner will have worked out a list of media detailing the audience that each media offers, the number of insertions or spots to be released in each, the number of times the target audience will be reached and a cost analysis for each media. In order to relate this plan specifically with the targeted sales, separate analysis can also be prepared indicating the amount of coverage or number of contacts that will be exposed to the advertising in each of the sales territories. We have now a media plan which takes into account the target consumer, the creative requirement, market location and budget limitations. The creative strategy and media plan are then presented to the client. This is what is called an advertising presentation. At this presentation the agency relates their plans to the total marketing effort and indicates how it will fit in.

Practical Aspects Once the advertising campaign has been approved in terms of the creative strategy and the media plan, the agency next has to apply different ‘crafts’ in order to implement the campaign in the manner in which it was planned. These range from the preparation of press advertisement material to the production of TV and film commercials, recording of radio spots and production of point-of-sale material. On the other hand, the media buyer and scheduler has to implement the media plan in terms of preparing estimates, schedules and release orders for press, cinema, radio and other media. The agency takes on for the advertiser the responsibility of seeing the right time so

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that the total plan, as envisaged, becomes operative. Once the campaign has been released it becomes necessary to assess its impact. This brings us not only to the final stage of activity on a campaign but also brings us to the first stage of the next campaign.

Influence of the Movement It is not possible always to evaluate the effect of an advertising campaign in terms of sales as too many other factors are involved. This is particularly so in service advertising. Therefore, the result of a campaign cannot only be shown by way of sales. But there must be some way of measuring the value of campaign. In answer to this question it is felt that the impact of an advertising campaign should be assessed by the extent to which it results in changing the attitude of the selected target consumers. Therefore, having planned, prepared and released the campaign we start after a suitable interval to compile information on its impact value. This study will provide information on the following: Awareness: The extent of shift in the degree of awareness of an agency or product is highly relevant because unless people are aware of something they can neither have an attitude towards it nor act in regard to it. Attitude Dimensions: It is necessary to measure to what extent the right attitudes have been communicated and accepted. We will have to find out at the time of formulating the proposition what these right attitudes should be. Purchase of the Product: It is vitally important as merely having a favourable attitude towards the product is not enough. It must be one that is motivating enough to cause usage. The measure of users that are created due to the shift in attitude therefore becomes very important. Repurchase of the Product : It is said that advertising can result in a first sale but it is for the product itself to perform and

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earn the second sale. Of course, by ‘perform’ one does not only mean preference in visible terms but in satisfaction terms as well (in this case, the amount of satisfaction a traveller has derived from a visit). In other words, the product must live up to the expectation which the advertising has created. Pre-testing Advertising : Pre-testing advertising attempts to assess the communication value of an advertisement, whether press advertisement, or TV or radio spot in advance of the actual release or screening. In this way, it is possible to develop advertising material which most effectively conveys the proposition idea. The pre-testing technique can also assist in forecasting the change in attitude, etc., which the campaign can achieve. A set of advertisement commercials, are prepared and these are shown to small groups of representative consumers. The effectiveness of the various approaches in conveying the proposition is then measured. This type of testing assists the agency to judge whether the idea created is in fact correctly communicating the motivating proposition to the target consumer. In this way we are back again at the first stage of the next campaign, and the cycle begins once again.

Promotion of Sale In tourism, sales support is all those promotional activities designed to transmit to the public and to the travel trade specific and detailed information on aspects like accommodation, transport, attractions, prices, etc., concerning the tourist services to be promoted. Sales support activities are the measures which establish personal or indirect contact with customers or trade intermediaries. It is also a process of training employees to be proficient salespersons. Sales support has certain distinct, closely related functions which neither advertising nor public relations can be expected to fulfil as effectively. It is a channel of communications between the ‘manufacturer’ or the ‘producer’ of a tourist service—accommodation unit, transport company, etc., and the ‘distributor’ or the ‘seller’ of that service. Secondly,

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it aids and assists the seller to do his job more effectively with the support of different techniques. The aim of the sales support activities is: (a) to inform the customers (tourists—both actual and potential) or trade intermediaries travel agents, tour operators, airlines, etc. about the various services available, their price and quality, etc.; (b) to assist them in selling these services to the ultimate users; (c) to motivate them to devote a sufficient level of sales activity to the service promoted. Sales Support Activities : National and regional tourist organizations as well as tourist service enterprises and tour operators recognise fully well that their sales and profit depend to a very large extent on the support and assistance they provide to retail travel agents and also the way in which they motivate travel agents. This is done by way of sales support activities. In order to be able to sell a service (a room in a hotel, seat in an airline) or a destination to the prospective tourists, travel agents or other sales intermediaries need to be aware of certain factual information which includes: (i) Country’s tourist facilities such as existing as well as new establishments, accommodation capacities, price schedules for various services. (ii) Various travel regulations and formalities such as visa requirements, foreign exchange rules, health and vaccination regulations including different certificates needed, custom rules, rates of exchange for currency, etc. (iii) The various transport and communication services available; the schedules of airlines, railways, road transport services, shipping services (where available), their rates.

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(iv) Weather conditions at different times of the year, and types of clothing required during different seasons. (v) The utilization (occupancy rates) of existing tourist facilities at different times of the year. (vi) Plans for opening of new destinations, hotels, transport routes (railways, airlines, etc.) and also plans for expansion of existing tourist facilities. Advertising has now created a demand in the form of enquiries made by potential tourists, travel agents and other intermediaries. The potential tourists, travel agents and other intermediaries would now require, in addition to the type of information mentioned above, materials such as brochures, folders, booklets, guide books, directories, maps and illustrations in order to be able to transform demand into definite bookings. Most of the above material is meant for distribution to potential tourists by the travel agents and other sales intermediaries like tour operators, airlines, etc., either directly or through mail. Almost all the tourist organizations and tourist service enterprises produce the material extensively and make use of it by way of distributing it to travel agents, tour operators, etc. Tourist sales intermediaries on their own also produce sales support material for distribution to potential tourists. Sales Support Techniques : Sales support techniques can be grouped into two main areas—printed material and special offers. Printed material includes brochures, folders, direct-mail material, display material, etc. Brochure is a pamplet bound in the form of a booklet. It is a voluminous publication with special emphasis on the quality of paper, the reproduction of illustrations, graphic design of the cover and the layout of the pages. Special emphasis is laid on the quality of the paper and printing. It is mainly used by official travel organizations and tourist service enterprises to inform prospective tourists about the attractions and facilities available in the country. A brochure describes and illustrates a destination

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or service in more detail. Detailed information on accommodation, prices, travel schedules, etc., is given in a brochure. Travel agents and tour operators use brochures as one of their principal selling aids. Folder, on the other hand, is a single piece of illustrated paper which can be folded. Folder is less voluminous than the brochure and its production is less time consuming. These are usually printed on a single sheet and then folded. It is perhaps the most widely used advertising media by the official tourist organizations and by tourist service enterprises. It can be used alone or in conjunction with a sales letter. It is relatively inexpensive to produce and can be used in a variety of ways. While producing, special care should be taken about the quality of the paper and printing. Folder, compared to brochure, is short, tastefully illustrated and attractively designed and produced. Sales letter is a direct-mail material. It is a tool through which an attempt is made to gain agreement or favourable action towards a product. Sales letters offer many opportunities for selling travel services. These could be used alone or in combination with travel brochures or folders. These are sent out to those people whose addresses have been selected according to the likelihood of their being potential users of the services offered. A proper mailing list is a prerequisite for effective use of this tool. Sales letters require very little time to prepare and to distribute. The effectiveness of a sales letter can be measured very rapidly from the response it draws. This is done by way of a reply card which is included with which the recipient can request further information and also travel literature. Display material includes posters, dispensers for sales literature, cardboard stands, articles of handicrafts, exhibits, etc. This material is used in the agency’s office or in travel agent’s sales rooms. The material is displayed in such a way that it attracts the attention of a visitor as soon as he enters the office.

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In many cases, cinema slides are also used, either fixed or on an automatic projector for display purposes. Special offers like temporary price reductions, free gifts, premiums and various types of contests are being used extensively in competitive industries like cosmetics, packaged foodstuffs, etc. The tourist industry has also started to adopt these techniques as an additional sales support tool. Reduced airfares for students, ‘affinity group’, special off-season rates at hotels and tourist resorts are the examples of some of the special offers in the tourist industry.

Network of Contacts Public relations is an important promotional technique. It involves measures designed to improve the image of a service, to create a more favourable climate for its advertising and sales support activities. It covers such a wide range of activities and is used for so many different aims that it is not easy to define it. Public relations is the “art and science of planning and implementing communication and understanding between a company and the many different groups with which it is concerned in the course of its operation.” Public relations may also be defined as the “continuous and consistent representation of an organization’s policies to the public at large and to sections of the public who have a special interest in the organization’s activities, e.g., to various strata of employees, shareholders, actual and potential customers as well as its local and national government. A positive attitude to public relations in an organization’s activities is evidenced that it recognises a duty to keep the public aware of those activities, and of their impact upon society and its environments. From the definitions of public relations, it is evident that its main function is to inform public about the activities of an organization. In ether words it is a part of a firm’s or an organization’s total communication effort. Its purpose is

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to create best possible reputation for the firm or the organization by way of presenting facts. In a climate of favourable public opinion, an organization’s or a firm’s goals can be achieved more effectively. In the field of travel and tourism, the need for making information and facts available to both potential and actual tourists assumes special significance.. It involves measures designed to create and improve the image of the tourist product, create a more favourable climate for its advertising and sales support activities, especially in regard to travel trade intermediaries and news media. Favourable acceptance of any tourist destination by the public is of utmost importance. In fact, no business is more concerned with human relations than the business of tourism. Public relations in tourism is used to create and maintain a positive image for a country, a tourist destination in the minds of people who are in a position to influence public opinion (journalists, editors, travel writers, etc.), or in the minds of sales intermediaries (travel agents, tour operators, etc.). It is oriented towards creating and maintaining an atmosphere whereby travelling public at large is convinced of the advantages of visiting the country concerned. Public relations is one of the important functions of the official tourist organization. In fact, tourist organizations primarily are public relations organizations. The objectives of public relations in the field of tourism may be divided in two parts: the dissemination of information and the creation of a favourable image for the tourist product. Public Relation Techniques : Public relations consists of a number of inter-related activities oriented towards creating and maintaining a favourable positive image for the tourist product. The main techniques of public relations in the tourist promotion are as follows: (i) Organizing familiarization tours for travel writers, editors, travel agents, photographers and other key personnel

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from different parts of the world as guests to visit the country and to get first-hand knowledge about it. These persons then write about the country visited in wellknown travel and other general interest magazines. (ii) Organizing television and radio contests featuring the destination country. (iii) Organizing press releases and arranging press conferences with key personnel connected with tourism field with a view to disseminate information about the destination. (iv) Arranging seminars and workshops in the place where the tourist promotion office is located. (v) Organizing cultural programmes, musical and folk shows, TV interviews, exhibitions and national friendship weeks in the country where the national tourist office is located. (vi) Organizing various types of contests about the country. (vii) Encouraging large departmental stores, organizers of fashion shows and manufacturing companies to project the country or a part of it as a promotion showcase in their premises. Public relation activities thus range from distributing a simple press release to newspapers to organizing familiarization visits for key personnel in the travel trade. It is used to create a favourable climate for sales support and advertising by transmitting facts and information to advertising media and to sales intermediaries. However, to have any prospect of success, public relations planning and organization should be an integral part of an organization’s management strategy and must be organized on a continuing basis. Public relations function of an organization cannot be considered as an end in itself or as something which can be introduced at short notice to cope with a crisis situation. An organization should have a positive and planned public relations policy. It is

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How to Grow? : In order to round off the total marketing effort, there is need for a well-planned publicity programme. Publicity refers to the dissemination of information without charge for its news value in order to inform the prospect about a particular product. A publicity programme could include regular publicity stories and photographs to newspapers, travel editors, contact with magazines on stories, ideas, and the preparation of story outlines and pictures in order to induce magazines to do feature stories on a particular destination. News releases to travel trade magazines on items of interest to the travel industry, such as opening up of a new area, total expansion, increased transportation facilities, development of a new resort are measures which are adapted together with other publicity through the media of radio, television, lectures, seminars, travel films, etc. Tourist publicity in the beginning developed in an empirical way under the pressure of the growth of international travel, and to the extent that information had to be supplied to an everincreasing number of tourists. Thus, at its outset, it was simply informational publicity. With the growth in volume of commercial tourist publicity, particularly in the sphere of transport, and great increase in the number of tourists, various countries realized the importance of tourism in the national life. They recognised it especially in economic terms—earning of foreign exchange. This necessitated the countries to organize their institutional tourist publicity with a new approach and employ experienced commercial publicity technicians to draw up a long-term publicity strategy. For a successful tourist publicity, one important factor is to be placed at the top of all considerations. In the field of tourism, motive forces and effects lie on different planes. The motive forces of tourism lie mainly on a plane which is outside the

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scope of economic factors, while the results of tourism are represented in a series of economic processes. Generally speaking, when reference is made to tourism, thoughts go to economic effects of travel and sojourn and an estimate is made of the value of tourism for the national economy in terms of the figures represented by earnings and the influence on the balance of payment of a country. The earnings of foreign exchange become very important. Reference is also made in tourism to supply and demand as market terms and the tourist plant of a country is evaluated according to the place it occupies among the national resources and its potentialities to increase the national income. This purely economic consideration accounts for the striving of every tourist country to obtain the most optimum possible share of the market and tourist publicity is a means of pursuing this effort.

Numerous Approaches The methods of tourist publicity in their evolution have lagged behind in comparison with the developments of the publicity methods of other branches of economy which utilize applied psychology and sociology. They are still mainly based on experience, instinct, routine and technique. Publicity still proceeds from the object with a more or less arbitrary combination of rational and emotional appeals and perhaps in consideration of the results obtained by research in publicity media, but in utter disregard of the person to whom the publicity is addressed. So it is not yet clear at all how tourism, whose fluctuating character was proverbial, has now grown into a phenomenon almost impervious to crises, or why the tourist need has undergone a re-classification to other needs in order of importance, as also why, despite the fundamental universality of the tourist need, different human groups have different conceptions about its composition and the urge for experience. Professor Krapf was the first to undertake a close examination

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of the tourist consumption. It is of particular importance for tourist publicity when he states that all considerations of tourism must now free themselves from objective facts and institutions and cover the emotional world of man and the conduct of his life. This should be followed up by an examination of tourist behaviour. For the extension and importance assumed by tourism in a particular country or region, the decisive factors are neither the beautiful landscape as a natural assumption, nor the past and contemporary culture of a country, nor the natural medical cures in a region nor the transport and tourist plant in its costs and efficiency relationship, nor the appreciation of the authorities concerned or the favourable measures they may sanction. The determining factors are to be sought elsewhere, as in fashion, opinion, need, interest, which in their turn are to be appealed to as the irrational factors of tourist behaviour. The first named factors constitute the prerequisites of tourism which are publicised; the latter ones can be influenced only with the help of publicity. Considered in market terms, supply in the tourist sector is constantly expanding, its publicity efforts always increasing and getting more intensive and the media it utilises ever more diversified and multifarious. Coordination of Measures : Rising demand and expanding supply characterise the present-day situation of the travel market with its publicity competition. In this competition, two methods stand out which are quite suitably designated as the methods of the advanced tourist countries and those of the developing tourist countries. The advanced tourist countries show a constantly increasing tendency towards a graded publicity beginning with the publicity of the individual travel trade firms, of resorts, areas, provinces and finally countries, while the developing tourist countries, begin with the country’s publicity to which regional and travel trade publicity is added. As yet the differentiation between tourist institutions is too limited for them to enter into competition with each other. However, in the wellknown tourist countries this competition takes place inside the

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country and finally between corresponding tourist resorts and enterprises. This carries in itself the danger of a frittering away of the forces and since the percentage of the ineffective residual part of local publicity is relatively large, it is necessary to undertake campaigns in a manner which is more than proportionate. This has special relevance to publicity abroad, where the desire for the most extensive possible coverage of the demand is somewhat restricted by the available financial means. This reason alone points to the necessity of concentration and coordination of all tourist publicity measures. Brand Concepts : Each country is a travel mosaic composed of a variety of distinctive features. These features are not however spread uniformly over the whole country but are very frequently regional or even characteristic of a place. Thus every land has regions which through their distinctive climatic, physical, morphological, cultural or other kind of features, constitute the tourist attractions or can be developed to that end. Notwithstanding these territorial individual distinctions, publicity should satisfy the fundamental principles of clarity of objective and uniformity. Clarity of objective in this case signifies that the entire range of national tourist publicity, despite its multifold ramifications, should not show any contradictions, whereas uniformity serves the purpose of creating the impression abroad that all national tourist publicity campaigns are part of a uniform planning. The central idea of publicity planning should be perceptible. It is very rightly mentioned in the General Theory of Tourism of Hunziker-Krapf that “the organizational forms of publicity abroad may differ in detail, but there must be a single goal to put national tourism to the fore and the regional and local features on the second plane. These would come into their own once the foreign tourist has made his choice as to the country to be visited.” The tourist publicity can also make use of the brand concept. This, however assumes a certain guarantee of fulfilment. Professor Lisowski has drawn attention to the possibility of

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creating brands and consequently to the mutual support between brands in the sequence of enterprise-resort-landscape-region country. This mutual support among brands, which can work in both directions, demonstrates still another method which can be followed, namely, that of the most varied publicity combinations through a coupling of the brands. A tourist publicity programme for a country maybe conceived in the following way: (i) The creation of concepts of satisfaction which, taken together, could form the tourist brand of the country; (ii) A coordination of all publicity measures of the economic, cultural and tourist institutions of a country in conjunction with a coupling of the brands; (iii) Constant analysis of satisfactions, market observations and research, as well as publicity effectiveness. Motivation Publicity : The motivating factors of tourism originate in their preponderant majority from the emotional sphere. Consequently, tourism stands out prominently in the world of experience-seeking ideas and conceptions and it can be said that the holidaymaker lives between imagination and reality and the relationship between the two determines his judgement on the land visited. This will be positive in proportion to the extent that reality corresponds to the world of imagination. It may be inferred from this how very important it is for publicity to steer the formation of imagination towards facts as they really exist. This is easiest in the field of comparable satisfactions whereby guiding information on trends may be obtained through a planned investigation of judgements and criticisms—in other words, public opinion research. This publicity based on motivation forces and influencing the imaginative world of the tourists can be referred to as motivation publicity or the irrational approach. The most intensive publicity is done for recreation, pleasure and cultural travel, and the publicity campaign for this is aimed mainly in producing the result on the imagination that the existing need would find its maximum satisfaction in a particular tourist

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offer. It has to contend with the horizontal competition of identical or similar appeals and offers. In the application of this method it is essential to have information beforehand about the market facts and conditions like the income-wise classification of the population of different countries, the mental outlook in respect of the presence or absence of the travel lust, and, above all, information about the national habits and preferences, knowledge about the ideas which the average holidaymakers and pleasure travellers associate with the concept of “holiday travel”, the destinations which are in the forefront of tourist interest and the reasons thereof. Within the framework of this method a relatively larger importance is conceded to landscape publicity for relaxation and pleasure travel. In this connection the importance of this subject, in so far as it does not relate to a particularly beautiful landscape or one especially suited for the practice of certain sports, is too much exaggerated. Each region of the globe has a landscape to offer and every one of these landscapes has a particular charm, especially for those whom its special features make it seem strange and therefore worth the experience. To the primary motivations of holiday and pleasure travel, the pressure of the rhythm of our life has added other factors like the escape from the everyday life, freedom from ties and commitments, the urge to adventure, etc. These psychological factors are not taken sufficiently into account and are inadequately utilised in the service of tourist publicity. Publicity for cultural tourism poses lesser problems. It conforms to realities and appeals to a public with an educational background. On the other hand, however, cultural and tourist publicity are so intimately interconnected that there exists the closest coordination. The second method of tourist publicity is the “reason why” publicity or the rational approach. It extols in the first place the merits or the arguments in favour of visiting the country on behalf of which the publicity has been undertaken and acts in accordance with the principle of suggestion. The form of

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expression it assumes is the slogan. It is appreciably more strongly competitive which makes it easily liable to fall into the blunder of superlative forms which we come across constantly in tourist publicity. Publicity Media : The publicity itself is carried out through media whose scope is that there are constantly new possibilities. This is of particular relevance in respect of tourist publicity whose new forms and scientifically based planning in publicity media seem to be constructed as a result of the fact that in general their publicity effect is limited to the visual and auditive senses. Illustration, copy and the spoken word are therefore the primary publicity media for tourism. They are multiplied through the media compounded out of them. The greatest importance appertains to illustration, for it can achieve emotional effects in the reproduction of a landscape and its atmosphere and is also universally understood. Even if one is inclined to accept the psychological argument that every human being only projects his own personality in every consideration, the illustration retains from this standpoint also considerable publicity effectiveness because it is viewed and perceived differently by different persons. Given the differences of individual tastes, the illustration motivation plays a decisive role, for the illustration should be bearer of the emotional contents which it should radiate on the viewer. Consequently the best illustration is just good enough for tourist publicity. It depends on the planning and shaping of the publicity media as to whether the illustration is to be employed in the form of a drawing, a painting, or a photograph. Generally, the photograph is adjudged as possessing a greater objectivity in the statement. On the other hand, an artistic representation can be the expression of cultural activity and hence equally effective as publicity. Illustration can be developed through stylisation into a brand and thus create a concept which is derived from the homogeneousness of circumstances or satisfaction.

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With copy as a publicity factor, the urgent necessity for originality with the object of giving expression to the publicity idea also arises. The purpose of every publicity media is to arouse and sustain attention. Illustration and copy must therefore create desires. In tourist publicity the tendency towards schematisation is extremely strong and counteracts the necessity for publicity originality. The similarity of the printed publicity material of hotels, travel agencies, tourist resorts, areas and even countries furnishes proof of this. The spoken word is of decisive importance in the case of personal publicity. The proper use of the spoken word is difficult but effective. “Words are not only conveyors of thoughts and ideas, but also of emotional contents and consequently they reach not only the intellect but also the psychism of the recipient and are expressed to this end.” (Walter Hagemann, On the Myth of the Mass). Thus the spoken world helps us to approach the imaginative world of person addressed and this accounts for the importance of the information or sales talk as well as of publicity lectures, radio broadcasts, television speeches and publicity receptions. The spoken word is here supported by the appearance and presence of the speaker, as well as by his psychological capacity to adjust himself to the individual as also a group of listeners. The three primary publicity media mentioned—illustration, copy and the spoken word—form the basis of the composite publicity media which can suitably be arranged in the following groups: (i) Printed publicity material, (ii) Advertising publicity, (iii) Projected publicity, (iv) Structural forms of publicity, (v) Personal publicity. Printed Material : Printed publicity material in the field of tourist publicity is mainly composed of the publicity leaflet, folder, brochure and poster. The publicity leaflet is used among

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others as inset and enclosure in the case of conveying an information or communicating to the knowledge of the largest possible number of persons. The folder is the most commonly used and the most important medium for tourist publicity. It has numerous forms and multiple variations which leaves unsolved the question of the optimum effective folder. The question culminates in the investigation as to what the recipient expects from a folder, what he looks for in it, what he hopes to find in it and whether the folder corresponds to the imaginative conception of the country or region which it should advertise. The logical conclusion would be to the effect that account should be taken of the mental outlook of the recipient at the time of producing the folder. What actually takes place is that different versions of the folder are printed for different countries. This practice is further confirmed by the production of special folders like the cultural folder and those for motor tourists, mountain climbers, fishing and hunting enthusiasts, etc. These folders deal with the special interests of the recipient and are composed for easy comprehension of the client. Production of a general folder which has to advertise for a whole country with its variety of attractions, specialities and circumstances, however, is much more complicated. Here, there exists the danger of “too much” as well as “too little”, besides the pitfalls of a dry description, superlative forms, over estimation and misappreciation of the points of attraction. A folder is not a travel guide nor a manual of geography. But it must not also be forgotten that the present-day travellers are very often ignorant in the field of tourism and consequently require directions and help as well as information. This renders the setting and composition of the text of an effective general folder a task which has not yet been satisfactorily solved. The folder must also possess all the necessary qualities required of a good representative—proper appearance, faultless exterior, an unobtrusive and engaging presence, exact information about everything which is offered, truthfulness in

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assertions and no fanciful exaggerations. The text should never be long-winded. A concrete and concise description containing exact comprehensive information corresponds to the quick rhythm of our time. The varied nature of the folder results, however, not only from its conception as a general or special folder, but also from the regional and local publicity arrangements. In most countries, there are of course the central publicity organizations, but there are also regional bodies which deal with the tourist interests of a special province or a department. But only in very few cases do such political territorial divisions constitute self-contained tourist areas as well. Consequently, there arises the possibility of joint publicity associations for the promotion and safeguard of the tourist interests of such areas. A classic example of this kind is the joint publicity association of the European Alpine countries which demonstrates how a geographically scenic homogeneity in the form of a publicity unit can complement rationally in the sphere of publicity the various national publicity campaigns. To be adequately effective, however, the publicity medium of the folder needs not only to be well set up, but should also be produced in a sufficient quantity and have a planned distribution. The brochure is different from the folder in size as well as in content and detail. The importance of the brochure in tourist publicity has not been adequately appreciated and, on account of financial reasons, it has been insufficiently utilized. The brochure offers greater possibilities than the folder to combine with each other publicity and service, suggestion and information. The poster is another important publicity medium of tourism. The difficulties in respect of the production of the general folder occur especially in the case of the poster. The tourist poster should combine its effectiveness based on psychological factors with the task of expressing the impersonation of a country as a tourist destination working on the limited means at its disposal.

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The tourist poster further suffers from the fact that there is no well-considered distinction in the production of the poster for application as an interior or outdoor poster. In the majority of cases, there is an interior poster for the premises and show windows of travel agencies and information centres, whose use as an outdoor poster in the streets of large cities is consequently hardly discernible. Nevertheless, it should simultaneously satisfy the imperatives of a good outdoor poster and be designed as an eyecatcher. The problem of publicity is further complicated by the discussion on the pros and cons of graphic and photographic posters. The publicity journal which is utilized at present by almost every national tourist publicity organization is more representative than all other forms of printed material. As such, it is expensive and therefore limited in its circulation. For the sake of comprehensive coverage, mention may also be made of the printed publicity material which really belongs to the sphere of customer service, like maps, guide books, directories, inserts, etc. Advertising Publicity : Advertisements can be considered as the best organized publicity medium, even if they require particularly careful preparation and planning. Two principal mistakes are made in the sphere of advertisements. One, consideration is seldom paid to the fact that as a result of the quality of paper and printing errors, the newspaper advertisement can hardly reproduce illustrations in a manner that they have an emotionally suggestive effect. The original pattern must therefore be contrasted with as few half-tones as possible. Two, the one and same original pattern is used in all the selected newspapers, irrespective of the fact that these newspapers often appeal to different social classes. There exist qualitative as well as quantitative readership analyses. The advertisement has a strong effect on the subconscious and must consequently be designed to catch the

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eye. But it should also express something and try to win over the reader. It needs to be remarked that tourist publicity is also accountable for its share in the wastage of space in the world press through advertisements which are often only empty boasts and leave the informational aspect absolutely out of consideration. The periodical travel supplements of daily newspapers receive the major portion of such advertisements which frequently contain joint publicity for a region or a country. Individual publicity can be very effective in the form of a series of insertions provided a leading idea clearly establishes the link or connection. The selection of the journal should not be determined only by the circulation figures, but also by the influence of the journal within its social class, which again should be examined in relation to its inclination and potentialities for tourism. Projected Publicity : Projected publicity media comprise film and slide publicity. Of particular importance is the film which is an outstanding publicity medium, not only on account of its representational potentialities, but also because of its suggestive power. The colour film is assuming increasing significance within the framework of tourist publicity. The central idea of the film should be expressible in terms of motion and this accounts for the cardinal rule of all publicity films: short text but plenty of action which should captivate the attention of the spectators and also aim at influencing memory through emotional factors. Publicity effectiveness is a characteristic not only of the purely publicity film, but also of the feature film as well as the instructional or didactic film. In the United States of America and Western Europe the travel film with a commentary known as the “travelogue” has won extensive popularity. Television is a suitable medium to spread the interest in foreign countries and thus serves tourist publicity. In respect of the colour effect, the 8- and 16- mm films make up the greater portion of travel films. Also in their subject treatment, they are often a sequence of shots without any intrinsic connection, simply filmed scenery. Lectures with slides combine the effect

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of the spoken word and the illustration for direct emotional influence with a generally satisfactory success. Structural Publicity : Structural publicity comprise all publicity measures which manifest themselves in constructions and structures, as for example, in the establishment and equipment of a tourist publicity office abroad, in participation in fairs and exhibitions, in the preparation of showcases and window displays, etc. There is also the possibility of publicity combinations whereby tourist publicity can be undertaken in conjunction with business publicity. For example, shops selling sports goods, fashion articles, travel accessories, etc., are willing to have such combinations in their show-windows. Similarly at fairs the joint stands of a country procure publicity advantages for tourism because the exhibition as a whole shows tourism in relation to the country and succeeds in creating lasting impressions. Personal Publicity : Personal publicity in tourism has various forms of application ranging from the informational and sales talk to publicity travel, which serves the need of maintaining contact with the travel industry and to support it in its sales efforts, and includes the publicity lecture. In all these spheres the personal effort holds sway. Also to this category belong interviews, radio broadcasts, television interviews, receptions, etc. The quantity and choice of the publicity media is determined in accordance with the market and its publicity characteristics like the mental frame of the population, the estimation made of the offers and, finally, the financial resources available. There results consequently a planning based on economic, sociological, psychological and technical factors. Statistics, market analysis and qualitative market research on the one hand and analysis of the product offered as well as publicity research on the other constitute the fundamentals on which an effective publicity planning must be founded.

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4 EVOLUTION AND DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM The beginning of modern tourism can be dated from the second half of the nineteenth century, no one thought of compiling information on travel volume as in the twentieth century. Tourism was either insignificant or did not materially affect the life of the people. Countries did not have any passport system. A few years before the First World War, tourism became economically significant in Europe. Italy, France, Austria and Switzerland emerged as great tourist destinations. Before the First World War, Switzerland was known to receive half a million visitors annually though it was only an estimate. After the First World War, we are told that in 1929, foreign visitors to Austria were about 1 to 2 million, Italy 1.5 million and Switzerland 1.25 million. Statistical measurement of foreign visitors had started in a modest way. But it may be recalled that before World War I no country had formal immigration control as we have today. Strict immigration controls are a post-World War II phenomenon. It was only in the thirties that tourism began to be examined

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against the background of economic problems of European countries. A couple of books appeared at that time in England— The Tourist Movement—An Economic Study by F.W. Ogilvie and The Tourist Industry, A National and International Survey, by A.J. Norval. During the years following World War II, economies of European countries was in shambles and tourism was considered an answer to the economic problems of Europe. Economies of some European countries did revive through American tourism during the fifties and later. In the sixties, some of the European countries too were in a position to let their own people travel abroad for a holiday. England and France relaxed foreign exchange restrictions on foreign travel, and Germany soon followed. In the sixties, the United Nations focused its attention on developing countries. Again, researchers found tourism as a solution for foreign exchange requirement of the developing countries. It was at that time that need arose for primary data on tourism to measure the flow of expenditure through foreign visitors and to relate information to provide infrastructure for increasing number of visitors who were now looking beyond Europe and North America. Among the developing countries, India was one of the first to start a Department of Tourism as early as 1958 and set up a marketing section for collection of tourist statistics. The statistics were compiled from Disembarkation cards of tourists. The cards were borrowed from the immigration authorities under the Home Ministry and analysed in the Department of Tourism from the point of view of tourism research. Since then, India’s Department of Tourism has been publishing its statistical reports annually. It is true of most other countries of the world. England and the European countries started doing it much earlier while developing countries in Asia followed India’s lead in this respect.

Movement of Visitors Infact, never in the history of the world has there been a migration of people from one country to another on such a scale

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as is taking place today. The world has, indeed, become very small. The number of international tourists in 1996 exceeded 595 million. Worldwide spending for domestic and foreign travel in 1996 is estimated to be US $ 3,500 billion, considerably more than what the world is spending on arms. It represents 12.3 per cent of the world’s consumer spending. In the USA, spending on domestic and international travel in 1996 was $ 675 billion—far more than the US government spends on national defence. Travel is the third largest retail industry in the USA and the top employer in most of its states. The share of developing countries from the total international tourism receipts of US $ 423 billion in 1996, was US $ 55 billion or 15 per cent. The last 45 years have seen a rapid increase in the automobile ownership throughout the industrial world, the fast expansion of aircraft fleets, the installation of networks of hotel and motel chains, the worldwide availability of rental cars and the interconnection of all these sectors of travel industry through modern communication systems. Together, they have improved transportation facilities and tour packages. Professor John Galbraith once said, “One of the greatest pieces of economic wisdom is to know what you do not know.” A major problem facing the travel industry today is that the government leaders and economists who influence government policies and decisions do not exactly know the enormous economic impact of tourism. Tourism has expanded fast and in a revolutionary way. The old economic theories are outdated so far as travel is concerned. Tourism, or what we now popularly call the travel industry, has become a comprehensive social science that needs a serious study and attention as it affects millions of human beings all over the globe. Its management, development and future are vitally important and can be best seen in the perspective of history of travel.

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Tourism in the Past Palaeolithic evidence suggests that, given the right environment, man prefers to live in one place and not wander on the face of the earth. During a million years, changes in climate, dwindling food supplies or hostile invaders alone made the people leave their homes to seek refuge elsewhere. The Aryans left their homes in Central Asia due to climatic changes leading to dwindling food supplies. Perhaps, it was the invention of the wheel, about five thousand years ago, which made travel possible followed by the invention of money by the Sumerians (Babylonia) that led to the development of trade and the beginning of a new era. The Phoenicians were probably the first real travellers in the modern sense as they went from place to place as travellers and traders. Almost at the same time, trade and travel developed in India where the wheel and money were already known at the time of the Mohenjodaro civilisation, 3,500 years ago. Traditions of travel in India are, perhaps, the oldest in the world, the motive being primarily religion or trade. The great sages of the past retired to the Himalayas in the North or to the dense jungles of the South to meditate or set up their Ashrams (hermitages) which really were schools or universities of learning. As early as the third millennium B.C., Egypt was a popular place for people from the then known world. The Babylonian King Shulgi who ruled Ur (Egypt) 4,000 years ago is said to have boasted that he protected roads, built gardens and rest houses for respectable travellers. The Bible describes these ideas in the following words: “Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.” The ancient Greeks travelled short distances in small boats. Jason and the legendary Argonauts built a large ship to search for the Golden Fleece undaunted by dangers described in Homer’s Odyssey. Herodotus, in 5th century B.C., toured Phoenicia, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Greece and the Black Sea and recorded the history,

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customs, traditions and practices of the people living in these areas. Philosophers—Thales, Pythagoras and Plato—all travelled to Egypt. Aristotle visited Asia Minor before starting his peripatetic school for wandering students. Greeks travelled to spas; festivals/ athletic meets and to consult the Oracle at Delphi and the Asclepiads at Epidaurus. They travelled by mules and carts and stayed at wayside inns. A character in one of the works of that time asks for “the eating houses and hostels where there are the fewest bugs.” The Romans : Travel for pleasure was ready to take off during 200 years of peace when the Roman empire was at its peak. It meant that one could travel from Hadrian’s Wall to the Euphrates without crossing a hostile border. Often the way was easy, for there was an extensive system of wide, wellmarked, well paved roads—a carriage ride was frequently smoother in the second century B.C. than in the eighteenth century A.D. Inns accommodated travelling government functionaries and traders. The Romans probably were the first pleasure travellers in the world. Travel became quite sophisticated by the time Christ was born. There are reasons to believe that pleasure travel also developed at the same time in China, India and Japan. The Romans used to travel up a hundred miles a day by using relays of horses, taken from rest posts five to six miles apart. They travelled to see the temples in the Mediterranean area and the Pyramids of Egypt. They also journeyed to medicinal baths, called “spas”, and seaside resorts. The Roman empire had an excellent network of roads. Plutarch spoke of “globe trotters, who spent the best part of their lives in inns and boats.” Persons of means travelled in litter (littiga) four-wheeled wagons or chariots. Others used carts or public coaches. Some Roman cargo ships carried a few passengers. Private vessels could be marvellously luxurious. The vessel that carried the beautiful queen Cleopatra to meet Mark Antony reportedly had billowing scarlet silk sails, silver tipped oars, decks draped with royal purple cloth.

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The Indians : During the days of the Roman Empire, travel facilities in India were of a high order. Trade flowed freely between India and Rome. When Alexander, the Great reached India, he found well-maintained roads lined with green trees, wells for water, police stations and rest houses. Along one highway, twelve hundred miles long and sixty-four feet wide, the Greek historians recorded that men travelled in chariots, bullock carts, on elephants, camels, horses and oxen. Emperor Ashoka’s emissaries travelled to Sri Lanka, East Asia and West Asia to spread the message of Lord Buddha. Chinese travellers came to India and have left accounts of their well known and extensive travels within the country. There was total safety on Indian roads. These travel accounts by foreign travellers are major sources of Indian history. There were other well developed travel routes. Camel caravans took travellers along China’s silk road, the great trails from Baghdad to Aden, Samarkand to Timbuktu. Beginning with the establishment of a democratic government in Esphesus (now in Turkey) by Alexander the Great in 334 B.C., some 700,000 tourists would collect in Esphesus in a single season to be entertained by acrobats, jugglers and magicians, who filled the streets.

Middle Period The collapse of the Roman empire in the fifth century and subsequent turmoil brought about the doom of holiday travel in this part of the world. The roads were no longer well maintained and became infested with brigands. Only about the year A.D. 1000, the principal European roads became relatively safe again, largely because of the goods traffic. During that period, no one travelled for pleasure. Men travelled to fight wars or went on pilgrimage to such holy places as Canterbury or St. James of Campostela. Travel facilities were a bare minimum. A fourteenth century guidebook contains the following instructions from the mistress of an inn in England to her maid, “Jenette lyghte the

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candell and lede them their above in the solere (upper room), and bere them hoot water for to wasshe their feet, and covere them with quysshons.” In 1484, Friar Felix Fabri was advised to buy a “little cauldron, a frying pan, dishes, plates, saucers, cups of glass, a grater for bread and such necessaries,” for the Captain of the ship Stage coaches were not comfortable due to bad roads. It took two days to travel a short distance from London to Brighton. Samuel Johnson took a journey to Italy in 1776. His friend Boswell records him saying,”... a man who has not been to Italy is always conscious of inferiority from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see. The grand object of travelling is to see the shores of the Mediterranean... all our religion, almost all our law, almost all our arts and all that sets us above the savages has come to us from the shores of the Mediterranean.” This was the concept of a grand tour of the contemporary British milords. In 1785, Edward Gibbon was informed that forty thousand English, including masters and servants, were touring or living as residents in the Continent. Like the present day tourists, the eighteenth century tourists were also chided for “rushing through museums and art galleries following a wild goose chase under the conduct of some ignorant Tomb Shewer; overlooking things of great importance...” and were accused of seeing “monuments rather than men... inns rather than houses... routes rather than the country.” Again, something familiar to us today. Travellers entering England in the eighteenth century had to face tough customs officers who boarded ships and sometimes damaged cabins searching for contraband. On occasions, they searched beneath the ladies’ petticoats because one hoop skirt had concealed a man. Leisure in the eighteenth century became an attribute of the rich and the cultured. A man either belonged to a strata of

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society where he toiled all days of the week for a living, or he belonged to a class where he could order his life as he liked. A revolutionary step in travel was taken in the first decade of the nineteenth century when John Loudon McAdam and Thomas Telford invented a road surface that replaced the dirt roads then existing in Europe. With the improvement of roads, stage coaches became a popular mode of travel. Charles Dickens, the famous novelist, describes his journey to Italy in such a coach which he had bought. He took with him his wife, sister-in-law, five children, three servants and a dog. “A good old shabby devil of a coach,” he wrote, “was drawn by four horses, each with twenty-four jingling bells.” As was customary those days, he engaged a courier as guide travel agent and general factotum, who saw to the beds, proposed sightseeing trips, called for the horses and paid the bills. Dickens observed, “The landlady loves him, the chambermaid blesses him, the waiter worships him.” Naturally. How true of tour escorts even today!

Impact of Industries Railways : Taking a holiday as such was almost invented with the railway and grew rapidly with its network. When the first railway was opened in England in 1825, John Bull complained that “the whole face of the kingdom is to be tattooed with these odious deformities.” Another journal pointed out that a steady ten miles with good English horses on good English roads was fast enough for any person, “except an escaping murderer or a self-liberated felon.” When a railway line was proposed from London to Woolrich to run at a speed of eighteen miles per hour, a contributor to the Quarterly Review wrote, “We should as soon expect the people of Woolrich to be fired off upon one of Congreve’s ricochet rockets as trust themselves to the mercy of such a machine going at such a rate.” The locomotive was considered the device of the Satan which might blow up any time.

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In 1830, the first rail road in Europe, between Liverpool and Manchester, was built. Almost at the same time, a rail track was laid in France linking Paris and Versailles and in Germany between Nuremberg and Furth. A little later, in 1838, a British entrepreneur took a trainload of tourists from Wadebridge to Bodmin to witness the public hanging of two murderers. Since the gallows were visible from the train itself, most excursionists did not have to leave the open train to see the fun.

Birth of Tourism Industry Three years later, in 1841, a travelling Baptist preacher and book salesman called Thomas Cook was on his way to attend a temperance meeting in Leicester when he thought of engaging a special train to carry friends of temperance from Leicester to Loughborough and back to attend a rally. A group of 570 participants were signed up at the rate of one shilling a person for a 22-mile round trip. The trip included a band to play hymns, a picnic lunch of ham as well as the afternoon tea. This was the first publicly advertised tour in the world which gave Thomas Cook an idea that selling travel could be a good business, making him the first travel agent. Later, he helped over 1,50,000 people to visit the Great Exhibition in London by organising inclusive tours. By 1856, Cook was advertising the first “Grand Circular Tour of the Continent”, including London, Antwerp, Brussels, Waterloo, Cologne, the Rhine, Mainz, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strasburg, Paris and London. By 1869, he was offering a conducted tour of Holy Land to British travellers. He also took a tour to India. What Thomas Cook did, others followed in Europe and USA. Cook’s company grew rapidly. It expanded in various directions including escorted tours to the Continent, the USA and round the world. Even today, the company he started is one of the largest travel outfits in the world, though no longer owned by his family.

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Comfortable railways were started in America 125 years ago by George Mortimer Pullman, who built a train called ‘Pioneer’. It was the first sleeping car train where a berth cost two dollars per night. The train became a popular mode of travel in the United States for quite some time. American railways, however, were slow to respond to the challenge of the automobile and the aeroplane, and train travel thus has now virtually disappeared in US as an important means of passenger transport. The reason primarily was that railways in the USA failed to respond to the needs of the passengers. In this process, railroad became the means of transporting goods only. At present, there are not many passenger trains in the USA. Elsewhere in the world, railways continue to be a popular mode of travel in spite of severe competition from the automobile and the aeroplane. Japan has introduced its Tokaido Express’ which runs at a speed of nearly 250 km per hour—a computerised train with a regulated speed which carries passengers. France has now trains which exceed the speed of 350 kms an hour. Among other innovations of the railways are mono railselevated single tracks being developed in several countries and also “aero-trains” which run on an air cushion. It is significant that major cities in the world from Miami to Hongkong and from Hongkong to Calcutta and Bombay are investing in rapid transit automated railway network rather than urban motorways to handle immense number of commuters and tourists. In 1840, Sir Samuel Cunard ran the first regular steamship scheduled service which later came to be known as Cunard Line. For many years, it provided luxurious sea travel between England and the United States. It is still a major shipping line. Services for Shipping : Another development was taking place making ocean crossing a comfortable and easy travel experience. In the mid-1800s, Trans-Atlantic steamships were sailing between Europe and North America taking about 2 weeks.

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In 1889, in the city of Paris, a twin-propeller steel-hulled liner cut travel time between the old and the new continent to 6 days. American tourists started discovering Europe and Europeans tried to rediscover America. On the eve of World War I, all inclusive tours of Europe and America were being retailed from 400 to 1,000 depending on the length of the trip. Modern tourism had commenced. International travel by ships became extensive and also the fastest way to travel between countries until steamship services suffered from the post-war competition of airlines. Pleasure travel by sea became virtually extinct in the seventies except for coastal cruises. But, sea holidays have been revived once again by the introduction of luxurious cruise ships, some of them capable of carrying 1,000 or more passengers from one resort to another. Millions of people who have time and money are experiencing this travel mostly from the developed world. Sometimes, sea travel is combined with air travel to save time—you go by ship to a destination and return by air or vice versa. Airlines caught up with the steamships in the mid-fifties. By 1955, more Americans were crossing the Atlantic by air than sea. In another 5 years, 80 per cent of the people were travelling by air rendering several steamship companies bankrupt. The Automobile : While railways and steamship companies satisfied the desire of the nineteenth century traveller, another new contraption called ‘motor car’ or ‘automobile’ appeared on the scene to change the travel landscape of the twentieth century. Pioneers like Duryea and Studebaker Brothers, Carl Benz, Louis Ranault and Bugatti built motor cars with a speed of up to twenty miles an hour. However, technical developments made the cars run faster and by the early twentieth century, it was possible to travel by car from New York to San Francisco— a distance of 3,000 miles. Dr. Nelson Nackson, an American doctor, was the first non-professional driver to drive across the United States in 1903 from San Francisco to New York. It took

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him sixty-three days to cover the distance and he had only one flat tyre during the journey. However, he had to wait for nineteen days for supplies and spare parts during the total travel period. Today, there are more than 5,000 rent-a-car offices in the world in over 110 countries renting cars to travellers. Cars are polluting our Planet Earth. As in the case of railways, the sceptics warned automobile users. Physicians warned early motorists of the “many dangers of the open road, poisonous fumes, currents of cold air, and in summer-time choking dust and swarms of winged insects”. Companies sold weird garments to protect motorists from dust and wind. Today, it is estimated that eighty per cent of the holiday travel in the United States is by automobile. In Europe, the percentage may be a little less. The worldwide ownership of cars was 425 million in 1990—up from 190 million in 1970 according to the Motor Vehicles Manufacturers Association of US. Europe had the maximum number of cars (172 million) followed by America which had 165 million. Asia had only 50 million cars and India 2.5 million passengers cars in 1995. In the United States, about 25 million people have Recreational Vehicles (RVs) or trailers hooked to their cars when they go for a holiday. Some of the trailers have now become peripatetic homes where people live and move to another scene when they like to have a change. Some people carry collapsible camping equipment units that transform a car into an overnight shelter. The development of the automobile industry has led to the demand for multi-lane highways all over the world, especially in the developed countries. Along the major highways, the old wayside inns have given place to motels or modern inns— hostelries specially built to cater to the needs of the road travellers. Some of these motels provide luxury accommodation with parking areas, swimming pools and sports facilities. According to an official estimate, there are over 165 million

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passenger cars in North America alone and the number is increasing. Road tourism during the last fifty years has increased tremendously in all developed countries. Developing countries like India are also experiencing the shape of things to come in the sphere of road travel, such as choked highways, and more accidents. In 1990, 50,000 Indians died in road accidents compared to 10,000 only a decade ago. Deaths were due mainly to crowded roads and ill trained drivers. The prospects of car travel sound exciting. It has been projected that in the near future, a system of tiny electronic chips tied to sonar and radar will warn drivers of an oncoming vehicle in the wrong lane, or of a slick road ahead. If there is need to apply the brakes carefully rather than slamming them on, computers can be programmed to take the braking operation away from the heavy foot of the driver and activate more cautionary measures. Moreover, electronic chips will compute the most efficient speeds to conserve fuel. This is already being tried with some of the most modern cars. According to Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California, the family car will not be called upon to serve as the dry horse of all labour. Rather, there may be a wider variety of vehicles—motorbikes and electronic cars for short distance driving and large cars for longer trips—many of them more likely to be leased than owned. It is also projected that the cars in future may be made of heavy duty plastic—a vehicle that may not be smaller but will be lighter and therefore, requiring less petrol. Lighter cars are also adaptable to battery power. Air Travel : Air travel has changed the complexion of travel and tourism completely, especially in the field of international tourism. Air travel has brought about the democratisation of travel enabling millions of people to take a holiday, or move on business. This mass movement of people all over the world made Art Buchwald, an American humour columnist: write the following column.

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Modern Appeal According to the London Times the Greek Orthodox Church issued a new prayer asking the Lord to protect the Greek people from tourists. The prayer, which is to be said by monks and nuns every morning and every evening, goes like this: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on the cities, the islands, the villages of our Orthodox fatherland, as well as the holy monasteries, which are scourged by the worldly touristic wave. “Grace us with a solution to this dramatic problem and protect our brethren who are sorely tried by the modernistic spirit of these contemporary Western invaders.” If the monks and nuns are beseeching the Lord with antitourist prayers, it is fair that the tourists are given equal chance. They may recite the following prayer in the morning and at night: “Heavenly Father, look down on us, your humble obedient tourist servants, who are doomed to travel this earth, taking photographs, mailing postcards, buying souvenirs, and walking about in drip-dry underwear. “We beseech you, O Lord, to see that our plane is not hijacked, our luggage is not lost, and our overweight baggage goes unnoticed. “Protect us from surly and unscrupulous taxi drivers, avaricious porters, and unlicensed English-speaking guides. “Give us this day divine guidance in the selection of our hotels, that we may find our reservations honoured, our rooms made up, and water running from the faucets. “We pray that the telephones work and that the

Evolution and Development of Tourism operators speak our tongue and that there is no mail waiting from our children which would force us to cancel the rest of our trip. “Lead us, dear Lord, to good, inexpensive restaurants where the food is superb, the waiters friendly, and the wine included in the price of the meal. “Give us the wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand. Forgive us for undertipping out of ignorance and overtipping out of fear. Make the natives love us for what we are and not for what we can contribute to their worldly goods. “Grant us the strength to visit the museums, the cathedrals, the palaces, and the castles listed as ‘musts’ in the guidebooks. “And if perchance we skip a historic monument to take a nap after lunch, have mercy on us, for our flesh is week.” (This part of the prayer is for husbands.) “Dear God, keep our wives from shopping sprees and protect them from ‘bargains’ they do not need or cannot afford. Lead them not into temptation, for they know not what they do.” (This part of the prayer is for wives). “Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at foreign women and comparing them with us. “Save them from making fools of themselves in cafes and night clubs. Above all, please do not forgive them their trespasses, for they know exactly what they do. And when our voyage is over, and we return to our loved ones, grant us the favour of finding someone who will look at our home movies and listen to our stories, so our lives as tourists will not have been in vain.

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Travel and Tourism “This we ask you in the Name of Conrad Hilton, Thomas Cook, and the American Express. Amen.”

Travelling in Vogue Travel Trade, the oldest travel industry magazine in the United States, was first published in 1929 and is still going strong. In its sixtieth anniversary issue, it carried a chart prepared by Dr. Herman Kahn of the Hudson Institute which shows how travel has been shaping since the twenties. Later, it was updated by Daris and Phil Davidoff. We reproduce it: Courtesy, Travel Trade Anniversary Issue, 1989. To summarise, the tourism is not a new phenomenon. Man has been travelling to satisfy his curiosity long before Christ was born. But, pleasure travel was available only during periods when there was peace and political stability in the world. Travel became easier after the sixteenth century when stage coaches were built. The most revolutionary step in travel was the replacement of dirt roads with hard surface roads in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Soon Europe had its first railways which expanded into a network. Thomas Cook saw an opportunity in the new railway system and introduced package tours, traveller’s cheques, hotel vouchers and other facilities making travel easy. He became the first travel agent. Steamships that followed, made international travel comfortable, bringing Americans to Europe and taking Europeans to North America in less than a week. The introduction of automobile in the beginning of the twentieth century brought travel within the reach of many people in industrialised countries. Airlines followed and the technological changes in the transportation industry made it possible to carry hundreds of people over the oceans in a few hours at a cost which was well within the reach of the middle classes in Europe and North America. Travel was, therefore, democratised which led to mass tourism in some parts of the world.

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5 STEADY DEVELOPMENT OF TOURISM In any sphere of economic development, careful planning and implementation is required. This is essential in order to achieve the overall objectives of the development. Planning is a general term which signifies a proposed method of action or procedure to achieve a pre-determined goal or an objective. There are certain basic factors which are to be taken into consideration in the overall planning process in order to achieve goals. First of all, there must be an objective which must be clearly understood and accepted by all those who are to be involved in the planning process. Secondly, there must be a well-defined programme leading to the objective. Thirdly, there must be properly devised mechanisms to measure the progress vis-a-vis objectives set. The key factors, therefore, for a successful planning are the objectives, programme and the measurement of the objective. The preparation of a plan pre-supposes two very important planning principles. Firstly, the plan must be comprehensive in nature. In other words, all major internal and external factors

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influencing the pattern and magnitude of development must be considered, understood and fully analysed in establishing policy and direction for growth. Secondly, in preparation of any plan, it is essential to follow a planned process which implies an orderly sequence of tasks or actions. The need for planning arises whenever some rational thinking is required to arrive at a choice among a set of limited means so that certain ends are satisfied, especially when the means are substitutable among themselves. In other words, planning essentially attempts to allocate scarce resources between different competing uses with a view to maximising output, income and employment and, to ensure the balanced growth of different sectors. Such planning may be at an individual level or at a firm level or an industry level, or for the economy as a whole. There are broadly two economic systems prevailing in the economy: Planned economy and Market economy. Planned economy is one in which each production unit (or a firm) uses only the resources of men, material and equipment allocated to it by quota and disposes of its products to persons or firms indicated to it by simple order. On the other hand a market economy is controlled by the forces of the market, like demand, supply, prices, transport, etc. Planning can be applied to any type of economic system, whether centrally structured or built up of many units of purely market economy character. The different institutional frameworks will lead to compulsory planning under the first system and to indicative planning under the second.

Framework of Planning In the field of tourism, the need for planned development is of paramount importance. Many countries in the world, especially the developing countries, have lately realised the importance of tourism and the benefits which it brings out. The use of macro-economic planning techniques for tourism sector are however relatively new. The planning methods for national

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economic development which have been largely utilised since early fifties do not always cover tourism development as a particular field. The increasing significance of tourism as a source of income, employment generation, regional development and as a major factor in the balance of payments for many countries has been attracting increasing attention on the part of many governments as well as others with an interest in economic development. Thus, tourism development became more and more a particular field of research in the economic planning undertaken by many countries. Tourism planning is the process leading to tourism development as it is through the planning process that the set developmental goals are achieved. Tourism planning is also a tool for addressing the various choices associated with tourism development. It fosters the achievements of tourism objectives and goals and also the assessment of tourism benefits and costs. Tourism development on the other hand is a broader term which incorporates the planning, tourist infrastructure, management of tourist attractions and facilities and accommodation and transport services. Tourism planning is a continuous and long term process of preparing a destination for receiving tourists and also continuously upgrading and improving a destinations attractiveness for the tourists. Community involvement in the entire process of tourism planning and development is crucial. In fact communities are the basic element of tourism. In recent times, communities have become conscious of their participation in the developmental process and have realized the need to be more proactive and responsive in their approach to tourism. Tourism depends heavily upon the goodwill and acceptance of the local host communities. It is therefore necessary that planning must consider the desires and preferences of the local community whose participation is vital in tourism planning. UN Conference : The United Nations conference on International Travel and Tourism held in Rome in 1963

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emphasised the need for planning in tourism and made several recommendations. Some of these were as follows: (i) that the governments of developing countries should give high priority to projects concerning the development of tourism in their respective countries; (ii) that the governments of developing countries should consider the possibility of seeking the assistance of the United Nations Special Fund for Regional and Subregional Surveys of existing and potential tourist traffic estimates and forecasts, with a view to the establishment of short-term and long-term plans for the development of tourist facilities and plant. The conference endorsed the relevant comments of the Groups of Experts who had pointed out that tourism was expanding swiftly as world economy improved and more and more travellers sought new places to visit. It further stated, that, to the extent permitted by its economic resources, a country should see a steady growth in the number of new tourist resorts developed. Existing possibilities of attracting tourists for mountaineering, winter sports, fishing, hunting, beaches, spas, national parks, game sanctuaries, national monument sites and shrines, folk traditions and customs, pilgrimages, festivals and sporting events should likewise be developed and protected. Emphasis was laid on the importance of ensuring protection, not only for monuments, archaeological remains and buildings of historical, cultural or architectural importance, but also for the customs, traditions, art and folklore of indigenous people. The conference also agreed that a developing country which proposed to set up a national tourist organisation should consider obtaining a preliminary survey in order to assess clearly what positive tourist attractions the country already had, what potential tourist attractions existed, and how they could most effectively be developed within the limits of the funds available. The conference recommendations had far-reaching

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implications as far as planned development of tourism was concerned. All member states and the specialised agencies of the United Nations were called upon to consider and implement as appropriate the recommendations contained in the report of the conference. These were of particular interest to those countries which were just beginning to develop tourism. Until quite recently tourism was principally a feature of, and was largely confined to the developed countries. Many of the developing countries saw the possibilities in tourism development. Encouraged by the conference recommendations, many developing countries introduced tourism development programmes. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in the year 1965 also emphasised the promise which tourism held out for the developing countries. For some countries, tourism offers a major opportunity since it provides employment for many, stimulates investment and is an important source of foreign exchange. The third International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO) Travel Research Seminar held in Prague, Czechoslovakia, in 1964, examined in great detail the many problems involved in the development of the tourist industry and concluded that planning, whether at national, regional or local level, was indispensable and that all tourist planning should be based on two types of preliminary surveys: (i) detailed survey of the characteristics of the area being considered for development and, in particular, of its tourist resources; (ii) studies of future customers based on surveys and forecasts. Careful planning is a prerequisite for complete success of any programme. The haphazard development in many countries had made the planners aware of the need for planning of tourism development based on scientific research, Any country, whether it already has an active flourishing tourist industry or is thinking of developing a tourist industry, has to decide on many crucial issues before launching tourism development. The official government agencies, especially in the developing

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countries, have to be extra-cautious as they cannot afford to waste scarce resources on development plans which do not bring benefits. The governments in these countries have to decide on the following issues: (i) Rate of growth of the tourism sector, whether it wishes to encourage mass tourism or develop it more slowly, gradually and selectively; (ii) The importance of the tourism sector to the national economy and how its development and growth are to fit in with the plans for national, regional and local development; (iii) The respective roles which it assigns to public and private sectors in the development of the industry; (iv) The respective roles to be played by domestic and foreign capital. Whether the foreign investments are to be encouraged in case the country’s financial resources are limited; (v) Decision as to whether the tourist industry should be treated in the same way as other industries or whether the peculiar character of the industry warrants it being given special treatment; (vi) Decision as to whether tourist industry is to be developed on a continuous long-term basis or only as a short-term arrangement to overcome the trade deficit. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in a seminar held at Estoril, focussed its attention on all the above issues. According to the report “much of the discussion turned on the fact that tourism is by its nature somewhat different from other sectors of the economy, since it is an industry based on movement of people rather than goods. For this reason it is particularly susceptible to subjective considerations quite apart from the play of the economic forces. Political and social pressures, psychological attitudes, changes of fashion, may all influence the course of tourism development

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markedly and unpredictably. It is essential therefore that tourism industry should be as flexible as possible to be able to adapt to changing conditions and requirements. The discussions at the OECD seminar also drew attention to the fact that tourism involves several considerations which are essentially of a noneconomic nature. The report of the seminar stated: “Tourism often has significant cultural implications (for example, the restoration of ancient monuments); and political (the improvement of international understanding).” The fact that tourism is by its nature somewhat different from other sectors of the economy makes it more necessary that there should be careful planning. This is much more important for the developing countries which cannot afford to waste scarce resources. The various issues involved in the planning and development of tourism especially in the developing countries show how necessary it is for these countries to adopt a monetary policy, a policy of agriculture, of public works, of health, of transport, etc. as different elements of its national economic plan, and it should on the same grounds, adopt a specific policy of tourism development. Coordinated Planning : The peculiar characteristics of tourism make it particularly beneficial in terms of general economic development. From this follows the necessity of adopting a policy, which will take into account all the country’s economic sectors which have a direct or indirect interest in its expansion. On the other hand, tourism, as an integral part or specific sector of the general plan of economic development, can only prosper within the context of the country’s overall progress even though it calls for its own particular policy. Tourism like other economic activities flourishes best when it fits into a context of general economic policies and programmes designed to lead to the optimum growth of the economy of a country as a whole. This calls for coordination. Coordination between tourism planning and the general plan must, therefore,

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be based on coordination of effort in all the sectors concerned. Tourism policy must therefore be a global policy of development, taking into account the important implications, affecting the progress of this activity. In addition, the overall tourism development plan must take into account the social and cultural components of the phenomenon, as these also acquire prominence in the development process. The planning of tourism, whether at the national or the regional level, must be regarded as an integral, and, therefore, coordinated part of the country’s general economic and social planning. This coordinated approach has a direct bearing on the success of the tourism industry, more so in a developing country. It is also to be remembered that tourism is not one business but involves many industries and a whole range of complex processes. A plan for tourism can only survive and serve its stated purposes, if there is coordination among all the processes. A first requisite is the need to ensure that the government organs specifically responsible for the tourist sector play their important role, which is that of cooperating with all those governmental departments responsible for other branches concerned with the expansion of tourism. The principal aim of the tourist plan is to arrive at a balanced growth of demand and supply. In other words to arrive at an optimum harmonisation of the inter-relations between the two poles of market, while avoiding the creation of serious economic, territorial or social imbalances. Hence, the basis of planning in a sector must be viewed globally and mutually arranged with the country’s economic and social development and with the overall policy of planning, for the territory in which the location of tourist centres assume primary importance.

Growth Process A process for tourism planning or the subjects of analysis of a plan of tourism development must be correlated with all the elements noted above, in order that they can achieve an

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optimum level of expansion without creating serious imbalances of various kinds. If a country, region or an area possesses attractions and provides some hospitality for prospective tourists, tourism will probably develop. If this tourism development is to benefit the host area, formal forward-looking planning is essential. If tourism planning is to happen in a specific area, someone or some entity must stimulate and enunciate the original idea. This basic inspiration must be shared by some entity which holds controlling interests and responsibility for the resources to be utilised by the tourism industry. This principle holds true for planning a programme of any scope or dimension. For instance, there may be an existing resort, hotel or industry in a region. The stimulus may be the realisation that there is potential for growth if only existing facilities can be expanded or new ones generated. At the other extreme, an area may have potential but underdeveloped resources. No matter what the situation, for effective tourism planning, there must be active involvement and participation by persons or entities controlling the essential resources. There are several processes or analysis of a plan for tourism development. It is very important that these processes are properly adhered to. The description of these planning processes as given here can only be briefly indicative and limited to mere suggestions of the topics or steps without entering into detailed analysis. Any plan must take into account these processes if it is to attain objectives in a given period of time. The main steps or phases in the planning process are as follows: (a) assessment of tourist demand and supply; (b) establishing objectives; (c) territorial planning; (d) basic infrastructure; (e) financial planning; (f) human resource planning; (g) administrative structure;

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(h) marketing and promotion; (i) monitoring progress; and (j) time factor.

Demand and Supply Factor One of the early steps in planning is gathering information on the things the way they are and on the potential available for desirable growth. One of the main problems in investigating the potential of tourism can be the simple lack of information. Recording of information and the development of statistics is, therefore, of utmost importance. The important initial steps in evaluating a potential for tourism development lies in determining present status. An analysis of the present structure of demand and supply in tourism is a precondition of any other estimate. This information base is a prerequisite for initiating tourism planning programme. In the first place there must be a survey of the tourist attractions of various types which the country has to offer. Without a full study of the attractions a country possesses, it is not possible to plan for future expansion. It is, therefore, of fundamental importance that a very careful assessment be made of all attractions—physical, cultural, historical - that a country possesses. Peters lays down a number of principles on which assessment should be based. First, it is highly desirable that the attractions should be developed progressively throughout the entire country so that tourism is spread as widely as possible. In this way the benefits which accrue from the industry are also widely spread and most arts of the country benefit. Secondly, areas and attractions which are singled out for special development should appeal to the widest possible cross section of tourists over the longest possible season. By adhering to this principle, overdependence upon a particular season of the year will be avoided. Thirdly, priority should be given to those attractions which can be most easily and most successfully developed viz.

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those which can be based upon the existing infrastructural services and would require less finance. Fourthly, since it is very difficult, rather impossible, to develop all the potential attractions at the same time, it is important that similar or competing attractions should not be embarked upon until the volume of visitors can justify them. Finally, it is important to know that the tourist is usually looking for something new, he desires new experiences, different environments, new thrills, etc. Any country possessing attractions which are unique or out of the ordinary should attempt to capitalise on these for they are likely to have a great drawing power. Demand must then be estimated, for both national and foreign tourists. Both internal and external data on tourism activities affecting the area under consideration should be assembled. This task should use to publish statistics on travel and tourism which are readily available from international and regional organisations. In addition travel and accommodation statistics can be assembled from the region under study. Next the tourist supply must include all the different types of facilities additional to various types of accommodation establishments. Special attention must be given to the seasonal factor, i.e., the annual fluctuations in the demand as related to the country’s tourist attractions.

Goal Achievement The initial data or the information thus gathered should develop a composite picture of what tourism can do for and to a particular area. In order to relate these projected results to a decision on whether to proceed with tourism development, there must be a basis for comparison. This basis is the cumulative set of objectives which should be developed concurrently. Basically, objectives for tourism should be a sub-set of the overall objectives (either implicit or documented) for the nation, its economy, people and the social structure within an area. There are, however, no hard or set rules as to what the objectives

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should be. In general, however, tourism objectives should deal with growth leading to increased standard of living, employment levels, opportunities for intellectual growth, enhancement of the investment potential in an area or country. Cumulatively, tourism objective should describe the set of conditions under which a favourable decision should be made. If the data indicate that reasonable objectives for tourism development can be met, this will generally lead to a decision to proceed with a conceptual planning study. As a first step towards preparation of conceptual plan for tourism development, a market study begins with a determination of the type of tourism business which exists and can be expected. Market study provides the basis for conceptual planning. The conceptual plan provides a general view of the future tourism development programme and the steps necessary to achieve targeted results. The various steps involved in conceptual planning, once the market survey has been performed, include: (i) Statement of objectives; (ii) Selection of site; (iii) Requirements of various facilities; (iv) Supplementary attractions; (v) Land use allocation and control; (vi) Budgets, and (vii) Legislative requirements. Preparation of master plan is another important step in planning. Master Planning is a process for completing and detailing additional work on the portions of the conceptual plan which are approved for further development. The differences between conceptual and master planning lie largely in the level of details involved. Where conceptual planning, for example, might indicate the need to expand airport runways and terminal facilities, master planning would go into specifics on land and construction.

Planning Regionally The need will arise for locating each pole of tourism development so as to fit in with the general policy of territorial planning. Particular attention must be given here to natural and

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cultural assets of the country, while avoiding the damage which results from an unbalanced exploitation of their economic value. The need for tourist territorial planning must be reconciled with the limits in place of industrialisation and urbanisation which, even though complementary to tourism, can constitute a serious danger to it. It will also be necessary to plan further tourism development in the selected zones in order to avoid excessive concentration in one area.

Basic Infrastructure If a tourism development programme is to succeed, it is necessary to provide life support through a number of infrastructural facilities and services. Infrastructure elements comprise the system of services and utilities which are necessary to the operation of a tourism destination. The estimation of the basic infrastructure required for tourist expansion accordingly becomes a key economic factor in proceeding to the active phase of implementation. This infrastructure will be either specifically touristic in nature, e.g., transport, or more general, such as energy producing units, and will in any case relate with the type of tourism envisaged. The requirements for infrastructure will vary for different areas. The requirements, for example, will be different for a mountain resort and for a tourist pole adjacent to some cultural attraction. The requirements will be for both tourists and local residents. As various agencies are responsible for the development of infrastructural services, coordination is very essential. Without coordination, different elements of infrastructure may infringe upon others resulting in wasteful expenditure. Specific areas of infrastructure are power, water, communication, sewage and drainage, roads and highways, parks, recreation and health care facilities.

Monetary Factors Financial planning is very essential for a successful tourism development plan. Before any major attraction facility of a

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destination gets into full swing, considerable expenses are involved. There follows the study of a vital element in tourist development, that is, the financing of both infrastructure and superstructure. Assessing the cost of the project is relatively easy when compared to assessing benefits. There may be a choice of locations or a choice of techniques. Estimates must be made for each choice within a feasible range. Each proposal must be assessed separately to establish its feasibility, cost benefit and degree of priority in making a plan. Agencies concerned with the development of an optional national investment programme should compare investments in tourism facilities and related infrastructure with alternative investment opportunities in other sectors. In World Bank Group Operations, this comparison is attempted on the basis of economic rates of return for well defined investment proposals. In evaluating tourism investments, the World Bank Group pays very close attention to the projected financial results. In general, tourism projects financed by the World Bank Group are justified in terms of both their economic impact and their financial viability. In the case of the countries which already possess an active tourist industry or have a potential for increased tourism development, finances for investment will usually be available readily. However, in the case of developing countries, which are anxious to develop tourism, due to financial constraints, the provision of adequate resources of capital may be difficult. The development of tourism sector will be only one of the number of options for development before a government, since government resources will inevitably be inadequate for all the competing claims upon them. In view of this the proposed investment in tourism must be justified in terms of its anticipated contribution, to the economic development of the country. Except in centrally planned economies, such as in countries like CIS, Poland, Yugoslavia, public investment will be supported by private investment as happens in mixed economies like France, Italy and India. The government may take the initiative

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in project development, but it will expect private investment support. If the government is anxious to develop and promote an active tourist industry it will help the private investor to the maximum extent. This can be done first, by creating a favourable climate for investment and, second, by assisting private investor to consider tourism development as an attractive investment proposition. This could be done by way of offering special financial incentives such as subsidies, tax concessions, preferential rates of interests, credits, special facilities for purchase of land, etc. All these investment incentives in some form or the other encourage private investment in tourism sector. In addition to public and private finance, foreign capital also plays an important role in tourism development programmes. Attention will have to be given to financial means and facilities designed to attract foreign capital. A basic obligation at this stage will be the calculation of the output capital ratio, which will depend for the most part on the external economies which can be achieved. Foreign investment is usually welcomed by many developing countries, largely because of their own acute shortage of capital resources.

Human Resources Development Efficient and professional management is an obvious prerequisite of successful tourism development. Of equal importance, however, is the quality of staff training, which is often relatively neglected during the early stages of tourism sector development. Tourism basically being a service business, a developing destination must take the necessary steps to build a pool of efficiently trained manpower to fill various jobs which will be created subsequently. A variety of jobs will have to be created to look after and manage various tourist services. Special attention, therefore, will have to be given to needs in manpower and personnel to be trained and rendered qualified for the various tourism professions. Special care has to be taken to ensure that there will be no shortage of trained manpower in

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case there is expansion of facilities and services. In the case of a developing country, it will also be appropriate to study at this stage the volume of manpower required for activities complementary to accommodation industry, in particular in the commercial sector. In planning for human resources development, programmes should be established to screen and train prospective employees so that they could acquire both attitudinal as well as technical skills. Attitudinal characteristics contribute to an employee’s success in tourism position and include pride, flexibility, adaptability and judgement. Technical skills required include facility and equipment operation and maintenance, financial management, food and beverage production and service, personnel management and administration and system analysis and design. In order to determine the need for various personnel required, a staff planning exercise may be done. This involves a series of steps which include job analysis, preparing job descriptions, job specifications and preparing staff forecasts. This sequence of activities leads to a detailed forecast of exactly what types of persons, with which specific qualifications and skills will be required at all major facilities within the tourist destination. All this helps in determining the development of requisite education and training programmes within the country for local residents. This will also help in determining whether there is a need for trained personnel from other countries and also whether local people are to be sent for training elsewhere.

Managerial Factors Next comes the necessity of setting up an adequate administrative organisation to look after various aspects. If a tourism programme is to succeed, the responsibility of success must be assumed by some entity in the form of an organisation. This organisation should have a charter and resources appropriate to carry out various functions. Many countries have established special departments or agencies to manage and

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coordinate tourism programmes. Depending upon the economic, social and political structure in the country, the tourism organisation may be a governmental department, a semigovernment agency in the form of corporation supported by government but operating outside its organisational structure. It may also be a private sector organisation with government support and recognition. Whatever form the tourism organisation takes, it needs to exercise its authority and responsibility in the sphere of tourism development. The administrative organisation looks after both the legal aspects, i.e., the preparation of the legislation required for the installation of the various tourism services, dealing with such matters as the classification of hotels or the control of travel agencies, etc. It has various departments for planning, marketing, research, training, legal and administrative service.

Promotion of Business The final stage of the plan is concerned with the preparation of promotional activities aimed at launching the new tourist industry both within and outside the country. The main concern of tourists is having an enjoyable and pleasant experience rather than details associated with planning their journeys. Most of the tourists leave these details to travel professionals and intermediaries who look after all the details of the travel plans. Contacts with and support of travel professionals and intermediaries are among the most important factors for successful marketing and promotion of tourist destination. Facilities and specialities of travel professionals include national tourist offices, regional travel promotion organisation, airlines including other carriers, tour wholesalers, tour operators, travel agents, travel clubs and convention and conference organisers. The various channels of communication used to inform and stimulate include tourist literature in the form of catalogues, brochures and folders, direct mail, advertising, public relations and publicity. All these media are selected and organised into

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promotional campaigns aimed at selling to consumers and travel professionals and intermediaries. The media campaigns are timed in such a way that these correspond with the selling effort supporting a destination. It is very important to ensure that these activities match the level of tourist development to be achieved. Monitoring Progress : Monitoring the progress periodically is very crucial to get the best results. Preparation of a plan document is not an end in itself. The task of the planner does not end when a plan for three years, five years or seven years has been prepared. A system of constant revision and monitoring of the plan progress should be a part of the exercise of the planning. Targets must be revised continually in the light of changing resources and other circumstances. To use a more elegant vocabulary, a plan is static and planning must be dynamic. Plans are interesting mathematical or literary or technical exercises that can be formulated with a great variety of methods and degrees of perfection. Planning on the other hand is a diffuse but coherent process of making and revising decisions that must be closely attuned to the implementation of planned action. What is needed is a system of monitoring progress and mechanisms for constantly and rapidly adjusting to the changing conditions and circumstances. Time Factor : Time factor is a very important element. The main purpose of developmental planning is to move towards self-sustaining growth; that is, to create a cadre of trained manpower, to increase knowledge of natural resources and their effective utilisation and to create institutions for enterprising investment. All this takes time. The plan could be for 25 years, 10 years, 7 years or 5 years duration. Many planners are of the view that the first development plan should be a 10-year plan, as it requires an assessment of long term perspective. Time is a fundamental factor in the preparation of the plan and in the identification of the objectives to be attained upon its termination. The medium-term plan ranges between three and seven years

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with five years as the most popular choice. The long-term ranges upwards from 10 years to 25 years. The short-term plan on the other hand is an annual plan which is the controlling plan, as it is the authorised document to check its possible achievements being matched by available resources year by year. It is governed by the medium-or longterm plan, which sets its direction. The annual plan is the operative document, while long-term or medium-term plans are merely a set of intentions. Thus the need for orienting the shortterm plan budgets with the long-term or medium-term plan budgets is the core of planning process. Time factor is the main element in the planning including planning tourism in any nation. It is vital to the prospect of achieving the economic and social expansion which is linked with tourism. Tourism is receiving ever-increasing attention from national governments and from international developmental agencies. It can generate the much needed foreign exchange for financing other sectors of the economy of a developing country and also for bridging the trade gap. In its broadest sense, tourism can do more to develop understanding among people, generate employment and raise the living standards than any other economic force known. There is unlimited potential for tourism development. If properly conceived and executed such development will prove not only to be financially viable but will also prove to be of immense benefit to a country. Inadequate planning and development on the other hand, can increase probabilities of failure resulting in great loss. It is perhaps much easier to have planned development in countries where there is a potential which is only just beginning to be realised. However even in these countries with a long established and a highly developed tourist industry some measure of planning is essential. Planning is essential for three main reasons: first, most countries, to a lesser or greater degree have planned economies and if tourism development is to be

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part and parcel of national economic development, then this sector of economy also should be subjected to planning. Secondly, the success of tourism development depends very largely upon appropriate facilities being available in the right place and at the right time and these can only be provided by adequate research into national tourist assets and markets. Research-has a very important part to play in the future planning of tourism development. Thirdly, planning is required to ensure that the natural and man-made assets are conserved and protected to maintain tourist appeal, for lack of care and coordinated development may impair and even ruin those assets upon which the tourist industry is founded.

Ecological Extent A high quality of environment is basic for tourism development. When hundreds of thousands of tourists visit a destination, their impact is bound to be felt on the host areas. The environment has to be examined in terms of its physical characteristics - vegetation, climate, soil, fauna and flora and the dynamics of the relationships between these. The key elements of environmental change connected with tourism development mainly focus on issues of land and landscape both in man-made or built and natural environment. These physical impacts tend to be most visually apparent because tourism development, like any other development activity, will certainly have impact on physical location to a certain extent wherever that location exists. Mass movement of tourists may be responsible for both protecting as well as destroying the environment of a destination area. A destination’s environment in all its forms is a major motivating factor for the initial visitor interest in an host area. If there is any deterioration in the environment of a host area or if the quality of the environment is threatened by visitors or by tourist development itself, the very reason for tourism development may be defeated.

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There has been a growing concern over the years regarding environmental protection and conservation. A growing concern for the protection of the environment and the individual’s quality of life is being felt. It is within this context that the relationship between tourism and the environment has been receiving a growing level of attention from both the public and private sector organisations in various countries in the world. Various international bodies have cooperated in the preparation of a host of studies, plans, programmes and activities on tourism and environment. At every leading platform where tourism is discussed, environmental protection receives attention. The concern for environmental protection in the field of tourism can, however, be traced back to much earlier. The International Union of Official Travel Organisations (IUOTO), the predecessor of World Tourism Organisation (WTO), was one of the first organisations to come to the defence of environmental protection as early as 1950 having, as one of its main objectives, the study and development of natural tourist resources. In the year 1954, the study of environmental questions became institutionalised in the activities of IUOTO and the protection of tourist heritage was included on the agenda of each IUOTO Assembly. The tourism boom which characterised the 1960s as a result of the introduction of jet travel was also responsible for the advancements in the development of statistical measurements and evaluation of tourism. More and more governments realising the importance of tourism to their country’s economies started collecting and compiling the basic tourist statistics to determine the benefits and also to plan for future developments. Some evaluation studies of qualitative aspects of tourist movements were also undertaken. Various surveys conducted showed that natural tourist resources were the primary factor that attracted tourists even in countries rich in cultural heritage.

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There were large movements from urban areas to beaches, mountains and other natural resources for rest and recreation. This impact of mass movement of tourists to various tourist resorts was, however, not healthy. The great increase in number of visitors to these areas resulted in rapid, unplanned construction of hotels and other dwellings for use of tourists and for migratory service employees. This unplanned growth threatened to destroy the very environment that was the tourist attraction in the first place. There appeared an environmental threat both aesthetic and ecological from overcrowding of particularly attractive areas. The need for what began to be described as an ‘integrated approach’ to the tourism development was felt by both governments, international agencies and the public in general. Increased interest began to be generated in what was termed as the ‘ecological impact’ of tourism. Awareness and also the recognition of ‘ecological threat’ led IUOTO to recommend to world governments that they implement a resolution adopted in 1960 by its Fifteenth General Assembly in the following terms: “The General Assembly, considering that nature in its most noble and unchanging aspects constitutes and will continue increasingly in the future to constitute one of the essential elements of the national or world tourist heritage: “Believes that the time has come for it to deal with the problems raised by the dangers threatening certain aspects of nature.... “Decides consequently to recommend to all IUOTO member countries to exercise increased vigilance regarding the attacks made on their natural tourist resources.” Environmental Policy : Implementation of the above resolution required the adoption of a tourist environmental policy. A policy was set forth by IUOTO in a research paper entitled “Study on Human Environment” which was submitted to the Twenty-Second General Assembly held at Ankara, Turkey, in the

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year 1971. The Tourist Environmental policy had the following highlights: (a) Recognition that protection of the environment, which is at the very basis of the development of tourism, has often been neglected in physical planning policies. This entailed promoting an awareness that the real interests of tourism did not lie in the immediate profitability of plan but in a rational utilisation of tourist natural resources which, far from damaging them, would contribute to their development. Accordingly, it was seen as essential to base development policies on long term prospects and on the basic needs of tourists; (b) Recognition that as tourism was largely international in nature offering the natural resources to individuals of another country for their cultural enrichment and well being; the protection of the tourist capital was in the interest of everyone and must be dealt with at world level. Underlying this recommendation was an awareness that close international cooperation was necessary so that no region would be at a disadvantage as a result of having adopted high-quality environmental protection measures; (c) Recognition of a lack of uniformity in the way in which environmental protection was handled at national level. In many cases there were no provisions to ensure that tourism interests were represented within bodies with responsibility for the environment and physical planning. It was therefore seen as necessary to establish or strengthen collaboration between all bodies dealing with the problems of nature protection. The need was also seen to set up a special body at national level responsible for coordinating steps to protect nature, a proposal that was subsequently to be adopted by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment at Stockholm;

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Central to such a policy was seen to be the establishment of an inventory of natural tourist resources with a view to identifying in particular: (i) Protected areas or natural reserves where attempts at the very least should be made to conserve or re-establish the natural balance (national parks, forest reserves, etc.); (ii) Areas reserved primarily for tourism because of their natural attractions and from which industries would be excluded (beaches, mountain resorts, etc.); (iii) Mixed natural areas in which the establishment of industry must be so planned as to safeguard the main tourist resources. Implicit in the above policy directives was the concept of classification or zoning, whereby areas with a particularly sensitive or fragile environment would not be developed for tourism or at least where tourism access would be ‘severely restricted’. In areas where tourism development was to be permitted on a larger scale, planning measures were seen as essential if the growth of tourism itself were not to produce adverse environmental effects; the pollution of bathing water, for example. Legislation was seen as playing a key role in the implementation to the tourist environmental policy. It was needed not only in national parks or nature reserves but also in tourist areas in general so as to prevent anarchic construction of dwellings, dirty camping grounds or beaches, forest fires or the proliferation of advertising hoardings outside of towns. The Guidelines : The establishment of guidelines for the development of new tourist resorts was a key feature of the new tourist environment policy. It suggested that new developments should conform to a definite plan drawn up by a multidisciplinary team of experts in legislation, tourism and ecology. According to these guidelines, if the conception of the plan was the responsibility of regional or local authorities, account should be

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taken of the developments in neighbouring areas or localities so as to achieve coordination of measures necessary to protect natural surroundings. It was also considered desirable to establish suitable reception capacity at the resort in order to plan the communication and transport infrastructure and the distribution of areas for building a recreational plant thus avoiding traffic problems, air pollution and noise congestion, etc. Finally, architecture and the general aspect of buildings and the location of sports facilities or camping sites should be so designed as to ensure harmony with natural surroundings and vegetation. For planning parks, forests or even the countryside, the competent authorities should also ensure that ecological principles were applied and prevent the destruction of trees, flora and fauna by determining the areas to be set aside for the construction of buildings and by creating paths and other means of access which were not harmful to the beauty of the sites. The pollution of water and beaches was recognised as a serious threat to main tourist areas and it was recommended that specific measures be taken to limit or prevent these effects. UN Conference : The United Nations some years back organised a conference in Stockholm on Human Environment. This conference symbolised the growing importance that the people of the world attach to maintaining and improving the quality of human life and to enrich the human environment. It is a fact that, all over the world, man has been using natural resources without any thought of the future. It is the wrong use of these resources which causes problems. Today environmental pollution poses a serious threat to life on earth and this is true not only of the areas where there is a great concentration of industries, but also where there is a great concentration of tourists. The negative impacts of haphazard and unplanned development of tourism are well illustrated by many areas in North America and Western Europe and also to a greater or

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lesser extent throughout large parts of Asia’s tourism circuit. Yugoslavia’s Adriatic coast and the Seychelles are other examples. Many of the beaches of North America and Western Europe bear a mute testimony to the havoc that can be wrought by uncontrolled development of tourism. Destinations once noted for their particular character are reduced to unattractive show pieces as many countries endeavour to keep pace with the visitor inflow. Despite a measure of governmental control during the development, the great increase in number of visitors to these areas resulted in rapid, unplanned construction of hotels and dwellings for tourists and for migratory service employees. These expansions threatened to destroy the very environment that is the tourist attraction. A prominent leader in the Seychelles objected to seeing his country become a “nation of maitres d’hotel”. These examples underline environmental threat, both aesthetic and biological, from overcrowding of particularly attractive areas. Tourism development brings in special ecological problems not encountered in other types of economic activity. The environmental resources ‘exploited’ for tourism attract tourists because of their outstanding beauty, recreational possibilities or educational and cultural interest. The modern tourism’s most paradoxical trait is its capacity to destroy those attributes which attracted the visitor in the first place. The well known economic analyst and futurologist, Herman Kahn, described the rapidly expanding tourism as “...next only to atomic power in its potential for environmental destruction....” Mass tourism has brought in its wake certain ecological and environmental pollution problems. The environmental amenities which attract tourists have tended to be taken for granted. Preservation of their quality has only recently begun to concern tourism development planner. For tourism the quality of the environment is the basis for attracting visitors and needs to be conserved. Tourism development can become a positive factor for improving the environment, if certain amount of intelligent basic planning is

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done. In fact the quality of the tourism product depends upon a high quality natural environment. It has been seen that major social benefits accrue to tourists themselves. But tourism also has valuable spillover benefits for tourist receiving countries. Notable among these is the contribution of tourism to the preservation of historic sites and cultural values. Careful cleaning and beautifying ancient monuments, clearing the areas around the monuments and improving them, for tourism purposes is a case in point. Through tourism development, the environment is not degraded but in fact can be improved. So great has been the national and international demand for tourism and recreational facilities that governments have increasingly to face up to the choice between extending public access and availability of sites, and conservation and protection against over-development. Governments are increasingly aware that future growth of the industry will necessitate careful management and avoiding overdevelopment of regions of natural beauty. Moreover, saturation in principal destination areas will require a more active policy of diversification and redistribution of tourist flows.

Regional Causes The potential of a region for tourism may be so great that its development will be central to economic goals and plans. However, regional planning for tourism more often will be considered as a separate and distinct planning effort, aimed primarily at determining the best location of facilities like hotels, resort facilities and transportation networks. Such planning views tourism primarily as a source of foreign exchange earnings. This approach would recommend development to accommodate maximum possible number of projected visitors and to design facilities to generate the maximum possible spending by the tourists. However, this approach of profit maximising in tourism development can result in deterioration of fragile environment

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and attractive landscapes through over-building and excessive number of visitors. The aim is conserving the environment amenities of a region and advancing regional development through interdependence. The more the local people benefit from tourism the more they will benefit from a commitment to preserve the environmental features which attract tourism. Consideration of the regions ecological characteristics are essential to providing adequate criteria for the development of facilities and viable plans for the use and management of resources for tourism. Carrying Capacity and Sustainability : Both carrying capacity and sustainability are closely linked with environment. Every tourist region has a carrying capacity for tourists as well as for any other type of use. This capacity varies with the fragility of the area concerned and the nature of the tourist activity contemplated. For example, an island rainforest is a very fragile environment which could be easily endangered by excessive number of tourists using it. By contrast, a recreational beach is not easily damaged by large number of tourists. Planning facilities for tourist development in the case of the island rainforest would require limitations on hotel and similar other installations in order not to encourage excessive number of tourists. In the second case that of recreational beach, high density accommodation and other installations for tourism might well be tolerated. Carrying capacity of a place or a region may however alter or change over time. Technological advances for instance may increase the amount of sewage which may be treated properly, thereby increasing the carrying capacity. Similarly improvements in infrastructure designs and developments, modes of transports etc. may also increase carrying capacity over time. An important point to recognise, however, is that the overall carrying capacity of a destination is often determined by just one factor. This one factor becomes the limiting factor beyond which carrying capacity can not be altered or changed. For example, there may be

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enough hotel rooms to cater for, say, 10,000 tourists per night, but if the sewage system is meant to cope with only 5000 tourists per night, in that case carrying capacity will be 5000 tourists. “Carrying capacity can be defined as the maximum number of people who can use a site without an unacceptable alteration in the physical environment and without an unacceptable decline in the quality of experience gained by visitors.” Mathieson and Wall, Tourism : Economic, Physical and Social Impact, “The concept of maintaining a level of development and use that will not result in serious environmental deterioration, socio-cultural or economic problems, or be perceived by tourists as depreciating their enjoyment and appreciation of the area.” WTO, National and Regional Tourism Planning. “That level of tourist presence which creates impacts on the host community, environment and economy that are acceptable to both tourists and hosts, and sustainable over future time periods.” Cooper et al, Tourism Principles and Practice. Types of Carrying Capacity : Physical, economic, sociocultural, infrastructure, psychological, ecological. Physical/Ecological • Acceptable levels of visual impact and congestion • Point at which ecological systems are maintained before damage occurs • Conservation of wildlife and natural vegetation of both the land and marine environments • Acceptable levels of air; water and noise pollution Economic • Extent of tourism that provides optimum overall economic benefits without economic distortions or inflation • Level of tourism employment suited to the local community

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Factors Affecting Carrying Capacity : A wide variety of factors will affect the carrying capacity. These range from the level of technological development to the type of tourist. Any factors which influence the aspects listed under will affect carrying capacity. Major Factors Usually Include : Alien Factors • The volume and characteristics of the tourist: mass tourism will have a greater impact than independent/ explorer type tourism • The length of stay • Geographical concentration of visitors • The degree of seasonality

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• The types of tourism activity: • Educational level, purpose of visit, age of visitor, etc. will all affect the impact. This is very closely linked to the volume and characteristics of the tourists. • The degree of exposure to other forces of technological, social and economic change e.g. the effect of television, may have a greater impact than tourism. Local Factors • The fragility of the local environment: sand dunes, marine environments etc. are more fragile than Trafalgar Square in London or Wall Street in New York. • The social structure of the host economy: the more developed a country is, the less vulnerable to the influence of the tourist. • The Economic Structure: Developing countries are less likely to be able to reap the same benefits as a developed country due to the fact that they are likely to have to import more goods to cater for the needs of the tourist because these are not produced locally. They may also be dependent on foreign investment for development the profits generated from these developments will be repatriated (or at least some will be). • The Political Structure: Governments may encourage or discourage tourism. This will be reflected in the resources and support made available to cope with the impact of tourism. • Availability of Local Resources: The greater the local resources, the lower will be the need for imports and the greater the benefit for the local community. Natural resources will also serve as an attraction for tourists. • The policies adopted with regard to tourist dispersal.

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Sustainability Factor The term sustainability is linked very closely to carrying capacity. Both are related to the concept of maintaining a level of tourism which does not cause irreversible damage and which allows tourism in a given destination to continue into the future. What has happened in a lot of cases, and the south coast of Spain is a good example, is that tourism grew too fast and growth was uncontrolled. Resorts became too crowded. They became less popular/fashionable and the number of tourists had fallen off. According to the WTO the term sustainability may be defined as: “The underlying approach now applied to tourism planning, as well as to other types of development, is that of achieving sustainable development. The sustainable development approach implies that the natural, cultural and other resources of tourism are conserved for continuous use in the future, while still bringing benefits to the present society. The concept of sustainable development has received much emphasis internationally since the early 1980s, although tourism plans prepared even before that period often were concerned with conservation to tourism resources.

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“The sustainable development approach to planning tourism is acutely important because most tourism development depends on attractions and activities related to the natural environment, historic heritage and cultural patterns of areas. If these resources are degraded or destroyed, then the tourism areas cannot attract tourists and tourism will not be successful. More generally, most tourists seek destinations that have a high level of environmental quality they like to visit places that are attractive, clean and neither polluted nor congested. It is also essential that residents of the tourism area should not have to suffer from a deteriorated environment and social problems.” Coordinated Approach : Because of the nature of the tourism industry, i.e. it is fragmented with many players, problems have arisen because of conflicting interests. Venice is a good example of where coordinated overall planning has proved difficult. There is no one government department that has responsibility for planning and conflicts have arisen between the needs of the locals and the needs of the tourists. Every one should take responsibility for achieving sustainable development. Government is usually involved, for instance in terms of granting planning permission. Developers are involved, but do not always have long-term objectives, particularly if they come from outside the community in which the development is taking place. The local community have a vested interest in ensuring that their “home” is not spoilt, but often there are conflicts between hotel owners (or any who benefit from tourism) and those who only “suffer” the tourists (e.g. traffic jams etc.). Tour operators and travel agents have started to take a more responsible stancein their brochures they try and “educate” the tourists to be more aware of local customs involved. According to WTO two approaches to responsible planning for sustainable development are possible a top down approach,

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with plans prepared by a central authority, (central or regional, government), or a bottom-up approach, driven by the community. Often a combination of the two approaches achieves the best results. In order to achieve sustainability certain steps both at macro and micro level need to be taken. Macro Level • Creation or development of popular resorts in one area, as a way to relieve pressure from another area of a more sensitive nature. • Dispersion Policy: the use of resorts may cause the depletion of resources in one area, and the exclusion of the rest of the population of an area from the financial benefits of tourism. To prevent this, a policy of dispersing tourist resorts across a region or country may be adopted. In West Indies each region has been allowed to develop one beach resort - thereby spreading the benefits across the island. • Zoning: This is the division or categorisation of land permitting only certain kinds of use on it. This may also be applied to lakes e.g. some lakes may be zoned for water skiing or fishing. • The Encouragement of Green Policies: This is when green policies are adopted to protect and restore the environment or offset an environmental problem, and at the same time indirectly improve recreational resources. An example of this is the growth of urban forests by the City Authorities which could in turn lead to these sites being used for recreation. • The Provision of Urban Tourist Facilities: If there is provision of tourist or recreational facilities like urban farms, water splash parks or access to existing facilities like rivers and lakes, it removes pressure from

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ecologically sensitive areas as the impact of tourism in urban areas is less. It fulfils the need of the tourists by finding a use for their leisure time and also benefits the local community by retaining income that would have been spent elsewhere. It also reduces the social and environmental cost of travelling to and from a tourist destination and also in a way substantially removes the desire for a holiday by reducing the demand for travel. • Create Environmental Awareness: Making people aware of the effects of tourism. Providing tourists with information on scarcity of natural resources can do this. Information relating to cultural differences and advice regarding acceptable behaviour may also be considered. • Restrictive Entry: this is where access is controlled by the use of various means. • Barriers across entrance points. • Quotas for visitors during the year. • Use of Price Mechanism : to reduce the number of tourists high prices may be charged. This will create an image of ”exclusivity” which in turn helps to justify the high price. • Site Management Signposting : by providing visitors with information and by the creation of signposted walks, behaviour may be modified and tourists may be kept away from sensitive areas. Signposting can be used in conjunction with information provision. • Protecting Footpaths : the sustained use of footpaths can lead to problems such as soil erosion or the widening of paths. In order to prevent this, care has to be taken in planning footpaths and also consideration of what materials should be used in order to create a state of naturalness which also sustains high levels of pedestrian flow.

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International tourism by definition draws persons from diverse cultures. Regional resource inventories and evaluation for the development of tourism should, therefore, attempt to take into account diverse recreational preferences. The travel preferences of tourists from different cultures should also be considered in the layout and design of tourist facilities. Particular attention is needed for cultural preferences in the total environment destined for tourism use. Such considerations will again assist in assigning specific values to different landscapes and natural resources. Tourism has the greatest need to protect the environment of the places of natural and cultural importance be it a monument, a beach resort, national park, recreational area or a wildlife sanctuary. The planners must consider the environmental process wherever large investments are made in tourism development. The tourist has a strong desire to see and experience places of wonder and beauty in areas where nature remains essentially unspoiled. Destinations noted for their particular character and beauty should not be reduced to innocuous urban jungles in order to keep pace with the visitor inflow. Wildlife which is deteriorating and vanishing so rapidly can be safeguarded. The environment in which various animals live can be properly preserved. Similarly, many other tourist areas can be safeguarded against forces which are responsible for their degeneration. Tourism must be used as a positive factor in environmental improvement. Area development and physical planning are therefore very essential for environmental improvement. Tourism development can become a positive factor for improving the environment if a certain amount of basic planning and aesthetics are applied in the entire process. Whenever there is any major tourism development, environmental planning should be made part of

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that development. Any development without some controls, without any thought given to the environmental factors can, in fact, prove to be disastrous and ultimately will be counterproductive for tourism itself. As many agencies are involved in tourism development, coordination is therefore very necessary among various segments responsible for environmental development and improvement. With a view to preserving the unique character, atmosphere and natural setting of monuments and other places of tourist interest, a coordinated approach needs to be evolved to exercise environmental control of tourist centres. In countries where there are Town and Country Planning Acts, these should be made effective enough and their provisions should cover legal protection to control environmental balance in tourist development areas. In order to ensure that the Act is properly enforced, it would be desirable to involve all those agencies which are responsible for tourism development. In countries having a federal set-up, the authorities responsible for governing should carefully study the impact that the opening of a new area to tourists is likely to have on the cultural and social environment of the area. A Master Plan or Area Development Plans should be formulated before permitting the tourists access to these areas. Concerned local authorities should be consulted at the time of working out of the proposals for area development with tourist potential. In order to ensure the implementation of the environmental control, it may be desirable for various regions to appoint coordinating committees consisting of various interests and departments to implement effectively environmental policies.

Policy of Conservation The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held a few years back in Stockholm recommended evolving a conservation policy within the framework of the resolution of the ‘World Cultural Heritage’. There was a unanimity of opinion that something radical had to be done to save the quality of human

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life and to enrich human environment. The conference was of the opinion that any development scheme of the particular area should be determined by the absorption capacity of the area, otherwise the environment would deteriorate and may in the long run create more complications than actually serve the purpose. This is true in the case of development of monuments, new tourist areas and resort towns. A concept of conservation is that of science and ecology. The premise is that of man-environment balance. The only way of striking this balance is to define conservation as protection of natural resources. Conservation means the exercise of rigid controls to prevent habitat destruction, habitat homogenisation, reduction of species and natural resource pollution. Conservation, in the sense of preservation of the cultural heritage is popularly supported today. Many man-made artifacts have a scarcity value that becomes as important to society’s well-being as do the natural resources. Therefore, conservation means their protection, restoration and interpretation. The relationship between tourism and the environment has been receiving a growing level of attention from both public and private sector organisations all over the world. During the last decade various international bodies have cooperated in the production of a great number of studies, programmes, plans and activities on tourism and environment. The degree of importance of the relationship between tourism and environment is cited in the Manila Declaration during World Tourism Conference held in Manila in October 1980. The Declaration states: “Tourism resources available in various countries consist, at the same time, of space, facilities and values. These are resources whose use cannot be left uncontrolled without running the risk of their deterioration, or even destruction. The satisfaction of tourism requirements must not be prejudicial to

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the social and economic interests of the population in tourist areas, to the fundamental attraction of tourism, and historical and cultural sites. All tourism resources are part of the natural heritage of mankind. National communities and the entire international community must take the necessary steps to ensure their preservation. The conservation of historical, cultural and religious sites represents at all times, and notably in time of conflict, one of the fundamental responsibilities of states”. The importance of the relationship between tourism and the environment is also stressed in the letters of agreement exchanged between the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organisation. The letters of agreement state: “The protection, development and improvement of the various constituents of the environment of man are among the basic conditions for the harmonious development of tourism. Similarly, intelligent tourism management can contribute in large measure to the protection and development of the physical environment and cultural heritage of mankind as well as the improvement of the quality of human life. It is, therefore, advisable that tourism development and sound environmental management should be integral concerns of national development policies. WTO Environmental Committee : The growing importance of this subject of tourism’s impact on the environment led the WTO Executive Council to form the Environment Committee. This committee in its first meeting at Madrid attempted to define the relationship between tourism and the environment, and formulate guidelines and activities to be implemented by the World Tourism Organisation in the future in the areas of the environment. Much of the discussion of the Environment Committee Meeting centered on the theme “Tourism Development and its Effects on the Environment.”

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Tourism development can bring positive results to the countries that succeed in establishing an effective programme. It is important that the damage which can be done to the environment through a misuse of natural and cultural resources be avoided through the implementation of proper policies. Possible negative effects could then be checked such as: ecological deterioration in areas of good environmental quality, especially in mountain and coastal regions and in areas surrounding places of historical, architectural or artistic interest; speculative pressure on special sectors with the ensuing destruction of the landscape and wastage of natural environment, destruction of the traditional values of the domestic architecture and deterioration in the latter when the human dimensions of existing localities are exceeded; saturation and overcrowding of the urban microcosm with consequent deterioration in the quality of the environment in these areas. Various positive steps have been taken with a view to preserve the natural environments. In the national and regional tourism plans compiled by World Tourism Organisation there is evidence of one or more of the following aspects receiving attention: (a) Creation of natural reserves and national parks; (b) Preservation of historical towns; (c) Alignment of roads and highways so as to minimise environmental nuisance; (d) Restrictions on the encroachment of the town into the countryside; (e) Zoning of industry; (f) Restrictions on dumping at sea, in land and in fresh water of household or industrial residues. The formation of the Environment Committee by WTO Executive Council is the step in the right direction. The Environment Committee has adopted the following goals:

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(a) To identify clusters of closely related touristic environmental issues including carrying capacity, ecosystem solvency, protection of cultural elements, protection of the built environment; (b) To systematise field information; (c) To define ways to involve tourists in the preservation of the environment; (d) To develop and disseminate guidelines for use by governments in assessing, controlling and minimising adverse environmental effects in tourist activities. In order to achieve the above-mentioned goals, the Environment Committee recommended a programme of work that includes the evaluation and updating of existing studies and methodology and the general understanding of touristic environmental problems, cooperation between public and private institutions at the national and international levels aimed at developing touristic environmental guidelines and standards and finally, action by WTO and other international organisations to apply guidelines. All the above steps would minimise the negative impact of tourism on the environment of the destination for both visitors and hosts as also suppliers of services. The destination should manage to enhance its physical environment as also visitor satisfaction.

6 RAPID GROWTH OF TRAVELLING In this context, the WTO has defined a term, called Sustainability. It has described this term as follows : “The underlying approach now applied to tourism planning as well as to other types of development is that of achieving sustainable development. The sustainable development approach implies that the natural, cultural and other resources of tourism are conserved for continuous use in the future while still bringing benefits to the present society.” During the early eighties of the last century, this concept gained importance. It is associated with tourism carrying capacity. So, both the concepts lead us to a maxim-maintain a level of tourism that does not cause irreversible damage and at the same time, allows tourism in a given destination to continue into the future. When a tourist spot is developed, its societal, natural, cultural, physical and environmental resources are utilised. Some of

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these even deteriorate or die with the passage of time, if efforts are not made to preserve and perpetuate them. Our valued readers may have wondered why the Dodo, a bird that is extinct now, became extinct ? The hunters of the yore may have been fascinated by it, or they may have killed it due to the fine taste of its meat. We can only make a wild guess about its fate. The Dodo is nowhere to be seen today. Similarly, we can expect threats to other plant and animal species of our planet if we do not nurture and protect them in a professional manner. Likewise, the water bodies, glaciers and other natural resources of the earth are dying at a fast pace. But the mad rush of tourists for the mountains is increasing in terms of number. Example : The Gangotri glacier (Uttranchal) has receded by 620 m during the period 1962-91. Thus, its receding rate was 20 m per annum. The condition of other glaciers of the Himalyas is no better. That is why, tourism industry must plan its operations and develop the tourist spots with the concept of sustainability in full view. If there is no Gangotri, there would not be a sustainable ecosystem in the Himalayas and India. The consequences of reduction in the flow and volume of waters of the Ganges can only be imagined ! Places of historic and cultural heritage come next in this discussion. Several hundred forts have been perished, thanks to the illegal activities of locals and visitors. An old building is already too old to stand. And if tourists take away its artifacts, stones, figurines, paintings and sculptures, how can these relics of the past sustain the vagaries of time and weather. Thus, sustainable tourism planning has assumed more importance as places of historical value are the ones that attract tourists; and these are the ones that ought to be protected from thieves, international smugglers and some naughty tourists.

State Efforts These governments can take the following actions in this context :

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They Can Create Honey Pots : These honey pots are different tourist destinations in one region. Tourists can go to another area (within the same region) if one area is too much congested or heavily booked. They can Create Tourists Spots Across the Nation : This concept is the expansion of the concept of honey pot. Tourist spots can be spread in the entire nation and not in one particular region. The tourist population can be divided among these remotely located tourist spots. Zoning : In this concept, the governments can allow the use of natural resources only for a few limited activities. Other activities may be banned at those spots. Example : The Buddhist relics of Bodh Gaya can be shown to tourists but no other tourist facility may be created there to discourage the influx of tourists into that spot. Eco-friendly Strategies : These governments can promote eco-friendly strategies and programmes and make the tourist spots more green and less polluted. Example : Use of CNG in public transport buses of Delhi. Strict Rules for Tourists : If these governments pass laws to ensure sustenance of the environment, then tourists would obey such laws and refrain from creating pollution. They would also not harm old buildings if they know that they can be punished because of their overindulgence. Strict Rules for Natives : If laws are strict for the locals as well, then tourists would move around carefully. They would refrain from committing mistakes. Example : Our valued readers would not find water available on roadsides in Malaysia. If someone has to get/buy water, he can only buy it from a shop and not from a roadside tap. The Indians can learn a lesson from this example; if contaminated water is not available free of cost, there would be no water-borne diseases ! Restrictions on Entry : The tourists are always welcomed

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by a host nation. But for sustaining a tourist spot that is visited quite frequently, these governments may impose restrictions on visa issues or durations of stay. But it seems to be a difficult proposition, given the exposure of world tourism to free market forces. Training of Tourists : Tourists can be given training manuals just before they board their flights to coveted destinations. They can be told to protect the environment of the tourist spot by planting trees, using eco-friendly fuels, not smoking and putting the garbage in garbage cans. They can also be trained to clean the mountains when they climb them. Incentives can be given to them, if they help the local authorities clean the environment.

Tools of Planning Environmental Impact Assessment : Environmental impact assessment is, in its simplest form, a planning tool that is now generally regarded as an integral component of sound decision making. As a planning tool, it has information gathering and decision-making components, which provide the decision maker with an objective basis for granting or denying approval for a proposed development. Some definitions of the EIA are as follows : 1. It is a process, which attempts to identify, predict and assess the likely consequences of proposed development activities. 2. It is a planning aid that is concerned with identifying, predicting and assessing impacts arising from the proposed activities such as policies, programmes, plans and development projects, which may affect the environment. The purpose of the environmental assessment process is to: (a) support the goals of environmental protection and sustainable development;

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(b) integrate environmental protection and economic decisions at the earliest stages of planning an activity; (c) predict environmental, social, economic, and cultural consequences of a proposed activity and also, to assess plans to mitigate any adverse impacts resulting from the proposed activity; and (d) provide for the involvement of the public, and government agencies during the reviews of such proposed activities. Balanced assessment of effects on the environment should encompass a number of considerations. Depending on the nature, scope and significance of the project or proposal, the assessment may include considerations of ecological, economic, cultural, aesthetic, health and safety, social and amenity impacts in relation to the decisions on the sustainable management of natural and physical resources. Environmental Impact Assessment is a planning tool. Its main purpose is to give the environment its due place in the decision-making process by clearly evaluating the environmental consequences of a proposed activity before an action is taken. The concept has ramifications in the long run for almost all the development activities because sustainable development depends upon protecting the natural resources that are the foundations for further development. The requirement of a State to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment in respect of activities that are likely to significantly affect the environment has been reflected in Principle 17 of the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The directive of environmental management should be to achieve the greatest benefit presently possible for the use of natural resources without reducing their potential to meet the future needs and carrying capacity of the environment. Taking environmental considerations into account in development planning does not imply that the pace of socio-economic progress would be slowed down.

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Further, taking environmental considerations into account in various phases of the project cycle must not be seen as placing undue constraints on a country’s development options. If a project is to be suspended on environmental grounds, alternative opinions that are environmentally sound must be provided to meet the country’s needs in the context of her development. Moreover, implications of environmental impacts assessed from the global point of view cannot be translated into specific actions in the developing countries. For most of the projects, especially those involving large public investments in areas such as infrastructure, an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) exercise should be carried out and linked to the cost-benefit analysis being carried out with respect to such projects. The objective of the EIA is to ensure that environmental aspects are addressed and potential problems are foreseen at the appropriate stage of project design. The EIA should be encouraged as an integral part of the planning process and initiated at the project level from the very beginning.

Important Guidelines Various guideline on the EIA are as follows : (a) Preliminary activities include the selection of a coordinator for the EIA and collection of background information. This should be undertaken as soon as a project has been identified. (b) Impact identification involves a broad analysis of the impacts of project activities with a view to identifying those, which require a detailed study. (c) Baseline study entails the collection of detailed information and data on the conditions and status of the project site prior to the implementation of the project. (d) Impact evaluation should be done, wherever possible,

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in quantitative terms and should include working out of potential mitigation measures. Impact evaluation cannot proceed until the project alternatives have been defined; however, it should be completed early enough to permit decisions to be made in a timely fashion. (e) Assessment involves combining environmental losses and gains with economic costs and benefits to create a complete account of each project alternative. Costbenefit analysis should include environmental impacts where these can be evaluated in monetary terms. (f) Documentation is done to describe the work done under the EIA. A working document is prepared to provide clearly stated and argued recommendations for facilitating immediate actions. The working document should contain a list of project alternatives, with comments on the environmental and economic impacts of each one of those alternatives. (g) Decision-making begins when the working document reaches the decision maker. He would either accept one of the project alternatives, request further study or reject the proposed actions altogether. (h) Audits are done to determine how close to reality the EIA predictions were. (i) On the contents of the EIA, the law asks for submission of a written document to a designated agency or decisionmaking lobby, describing the environmental impact of a proposed project and/or alternatives and mitigating measures (and their assessments). This document should contain : (i) a description of the proposed activity; (ii) a description of the potentially affected environment, including specific information necessary for identifying and assessing the environmental effects of the proposed activity;

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Environmental Audit : Environmental audit is the assessment of the compliance of environmental administration and performance of an operating business with environmental protection requirements, with sound environmental practice in general and in tune with the principles of sustainable development. Environmental auditing is mandatory only in the cases stipulated by law. Environmental audits are being used as a tool to test the effectiveness of environmental effects at local levels. An environmental audit is a systematic, independent and internal review to check whether the results of environmental work tally with the stipulated targets or not. An environmental audit also focuses on whether the methods used to achieve goals are effective. The work of an environmental audit is a study of documents and responses to see whether there are

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any deviations between targets and results. This is done by interviewing key people in the organisation. An environmental audit would confirm whether or not the environmental targets have been attained. The concept of environmental auditing is closely related to monitoring, norms and standards, which are as follows : Environmental Monitoring : It is a systematic observation of the state of the environment and of the factors influencing it. Its main purposes are to forecast changes to the state of the environment and provide initial data for planning documents, programmes and projects. The procedure of environmental monitoring shall be established by law. Environmental Norms : These are the reference figures or usage rates of natural resources per production unit established for the quality of the environment or volume of wastage. Environmental Standards : These are the documents that set up rules, guidelines and numeric values defined by the involved parties and regulating activities or results of activities, which either have or are likely to have impact on the state of the environment. During a typical environmental audit, a team of qualified inspectors, either employees of the organisation being audited or experts from some other organisation, conducts a comprehensive examination of a plant or facility to determine whether it is complying with environmental laws or not. Using checklists and audit protocols and relying on professional judgment and evaluations of site-specific conditions, the team systematically verifies compliance with stipulated requirements. The team may also evaluate the effectiveness of systems in place to manage compliance and assess the environmental risks associated with the facility’s operations. Rehabilitation and Ecological Reinstate Rehabilitating Degraded Land Areas : Rehabilitation of degraded land areas and restoration of eco-systems have become increasingly important elements of resource

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conservation throughout the world. Rehabilitation, which aims to revive important ecological elements on a degraded land, is becoming particularly important in mountainous regions, and lands and irrigated crop lands. In mountainous areas, loss of forest and vegetation covers has often increased soil erosion. And the terrain has suffered due to declining soil fertility and increased erosion, which is a result of agriculture and overgrazing. Resource productivity has declined in crop lands, mountainous regions and arid zones of developing countries. Irrigated croplands have also been degraded by salinization, water-logging and alkalinization. Restoring Degraded Land Areas : Attempts for restoration are being done to bring lands (modified by human use) back to their natural stages. As the determination of the pre-disturbance state of most of the eco systems is difficult and eco systems continually change, complete restoration is rarely a realistic goal. But an “approximate creation” of natural communities is becoming central to efforts to maintain biodiversity and restore important ecological reserves of mother earth. Physical and Biological Interventions : Both restoration and rehabilitation make use of physical and biological interventions. Physical interventions include drainage systems in water-logged lands, check dams or contour plowing to slow down erosion rates, covering barren land with fertile soil brought from outside. Biological interventions include growing grass to slow down the erosion process, nitrogen-fixing trees to increase the nutrient content of soils, planting trees in draught-affected areas and hillside afforestation. Rehabilitation often makes use of species since the primary goal is to restore critical ecological services. In contrast, restoration attempts to restore the natural complements of such species. Eco-system restoration does not always require interventions, however. Like natural processes, many eco systems would return to a state that would be similar to their pre-disturbance

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condition, if the populations of the original species still exist nearby. How long this natural recovery takes depends upon the type of the eco system and the type of disturbance. Natural recovery of slash and-burn agricultural sites requires more than a century but sites cleared by bulldozer may take 1,000 or more years to recover. Similarly, sites in tropical lowlands and wet and dry forests require nearly 1,000 and 150 years, respectively, to recover from timber harvest. Lands degraded by unplanned mining may also take hundreds of years to come back to previous state. If an eco-system has been physically transformed, or if predisturbance species cannot disperse to the site, natural processes alone would not be able to restore it. Numerous lakes throughout the world and the prairies of central North America have been fundamentally changed by introduced species and cannot return to their natural states unless the exotic species are removed. Elsewhere, soil erosion, salinization or the loss of mycorrhizal mutualists have changed ecological systems so radically that native species cannot be established without such interventions as seeding, planting, inoculation of soils with mycorrhizal fungi and weed, fire, or predator control. Ecomark Logo : An Earthen Pot has been chosen as the logo for the Ecomark Scheme in India. The familiar earthen pot uses a renewable resource like earth, does not produce hazardous waste and consumes little energy while cooking food. Its solid and graceful form represents both strength and fragility, which also characterises our sensitive eco system. It also shows its environmental message. Its image has the ability to reach people and can help promote greater awareness of the need to be kind to the environment. The logo for the Ecomark Scheme signifies that the product, which it carries, does the least damage to the environment. Lake Restoration Management : Degraded lakes suffer due to floating scum, excessive algae, taste and odour problems,

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fishing, swimming, motor boat operations, sailing and water supply to homes or factories (from such lakes). Degraded lakes can be restored to their natural conditions by judicious use of available knowledge. Best management practices to minimise lake degradation are as follows : (a) Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (i) Conservation Tillage. (ii) Contour Farming. (iii) Contour Strip Cropping. (iv) Integrated Pest Management. (v) Range and Pasture Management. (vi) Crop Rotation. (vii) Terraces. (viii) Annual Waste Management. (ix) Fertiliser Management. (x) Livestock Exclusion. (b) Construction (i) No-vegetative Soil Stabilisation. (ii) Disturbed Area Limits. (iii) Surface Roughening. (c) Multicategory (i) Management Zones. (ii) Grassed Waterways. (iii) Interception or Diversion Practices. (iv) Streambank Stabilisation. (v) Detention/Sedimentation Basins. (vi) Vegetative Stabilisation. (d) Urban (i) Porous Pavements.

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(ii) Flood Storage. (iii) Street Cleaning. (e) Silviculture (i) Ground Cover Maintenance. (ii) Road and Skid Trial Management. (iii) Piparian Zone Management. (iv) Pesticide/Herbicide Management. Basic Steps in Lake Restoration : The first step in a lake restoration programme is to control the loading of nutrients, silt and organic matter of the lake. Most in-lake procedures would be quickly overwhelmed by continuous accumulation of these substances. In-lake programmes should be complemented with watershed efforts to control fresh inputs of harmful substances in the lake. Techniques for in-lake management are as follows : (a) Alum treatment to precipitate and inactivate phosphorus. (b) Dredging of the whole lake (local people and environmentalists can play useful roles). (c) Dredging of lake inlet areas. (d) Dilution. (e) Flushing and artificial circulation. (f) Hypolimnetic aeration. (g) Sediment oxidation. (h) Addition of algicides. (i) Food Chain Manipulation. (j) Hypolimnetic Withdrawal. (k) Water Level draw-down to remove weeds. (l) Weed harvesting. (m) Biological controls to reduce weeds. (n) Addition of herbicides.

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Use of Wetland Treatment for Lake Restoration : There are evidences that wetlands have the ability to decrease levels of nutrients, suspended sediments, BOD, heavy metals and even viruses from storm water and domestic waste water in warm and cold climates. Pollutant removal occurs through a combination of: (a) physical-chemical mechanisms, including entrapment, sedimentation, adsorption, precipitation and volatilisation; and (b) biological transformations such as bacterial identification, bacterial and algal uptake and uptake by wetland vegetation. The aquatic treatment systems based on wetlands fall under three categories, viz, Natural Wetlands, Constructed Wetlands and Aquatic Plant Systems. These have been explained as follows : (a) Natural Wetlands encompass marshes (grasses dominant), swamps (characterized by trees and shrubs), or bogs (sedge/peat). (b) Constructed Wetlands are either free water surface systems with shallow water depths or sub-surface flow systems with water flowing laterally through the sand or gravel. (c) Aquatic Plant Systems are shallow ponds with floating or submerged aquatic plants. Adsorption and precipitation reactions in the soil are reported to be the major mechanism of wastewater Phosphorus removal by natural wetlands. In constructed wetlands, some amount of Phosphorus can be permanently removed by harvesting plants and sediments. Soluble inorganic Phosphorus is readily immobilised in inorganic soils by reactions with aluminum, iron, calcium, clays and other minerals. Particulate Phosphorus that flows into wetlands in association with sediments or organic matter is

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primarily removed by sedimentation. However, adsorption and precipitation do not represent a limitless sink for and under conditions of long-term heavy loading. It is possible to saturate a wetland system and significantly reduce its efficiency as a natural filter. It has been reported that many wetlands have a limited capacity to remove phosphorus relative to nitrogen. Nitrate removal in wetlands occurs almost exclusively via identification. Gravel-filled constructed wetlands at lake Tahoe (USA) provide a much greater surface area for bacterial attachment than is possible in natural wetlands, thereby enhancing the subtratum to water volume contact ratio and hence, needless land area than natural wetlands. Constructed wetlands are most suitable as mitigation for small development projects where land area is limited. These projects include golf courses that receive fertilisers, small commercial facilities, small housing development areas, etc. They are generally limited in terms of efficiency by the volume of water they can retain (the retention period can be 4 to 8 days). It may be unrealistic to rely on small constructed wetlands to treat large urban areas. Techniques for Control of Nuisance Algae : The following points are vital : Lake Restoration by Biomanipulation : lake biomanipulation theory is based on the prediction that increased piscivore (fish-eater) abundance would result in decreased planktivore abundance, increased zooplankton abundance and increased zooplankton grazing pressure, thus leading to reduction in phytoplankton abundance and improved water clarity. Water quality is dependent, to a great extent, upon the structure and function of food webs in aquatic eco-systems. Food webs are controlled by resource limitation (bottom-up control approach) and predation (top-down control approach). A high reliability of biomanipulation (i.e., top-down control of eutrophication could only be expected if :

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(a) Phosphorus loading were below the threshold (oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes); (b) if Phosphorus loading were to exceed the threshold (in eutrophic and hypertrophic lakes); (c) or if the intensity of bottom-up mechanisms were strongly controlled by light. Sediment Removal as a Lake Restoration Technique : Freshwater lake sediment removal is usually undertaken to deepen a lake (thus increasing its volume to enhance fish production), remove nutrient-rich sediment, remove toxic or hazardous material or reduce the abundance of rooted aquatic plants. The technique is recommended for reducing phosphorus release from sediments. Sediment removal to control toxic materials is possible with minimal environmental impact when proper equipment is used, but it may be extremely expensive. Dredging would remove rooted aquatic plants; however, their reencroachment rate would be dependent upon depth, sediment texture and sediment nutrients. Lake Restoration by Circular Canalisation : Practically all the Phosphorus sources can be made to bypass a lake through a circular canal. It was most effectively demonstrated in the now classic restoration case of Lake Washington. Lake Restoration by Siphoning off Hypolimnetic Water: A siphon called Olszewski Pipe is used to discharge nutrientrich water from the hypolimnon. This process reduces the thickness of the tropholytic layer and increases that of the trophogenic une. It reduces the nutrient and toxic content of the hypolinmium and eliminates some of the water that is low in terms of oxygen content, or lacks it altogether. Considerable improvement in the reduction of the trophic response was obtained in several lakes in Europe by this method. It is restricted to relatively small deep lakes with a topography suitable for the application of a siphon. Lake Restoration by Hypolimnetic Aeration : Hypolimnetic

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aeration/oxygenation is an effective method of improving domestic and industrial water quality, satisfying downstream water release standards and creating suitable habitat for yearlong survival of cold water fish. It may be done by pure oxygen injection or air injection. When air injection is given and downstream released, care must be taken not to supersaturate water with Nitrogen gas. Hypolimnetic aeration is the only known method of creating a suitable cold water habitat in most warm eutrophic lakes. This system of aeration can result in adequate oxygen values throughout the lake without an intolerable increase in hypolimnetic temperatures. Oxygen can be added to the hypolimmum without greatly heating it or mixing it with epilimnetic or metalimnetic water. Another use of this method is elimination of taste and colour problems by precipitating iron allied manganese from water. Hypolimnetic aeration may promote some control of algae by a type of Phosphorus inactivation procedure under the “high oxygen high iron” condition. Dilution/Flushing Technique in Lake Restoration : Dilution water must have low Phosphorus content in comparison to the Phosphorus content of the lake or normal input water. Flushing rates can be chosen; these can be higher than the normal. Lake Restoration by Artificial Circulation : Artificial circulation eliminates thermal stratification, or prevents its formation through the injection of compressed air into lake water from a pipe or ceramic diffuser at the lake’s bottom. Control of Algal Blooms : Algal blooms may be controlled through one or more of the following processes : (a) Adding appropriate chemicals to the lake’s bottom would increase phytoplanktons’ time in darkness, thus leading to reduced net photosynthesis. (b) Introduction of dissolved oxygen to the lake’s bottom may inhibit Phosphorus release from sediments.

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(c) Rapid contact of water with the atmosphere as well as the introduction of CO2-rich water during the initial period of mixing can lower the pH, thus leading to a shift from blue-greens to less noxious green algae. (d) When zooplankton are added to the lake’s bottom, they are less vulnerable to fish, thus resulting in the increase of consumption of algal cells by the zooplankton. Lake Restoration by Chemical Precipitation in the Lake: Iron, Calcium and Aluminium have salts that can combine with inorganic Phosphorus, or remove Phosphorus containing particulate matter from the water column. This method has been applied in the reservoirs in the Netherlands. Total phosphorus concentrations and algal biomass were successfully reduced in the reservoirs being studied. The disadvantage of this method is that Borne of Phosphorus precipitated by the process gets deposited permanently in the sediments; it could contribute to internal loading at a later stage. Aluminum is most often chosen because phosphorus binds tightly to its salts over a wide range of ecological conditions, including the states of low or zero dissolved oxygen. In practice, Aluminum Sulphate (Alum) or Sodium Aluminates (for softwater lakes) is added to water and pinpoint-shaped colloidal aggregates of Aluminum Hydroxide are formed. In addition, if enough alum is added, a layer of 1 to 2 inches of Aluminum Hydroxide would cover the sediments and significantly retard the release of Phosphorus into the water column as an “internal load.” Phosphorus inactivation has been highly effective in thermally stratified natural lakes, especially in those cases in which, an adequate dosage has been given to the sediments and sufficient diversion of nutrient intakes has occurred. These treatments have been given to the more common smaller lakes and farm ponds as well. Lime Treatment to Reduce Eutrophication : While lime

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treatment has been extensively used to mitigate acidification effects, several studies of Calcium Carbonate precipitation led to the hypothesis that the addition of lime to lakes can also reduce eutrophication. Although biological reactions must influence Phosphorus biogeochemistry, the effect of lime treatment on Phosphorus biogeochemistry can be easily explained with the help of apatite formation. The generally accepted model for appetite formation is that Phosphorus initially absorbs to Calcite and then, a surface rearrangement produces Phosphate heteronuclei that ultimately form the stable mineral apatite. If the surface application of Calcium Dioxide were repeated for a number of years, the titration would exceed an end point, Phosphorus and Calcium would not redissolve and phosphorus could be converted into apatite. Water Level Drawdown to Reduce Certain Macrophytes: Exposing sediments to prolonged freezing (2 to 4 weeks) and drying results in permanent damage to certain rooted plant species but the technique is species-specific. The following strategy is adopted : Decrease : Coontail, Yellow Water Lily and Water Lily. Increase : Alligator Weed and Hydrilla. Variable : Water Hyacinth, Common Elodea and Cattail. Shading and Sediment Covers : Sediment covering materials stop plant growth due to the fact that rooted plants require light and cannot grow through physical barriers. These can be installed in small areas such as dock spaces and swimming beaches only due to their high costs. Examples : Useful materials are Black Polyethylene, Polypropyl, Fiberglass, PVC, Nylon, Silicone, etc. Phosphorus Control in Waste Water Treatment : Conventional waste water treatment is intended to reduce the organic matter in waste water and not to control phosphorus.

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A purely biological and mechanical process can remove 20-25 per cent of phosphorus that is initially present while modified activated sludge plants can remove about 55 per cent of phosphorus present in some special cases. Thus, the efficiency of phosphorus removal in the case of conventional waste water treatment is very low; it is usually not adequate to meet the requirements of a phosphorus program. In addition, during the summer, waste water discharges may dominate stream flow during dry periods when total flow is lower than usual and water cannot hold as much dissolved oxygen as it does during the cooler periods of the year. The efficiency of phosphorus removal in existing treatment plants can be improved by the application of a chemical precipitation process to the effluent. In this process, Aluminum, Iron salts or lime are added to waste water; they form insoluble compounds with Phosphates. Different types of precipitation processes may be employed such as pre-precipitation, simultaneous precipitation and postprecipitation in combination with the biological process. It has been proved that if there is a proper use of suitable pH-values during the precipitation step and there are no significant process disturbances, the following effluent concentrations of total phosphorus can be expected : (a) Precipitation or simultaneous precipitation : 0.5-0.8 mgp/1. (b) Post-precipitation : 0.2-0.4 mgp/l. (c) Post-precipitation followed by filtration or simultaneous precipitation followed by contact filtration: 0.15- 03mgp/l.

Desert Extention There are a number of definitions of the term Desertification. The following definitions have been propounded by experts : (a) Desertification can be considered to be a set of biological, chemical and physical processes, which converge to create desert-like conditions.

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(b) Desertification occurs when land becomes irreversibly sterile due to overindulgence of humans or livestock. (c) Desertification is the diminution or loss of the potential for sustainable use. The difficulty of seed germination is another fundamental criterion of desertification. The following characteristics also indicate that the soil has degraded : (a) Loss of soil aggregation, a key indicator for resilience of a dry eco system. (b) Decrease of general infiltration capacity of the top soil. (c) Loss of resistance against mechanical disturbances (splash erosion). (d) Surface redistribution and profile redistribution of water. (e) New threshold of runoff initiation. Seed germination, seedling establishment, production potential and reproduction potential of plant cover are hampered by all the aforesaid soil characteristics, which are variable. All of these ultimately lead to the Loss of Resilience. Distinction of Droughts (Quality and Time-scale) : In drylands, the climatic trends seem to be more unstable than in those of other eco systems. This is due to the scarcity of surface water. Thus water quantities no longer remain adequate for human survival. Many environmental changes result more from shorter natural climatic changes (draughts) than from aridity, which is a long-term climatic factor. However, it is difficult to diagnose the real draught effects. There are several types of draught, as follows : (a) Meteorological Drought : It occurs when rainfall is deficient. (b) Hydrologial Draught : It corresponds to the decrease of runoff in rivers and decrease of lake levels, modified by

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The Rio Agreements : Agenda 21 was agreed by all nations present at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) or the Earth Summit that was organised in Rio in June, 1992. The Biodiversity Convention and the Framework Climate Change. Convention were also agreed upon at the same summit. Under the FCCC, national governments should develop, update and publish national inventories of emissions and protect and enhance greenhouse sinks and reservoirs (which include vegetation), which absorb carbon dioxide. Emissions of most greenhouse gases (which contribute to global warming) should be stabilised at the 1990 levels. Under the Biodiversity Convention, each national government should develop strategies for the conservation of biological diversity and endangered species. A statement of principles to guide the sustainable management of forests was delineated. Further, the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, which put forth the principles for defining the rights and responsibilities of development-oriented nations was also accepted by the participating nations. Agenda 21 : Agenda 21 provided a program for working towards sustainable development (to meet people’s needs and improve the quality of life without damaging the environment), which must be adopted in the twenty-first century. It is a comprehensive effort to identify the actions necessary to reconcile concerns about the environment with a need for development. Agenda 21 was an agreement on the urgent need for concerned action and the recognition of the steps that were to be taken. Although the recommendation of Agenda 21 were not binding, yet the governments at all the levels were urged to develop the necessary institutional framework to take necessary

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actions for ensuring local sustainability. Agenda 21 established a framework for a comprehensive plan of action involving all the levels of government and the whole human community. It was the result of unprecedented negotiations between practically all the political, social, commercial and other interest groups of the world. There were many specific recommendations for practical local actions such as the use of local building materials and reusing and recycling of waste on a local basis. Creation of Agenda 21 also witnessed dissent from many of the participating nations. Meeting Human Needs : Agenda 21 was written from the viewpoint of the poor nations of the southern hemisphere. The concerns reflected during its formation were those related to securing the basic human needs for all water, food, shelter, health, etc.—rather than protecting the environment from human activities. Sustainable development is concerned with utilising local resources and human skills. The aim of sustainable development is to meet human needs through the utilisation of natural resources without depleting, them. The concerns of richer countries are still as relevant as these countries still do not ensure health and safety for all of their populations. Agenda 21 emphasised that richer countries must learn to utilise their local resources better, thereby ending the exploitation of the resources of southern hemisphere countries. Capacity Building : It refers to the development of the structures, resources and skills needed to make the necessary changes. This includes training, information, collection and dissemination, establishment of appropriate institutions and machinery, government regulations and finally, market incentives. Partnerships : Inter sectional coordination was stressed upon in Agenda 21. It refers to different sectors or groups working together as well as increasing the partnerships between the community and voluntary groups, businesses, local authorities and other sectors on practical projects at a local level.

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Combating Poverty : Agenda 21 recognised that environmental problems and their solutions were dependent upon social and economic issues. It also asked for improving the quality of life of all the people today as well as averting the threat of environmental catastrophe in the future. The fundamental importance of a secure and decent home for all was also recognised by it. Agenda 21 is a very egalitarian document, which stressed on the necessity of narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and empowering poor people to develop their own solutions. It stressed on combating poverty, which was recognised by it as a cause as well as a consequence of environmental damage. Agenda 21 emphasised upon the importance of increasing people’s control over their own local environment, thus enabling them to take action to improve their communities environmentally, socially and economically. All poor and disadvantaged people must be fully involved in developing solutions, it stated in explicit terms. Linking : While focusing on developing actions at the local level to involve communities in becoming sustainable, Agenda 21 also called for increased linkages between all the countries, especially between the developed and developing countries, to exchange knowledge, technology and skills. Indicators : The development of indicators to monitor progress towards sustain ability was important in the structure of Agenda 21. Indicators were required to guide policy decisions at all the levels of government. These were supposed to provide information about how development was affecting life support systems. These were supposed to coordinate the tremendous amount of knowledge that already existed. These ought to provide insights into the state of the environment and society, making it comprehensible and meaningful to ordinary people. Local Agenda 21 : It was estimated that over two-third of the statements in Agenda 21 could not be delivered without the cooperation and commitment of the local government. Chapter

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28 of the Agenda called on all the local authorities (councils) to develop a local strategy for achieving sustainability. This document was called Local Agenda 21. Community Involvement : In developing a Local Agenda 21, the whole community should be involved, according to the document of Agenda 21. This was a major challenge for the local authority who would facilitate, rather than control, the development of a Local Agenda 21. Groups that were highlighted as being of particular importance in being involved were listed in Section 3 of Agenda 21. Local Agenda 21’s should be completed by 1996 and should be such strategies as outline a plan of action and a follow-up activity, according to the document of Agenda 21. Every Local Agenda 21 shall be different, reflecting the environmental and economic circumstances and the needs and priorities of the local community, according to the same document. The Local Agenda 21 process was outside the gamut of the existing planning system. It gave communities an opportunity to get involved in the whole process from the beginning, i.e., from the proposal stage onwards, rather than just making comments and opposing development. Contents : Agenda 21 is a substantial document of over 600 pages; it is a long and often repetitive with the language used often being obscure. Sections of Agenda 21 Section 1 = Social and Economic Dimensions : This stressed on how environmental issues were interdependent with social economic issues that included poverty, health, demographic dynamics, trade and consumption. It also stressed on how environment and development issues ought to be integrated into decision-making. Section 2 : Conservation and Management of Resources: For Development : This section described how resources,

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including land, energy, seas and waste, must be sustainably managed. An integrated approach to the planning and management of land resources was advised. There were chapters on fragile ecosystems which were vulnerable to draught and deforestation, protecting oceans, seas and preserving the quality and supply of our freshwater resources. The management of waste, including toxic waste, was also covered by this section of the Agenda. Section 3 : Strengthening : The Role of Major Social. Groups : All the groups, including disadvantaged groups, had to be involved in the process of sustainable development. Specific groups like women, children and youth, indigenous people, non-governmental organizations, local authorities, business, industry, workers, trade unions, scientists and farmers were in sharp focus.. Section 4 : Means of Implementation : This section covered “capacity building,” including the promotion and transfer of technology, education, training and public awareness. It also covered the governmental and non-governmental activities, which were needed to ensure that Agenda 21 progressed. Funding was also covered, with figures being indicative estimates only and actual funding being dependent upon specific strategies and programmes.

Protocols and Summits Some other conventions and protocols that were passed or signed to check environmental decay and facilitate cooperation between the developed and developing nations, are as follows: (a) Montreal Protocol : It was signed in 1987. According to it, CFC production was supposed to be frozen to 1990 levels. The production of halons was to be freezed from 1994 onwards. Those developing nations that were consuming less than 0.3 kg of CFCs were exempted

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from these clauses for 10 years. The protocol was deemed effective from January, 1989. (b) Helsinki Declaration: It was signed in 1989. It planned to phase out CFC production by 2000. (c) London Conference: It was organised in 1990. Developed nations were supposed to phase out CFC production by 2000 and developing nations were supposed to do so by 2010. (d) Copenhagen Conference : It was held in 1992. It aimed at phasing out CFC production by 1996, that of halons by 2000, that of CCl4 by 1994 and that of HCFC by 2030. (e) The Rio Earth Summit : It was organised in 1992. It put forth Agenda 21; the same has been covered in Section 9.12.7. (f) Kyoto Conference : It was held in 1997. It aimed at cutting GHG production by 5.2 per cent to 1990 levels by 2008-2012 levels. China was supposed to cut GHG production by 6 per cent, the USA by 7 per cent. India and China were exempted from such regulations. The Protocol deliberations also covered CO2, Methane, Nitrous Oxide, Hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. The Protocol had stated that countries could also fulfil their commitments jointly or through regional agreements. (g) Doha Summit : The latest summit in the context of environmental control was organised in Doha in 2002. The developed nations wanted the developing ones to adopt her technologies to curb emissions but the latter were keen to persuade the former to reduce their pollution levels.

Multiplier Factors Tourism Income Multiplier : The term ‘multiplier’ explains the relationship between the investment and the resultant income

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from the investment, which may be a multiple of the initial investment. The investment giving rise to income is called Multiplier Effect. Every time money changes hands, it provides new income. More often the changes occur, greater is its beneficial effect on the economy of the recipient country. National Income Multiplier : Earnings from tourism are an important contributor to the national income of a country. In India, there is a great contribution of domestic tourism to national income. The flow of money effected by tourism spendings acts as a multiplier as it passes through various strata of the economy. Various facilities such as hotels, restaurants, museums, clubs, sports, national parks, public transport, etc. are used not only by domestic tourists and visitors, but also by businessmen and residents. A significant contribution is also made by foreign tourists. Tourists also contribute to tax revenues of the states and union government. They pay sales tax, when they go on shopping sprees. They pay entertainment tax when they enjoy cinema, dance programmes, etc. Tourism generates employment, builds vital infrastructure of the country and makes her a vital part of global trade. Activities related to tourism also contribute to regional development. Industry Income Multiplier : As a source of income, tourism activities cannot be measured with any degree of accuracy. This is due to the multiplier effect. In the context of tourism administration, this effect may be described as follows: The money paid by a tourist in paying his hotel bill would be spent by the hotel management to compensate for the costs, which it (the hotel) had incurred in satiating the demands of the tourist. Such goods and services may be food, drinks, beverages, electricity, room cleaning, house keeping and other. Tourist spendings support the hotel, restaurant, catering, nightlife, transport, entertainment, handicraft, handloom, textile and other industries, which supply goods and services to the tourist industry. These industries, in turn, spend their revenues to get goods and services from various primary and secondary industries. Hence,

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money spent by tourists spreads across various sectors of the economy and used several times over. Leakage Effect : We have already seen the effect and concept by multiplier effect in previous discussion. However, this spread of money is not absolute. There is leakage, which may occur as a result of import of goods, payment of interest on loans, etc. Such kinds of leakage reduce the multiplier effect. The advanced countries, which are self-sufficient and do not need to import, tend to have higher values of the multiplier effect. The countries, which are less self-sufficient and need to support the tourist industry by imports, have less values of the multiplier effect. If the developing countries have to gain maximum economic benefits from their tourism operations, they should curb imports and keep foreign investments at reasonable levels. Leakage, therefore, may harm the tourism industry of a nation, or reduce the benefits accrued to her because of tourism. The most important leakage would be witnessed when agricultural and marine products like food, sea animals and drinks are imported because a good portion of tourist consumption consists of’ food products. In a developing country, the tourist establishment can be regarded as advantageous if a major part of the food stuff is found in that country or whose economic structure is largely agricultural in character. Homegrown products could be substituted for imported food shifts to mitigate the effect of this type of leakage. In an economy, a high proportion of leakage tends to lower the tourism income multiplier effect and tourism would not stimulate the local economy. On the other hand, a low proportion of leakage tends to increase the tourism income multiplier effect and thus, tourism contributes a lot to stimulate the local economy. New concepts have emerged in the context of leakage effect. The predominantly importing nations are also the predominantly exporting ones. These are also the nations that have the most advanced economies. Examples : The USA,

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Canada, Belgium, the UK, Japan, Australia. Leakage effect in these nations is not prominent because their currencies, infrastructure, industries and economies have gone beyond the take-off stage. They do impose anti-dumping dutiers on nations like India. But they import all those items that are not available in their regions, or the ones that they cannot produce at low costs. India must also learn this precept. She can also import as her economy has been finely tuned with world economy. Leakage, in the new millennium, would be a combination of such factors as undue expenditures on infrastructure (that could have been avoided), import of those items that are easily available in India, too much dependence upon foreign equipment to be used for the tourism industry. In addition, smuggling of Indian antiques, artifacts, paintings is also a drain on our tourism economy. Foreigners would not come to India to see these relics of the past, if they can put their hands on them in their respective countries. Infrastructure Multiplier : Sound infrastructure is a great prerequisite for tourism activities. Many regions of India are not getting benefits of tourism simply because of the lack of modern infrastructure. In fact, those countries or regions within the countries, that have adequate infrastructure are the greatest beneficiaries in this context. Income from tourism is used for expansion and modernisation of infrastructure in a country. The benefits from this investment on infrastructure may be shared by other sections of the economy. Example : The hoi polloi (other than tourists) also enjoy the facilities of airports, roads, hotels information systems, cafes, discotheques, theme parks, etc. Thus, creation of infrastructure may provide a basis for many economic sectors like industry and agriculture. The outcome of this complex process brings about an equilibrium of general economic growth. Employment Multiplier : It is similar to tourism income

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multiplier. If domestic and international tourists visit India, her youths would be employed in hotels, restaurants, bars, discotheques, sea resorts, beaches, transport organsiations, airlines and hotels. This list is not exhaustive. Further, people can also be employed in those industries that support the tourism industry of the country. Examples : handloom, automobile, electric power, ocean development, arid zone development, mountain development and regulation, health, handicraft and other industries from which, the tourism industry draws its vital inputs are some of the examples in this context.

Self-development Scheme The PSD programme is different from other programmes inasmuch as it works on the assumption that any individual when provided with a basic framework is intelligent and capable of training himself. Whereas all the cognitive inputs with some paper skills can be picked up from the preceding chapters, learning is crystallised on the job. Practical training is given where a participant is made to come to actual grips with situations, systems and methods. Large chain operations may have fullfledged training departments to guide a new recruit in the job. The PSD system is primarily meant for those who have to, or want to, develop themselves with their own individual efforts when the basic framework is provided.

Tools of Observation The WTO lists all the tasks that exist in various job positions of the Front Office. From this list a participant can decide what he knows and more important what he does not know. Weekly training after ascertaining what he does not know, the participant prepares schedule his own training schedule. The participant decides how much time he would like to spend on learning a task. He may also decide to have meetings with concerned staff to sharpen his learning experience. These meetings may be fixed in advance and recorded in the Work Schedule. The

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schedule also has a column, Proposed Schedule of the task number as listed in the WTO and the title. The Actual Schedule column is the deviation from the proposed schedule. This is a personal record that indicates that the proposed schedule must be covered later in the week. Name and Hotel ........................... Week of ......................... Number of tasks approved.........

This week

...............................To Date

Counsellor’s Signature

Mon.

Tue.

Wed.

Thu.

Fri.

Sat.

Sun.

Hours Proposed Schedule Task No. and Title Actual Schedule Other Tasks Approved Weekly Training Schedule

Counsellor : The Weekly Training Schedule has the signature of a counsellor. A counsellor is someone who is knowledgeable about a task and his authority in the work environment. He may be approached to give guidance and endorse the participant’s attempt at training himself. Though having a counsellor makes the PSD Programme most effective, it is not absolutely essential. Quizzes : Quizzes are provided to test a participant’s knowledge. These must be done honestly and objectively otherwise a participant’s level of competence can never be ascertained. It is preferable to have the counsellor correct them.

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Important Points 1. A participant should not attempt more than two tasks a day. 2. Give a day off for recapitulation. This should normally be the working off day. 3. Spend a maximum of two hours in a day. 4. Fix meeting dates and time well in advance and with the approval of the department head. 5. Be careful in choosing a counsellor. He should guide you correctly. The department head would be the right person as he would be knowledgeable and also committed to your efforts. 6. Schedule those tasks in a day that give you flexibility to attend to them apart from the daily work. 7. Tasks should be related to each other. 8. Tasks undertaken in a day should be in the same section of the department. 9. Above all, be honest with yourself right through the PSD programme. Note: A participant may work on several tasks simultaneously or may work on a single task over a period of days.

7 ECONOMIC SIGNIFICANCE OF TOURISM The World Tourism Conference held at Manila, Philippines in October, 1980 considered the nature of tourism phenomenon in all its aspects and the role tourism is to play in a dynamic and vastly changing world. Convened by the World Tourism Organization (WTO), the conference also considered the responsibility of various countries for the development and enhancement of tourism as more than a purely economic activity of nations and peoples. The significance of tourism to developing countries came up for detailed discussion during the conference. The participants in the World Tourism Conference attached particular importance to its effects on the developing countries. The conference from the beginning pronounced itself on this subject. It stated its conviction that “the world tourism can contribute to the establishment of a new international economic order that will help to eliminate the widening economic gap between developed and developing countries and ensure the steady acceleration of economic and social development and progress, in particular

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of the developing countries”. The Manila Declaration on world tourism considered almost all the aspects of the tourism phenomenon. Besides the economic aspects, social, cultural, spiritual aspects also were considered. The conference was also convinced that world tourism can be a vital force for world peace and can provide the moral and intellectual basis for international understanding and interdependence. The Manila Declaration states: (i) Tourism is considered an activity essential to the life of nations because of its direct effects on the social, cultural educational and economic sectors of national societies and their international relations. Its development is linked to the social and economic development of nations and can only be possible if man has access to creative rest and enjoys the freedom to travel within the framework of free time and leisure whose profoundly human character it underlines. Its very existence and development depend entirely on the existence of a state of lasting peace, to which tourism itself is required to contribute. (ii) On the threshold of the twenty-first century and in view of the problems facing mankind, it seems timely and necessary to analyse the phenomenon of tourism, in relation fundamentally to the dimensions it has assumed since the granting to workers of the right to annual paid holidays, which moved tourism from a restricted elitist activity to a wider activity integrated into social and economic life. (iii) As a result of people’s aspirations to tourism, the initiatives taken by States regarding legislation and institutions, the permanent activities of voluntary bodies representing the various strata of the population and the technical contribution made by specialized professionals, modern tourism has come to play an important role within the range of human activities. States have

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recognized this fact and the great majority of them have entrusted the World Tourism Organization with the task of ensuring the harmonious and sustained development of tourism, in cooperation, in appropriate cases, with the specialized agencies of the United Nations and the other international organizations concerned. (iv) The right to use of leisure, and in particular the right to access to holiday and to freedom of travel and tourism, a natural consequence of the right to work, is recognized as an aspect of the fulfilment of the human needs by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as by the legislation of many States. It entails for society the duty of providing for its citizens the best practical, effective and non-discriminatory access to this type of activity. Such an effort must be in harmony with the priorities, institutions and traditions of each individual country. (v) There are many constraints on the development of tourism. Nations and groups of nations should determine and study these constraints, and adopt measures aimed at attenuating their negative influence. (vi) The share of tourism in national economies and in international trade makes it a significant factor in world development. Its consistent major role in national economic activity, in international transactions and in securing balance of payments equilibrium makes it one of the main activities of the world economy. (vii) Within each country, domestic tourism contributes to an improved balance of the national economy through a redistribution of the national income. Domestic tourism also heightens the awareness of common interest and contributes to the development of activities favourable to the general economy of the country. Thus, the development of tourism from abroad should be accompanied by a similar effort to expand domestic tourism.

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(viii) The economic returns of tourism, however real and significant they may be, do not and cannot constitute the only criterion for the decision by States to encourage this activity. The right to holidays, the opportunity for the citizen to get to know his own environment, a deeper awareness of his national identity and of the solidarity that links him to his compatriots and the sense of belonging to a culture and to a people are all major reasons for stimulating the individual’s participation in domestic and international tourism through access to holidays and travel. (ix) The importance that millions of our contemporaries attach to tourism in the use of their free time and in their concept of the quality of life makes it a need that governments should take into account and support tourism. (x) Social tourism is an objective which society must pursue in the interest of those citizens who are least privileged in the exercise of their rights to rest. (xi) Through its effects on the physical and mental health of individuals practising it, tourism is a factor that favours social stability, improves the working capacity of communities and promotes individual as well as collective well-being. (xii) Through the wide range of services needed to satisfy its requirements, tourism creates new activities of considerable importance which are a source of new employment. In this respect, tourism constitutes a positive element for social development in all the countries where it is practised irrespective of their level of development. (xiii) With respect to international relations and the search for peace based on justice and respect of individual and national aspirations, tourism stands out as a positive and ever-present factor in promoting mutual knowledge and understanding and as a basis for reaching a greater

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level of respect and confidence among all the peoples of the world. (xiv) Modern tourism results from the adoption of a social policy which led to the workers’ gaining annual paid holidays and represents the recognition of a fundamental right of the human being to rest and leisure. It has become a factor contributing to social stability, mutual understanding among individuals and peoples and individual betterment. In addition to its well-known economic aspects, it has acquired a cultural and moral dimension which must be fostered and protected against the harmful distortions which can be brought about by economic factors. Public authorities and the travel trade should accordingly participate in development of tourism by formulating guidelines aimed at encouraging appropriate investments. (xv) Youth tourism requires the most active attention since young people have less income than others for travelling or taking holidays. A positive policy should provide youth with the utmost encouragement and facilities. The same attention should be provided for the elderly and handicapped. (xvi) In the universal efforts to establish a new international economic order, tourism can under appropriate conditions, play a positive role in furthering equilibrium, cooperation, mutual understanding and solidarity among all countries. (xvii) Nations should promote improved conditions of employment for workers engaged in tourism and confirm and protect their right to establish professional trade unions and collective bargaining. (xviii) Tourism resources available in various countries consist of space, facilities and values at the same time. These are resources whose use cannot be left uncontrolled

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Travel and Tourism without running the risk of their deterioration, or even their destruction. The satisfaction of tourism requirements must not be prejudicial to the social and economic interests of the population in tourist areas, to the environment or, above all to natural resources, which are the fundamental attractions of tourism, and historical and cultural sites. All tourism resources are part of the heritage of mankind. National communities and the entire international community must take the necessary steps to ensure their preservation. The conservation of historical, cultural and religious sites represents at all times, and notably in time of conflict, one of the fundamental responsibilities of States.

(xix) International cooperation in the field of tourism is an endeavour in which the characteristics of peoples and basic interests of individual States must be respected. In this field, the central and decisive role of the World Tourism Organization as a concept-utilizing and harmonizing body is obvious. (xx) Bilateral and multilateral technical and financial cooperation cannot be looked upon as an act of assistance since it constitutes the pooling of the means necessary for the utilization of resources for the benefit of all parties. (xxi) In the practice of tourism, spiritual elements must take precedence over technical and material elements. The spiritual elements are essentially as follows: (a) the total fulfilment of the human being; (b) a constantly increasing contribution to education; (c) equality of destiny of nations; (d) the liberation of man in a spirit of respect for his identity and dignity; (e) the affirmation of the originality of cultures and respect for the moral heritage of peoples.

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(xxii) Preparation for tourism should be integrated with the training of the citizen for his civic responsibilities. In this respect, governments should mobilize the means of education and information at their disposal and should facilitate the work of individuals and bodies involved in this endeavour. Preparation for tourism, for holidays and for travel could usefully form part of the process of youth education and training. For these reasons, the integration of tourism into youth education constitutes a basic element favourable to the permanent strengthening of peace. (xxiii) Any long-term analysis of mankind’s social, cultural and economic development should take due account of national and international tourist and recreational activities. These activities now form an integral part of the life of modern national and international societies. Bearing in mind the acknowledged values of tourism which are inseparable from it, the authorities will have to give more increased attention to the development of national and international tourists and recreational activities, based on an ever-wider participation of peoples in holidays and travel, as well as the movement of persons for numerous other purposes, with a view to ensuring the orderly growth of tourism in a manner consistent with the other basic needs of society. (xxiv) The States and other participants in the Conference, together with the World Tourism Organization, are strongly urged to take into account the guidelines, viewpoints and recommendations emanating from the Conference so that they can contribute, on the basis of their experience and in the context of their day-to-day activities, to the practical implementation of the objectives set with a view to broadening the process of development of world tourism and breathing new life into it. (xxv) The Conference urges the World Tourism Organization

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Travel and Tourism to take all necessary measures, through its own internal machinery and, where appropriate, in cooperation with other international, inter-government and nongovernmental bodies, so as to permit the global implementation of the principles, concepts and guidelines contained in this final document.

The Manila Declaration on world tourism considered almost all aspects of tourism phenomenon, which included economic, social, cultural, spiritual and environmental aspects. The economic and social impacts of tourism for the countries promoting and developing tourism, however, found a special mention in the declaration. The economic returns of tourism, according to the declaration, were real and significant in terms of employment generation, balance of payments, and improved balance of the national economy through a redistribution of the national income. Understanding of tourism impacts is very, important as this would provide clear insight into the way it should be developed and promoted. Tourism impacts come in different shapes and forms. These are often discussed in terms of economy, physical environment of destination, area, social structure and environmentally sustainable development. Economic aspects broadly concern issues of employment generation, regional development of underdeveloped areas, balance of payments and foreign exchange. Social Structure relates to issues of culture, traditions, interpersonal relationships and lifestyles of both visitors and host communities. Physical Environment issues concern landscape, ecological conservation and land use in both built-up and natural areas.

Effects of Economy Most countries develop tourism because of its economic impact. The main reasons for encouraging tourism development have been the income and employment generation benefits created by visitor expenditure in the host areas. The income and

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employment impacts can be spread over to several areas/ regions of a country in the following manner: • Most directly in areas with a buoyant level of tourism. • Labour-intensive accommodation units such as hotels spread over in a large number of attractions. • Ground-handling arrangements of several types. • In underdeveloped areas where there are few other jobs available. • Income from interest payments on loans advanced to various sectors with special reference to purchase of high-value equipment like aircraft. • Income from taxation on tourism activities such as valueadded tax on hotels. • Direct taxation on tourism to raise additional public income (tax imposed on accommodation or departure tax at airports). The status of tourism as a major economic activity is recognised as an expenditure by international visitors (visitor exports) amounting to about 600 billion US dollars in the year 1999. The total number of international visitors involved in the year 1999 were estimated to be about 700 million. According to a report by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) travel and tourism is “expected to generate about 3.5 trillion US dollars of GDP and almost 200 million jobs across the world economy in 1999; approximately one third of this comes from the industry itself and the remainder from its very strong catalytic flow-through effect in other sectors such as retail and construction. World travel and tourism GDP is forecast to increase in real terms at 3.0 per cent per annum in the decade 2010. In the same period employment in travel and tourism is expected to grow at 2.6 per cent per annum.” The World Travel and Tourism Council has summarised the world highlights concerning travel and tourism industry as follows:

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Travel and Tourism • The travel and tourism economy will account for 11.7 per cent of world GDP in 1999. • Travel and tourism has emerged strongly from the Asia Crisis with leisure tourism expected to grow by 4.7 per cent in 1999 and business travel by 4.4 per cent. • Spending by international visitors will amount to 8 per cent of world exports in 1999 with further impact by export of travel and tourism-related goods. • Travel and tourism-related GDP is forecast to increase at 3 per cent per annum in real terms. • Over 8 per cent of all jobs worldwide will depend upon travel and tourism. • Travel and tourism will support the creation of over 5.5 million jobs per year over the next decade.

Travel and tourism can be considered the world’s largest industry and the largest creator of employment across the economy. Looking back, much work on tourism impacts or significance focussed mainly on the economic benefits only. There was hardly mention of any social or environmental impacts or cost-benefit recognition. The emphasis towards economic benefits during earlier periods of tourism development was, however, not surprising considering the tact that most countries considered tourism as potential economic development activity. The massive economic gains derived from tourism, however, are seldom exclusive of social or environmental change. The environmental changes as a result of mass movement of tourists to host areas (destinations) leave behind profound social and environmental impacts. The manner in which these impacts are managed by the governments as also by private and public sectors in the host areas could determine the positive or negative results. Tourism has been recognised by almost all the countries as a major force. The question, however, arises as to whether tourism is an industry. Should this be judged primarily or even mainly

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through its economic impact? Do the tourists themselves think of travel as a primary economic activity? Are not the social and environmental issues of tourism as crucial as economic? Does tourism not help in the development of international understanding? Many attempts to evaluate tourism benefits fail because they limit their coverage only to economic issues. Proper understanding of tourism impacts can only be appreciated on a broad base which could include not only economic aspect but also socio-cultural and environmental aspects.

Dimensions of Economy Tourism has major economic significance for a country. The receipts from international tourism can provide a valuable source of earnings for both developed as well as developing countries. Visitor spending generates income for both public and private sectors, besides effecting wages and employment opportunities. Although tourism is sensitive to the level of economic activity in the tourist-generating countries, it provides more fixed earnings than primary products. The income from tourism has tended to increase at a higher rate than merchandise export in a number of countries, especially in countries having a low industrial base. There is now an almost assured channel of financial flows from the developed countries to the developing countries raising the latter’s export earnings and rate of economic growth. According to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), among the world’s top 40 tourism earners in 1995 about 18 were developing countries including India. Regarding the number of visitor arrivals, in some countries there were more visitor arrivals than the population. France with a population of 57 million received 70 million visitors in 1998; similarly, Spain with a population of 37 million received 47 million visitors during the same year. Several island countries in such areas as the Caribbean depend very heavily on tourist income resulting from visitor arrivals which often represents the major part of the GDP. Even developed countries like Canada, which derived over

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13 per cent of its GDP from international visitors in 1995, rely heavily on income from tourism. Tourism thus forms a very important source of income, especially foreign exchange for several countries. Although the quantum contributed in foreign currency per visitor varies from one destination to another, the importance of receipts from tourism in the balance-of-payment accounts and of tourist activities in the national revenue has become considerable for a number of countries. The major economic benefit in promoting the tourism industry has therefore tended to be the earning of foreign exchange. Income from foreign tourism in the form of foreign exchange earnings adds to the national income and, as an invisible export, may offset a loss on the visible trading account. This is more true in case of developing countries. For many developing countries, particularly the small countries, which are mainly dependent upon primary products such as a few basic cash crops, tourism often offers a more reliable form of income. In the case of some European countries, notably Spain, Portugal, Austria and Greece, the invisible earnings from tourism are of major significance and have a very strong positive effect on the balance of payments. Tourism is thus a very useful means of earning the much-needed foreign currency. It is almost without a rival as an earning source for many developed as well as developing countries. These earnings assume a great significance in the balance-of-payment calculations. The balance of payments shows the relationship between a country’s total payments to all other countries and its total receipts from them. In other words, it may be defined as a statement of income and expenditure on international account. Payments and receipts on international account are of three kinds: (i) the visible balance of trade (relating to the import and export of goods); (ii) invisible items (relating to the services such as shipping and insurance); and (iii) capital transfers. The receipts from foreign tourism form an ‘invisible export’, similar to other ‘invisibles’ which come from transportation and shipping, banking

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and insurance, income on investments, etc. Because most countries from time to time have serious problems with the balance of their international payments, much attention comes to be focussed on tourism because of its potentially important contribution to, and also effect upon, the balance of payments. The receipts from international tourism, however, are not always net. Sometimes expenditures are involved which must be set against them. Net foreign exchange receipts from tourism are reduced principally by the import cost of goods and services used by visitors, foreign exchange costs of capital investment in tourist amenities and promotion and publicity expenditure abroad. Peters has said: “Certain imports associated with tourist expenditures must be deducted. . . . the importation of material and equipment for constructing hotels and other amenities, and necessary supplies to run them; foreign currency costs of imports for consumption by international tourists; remittances of interests and profits on overseas investment in tourism enterprises, mainly hotel construction; foreign currency costs of conducting a tourismdevelopment programme, including marketing expenditure overseas.” Reliance on imports to meet tourist’s needs does not, however, deny developing countries the opportunity of earning foreign exchange in supplying such goods and services. Imports are, to a large extent, as essential to the operation of the tourist sector as to that of other sectors. The important question is whether the value added domestically on an export good or service is maximized. Maximization of import substitution without due regard to the effect on overall tourism receipts (i.e., demand) may be counter-productive. Secondly, differences in the pattern and level of reliance on imported goods and services, capital equipment and manpower are very wide depending upon the level of development of a country. In some cases, this reliance is simply due to a lack of resources that will be transformed into items to be sold to the industry. In others, the industry has not yet drawn on such supply potential, for which it may be an

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important stimulus. There is a general need for a careful programme of import substitution.

Promoters of Industry Multipliers are a means of estimating how much extra income is produced in an economy as a result of initial spending or injection of cash. Every time the money changes hands it provides ‘new’ income and the continuing series of conversions of money spent by the tourists form what the economists term the multiplier effect. The more often the conversion occurs, the greater its beneficial effect on the economy of the recipient country. Earnings from tourism occupy an important place in the national income of a country. Without taking into account receipts from domestic tourism, international tourism receipts alone contribute a great deal. The flow of money generated by tourist spendings multiplies as it passes through various sections of the economy. In addition to an important source of income, tourism provides a number of other economic benefits, which vary in importance from one country to another and also depending upon the nature and scale of tourism. Tourist facilities such as hotels, restaurants, museums, clubs, sports complexes, public transport, national parks are used also by domestic tourists and visitors, businessmen and residents; yet a significant portion of the costs may be borne by international tourists. Tourists also contribute to tax revenue both directly through sales taxes and indirectly through property, profits and income taxes. Tourism provides employment, brings infrastructural improvements and may help regional development. Each of these economic aspects can be dealt with separately, but they are all closely related and are considered together. Let us first look at the income aspect of tourism. Tourism as a source of income is not easy to measure, at least with any degree of accuracy. This is because of the multiplier effect. The flow of money generated by tourist spending multiplies

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as it passes through various sections of the economy through the operation of the multiplier effect. The multiplier is an income concept. The multiplier theory emerges from the work of Kahn and Keynes. It can be systematically explained as follows: from an initial impulse, such as investment or expenditure, there springs one or more primary effects such as income, savings, etc. These primary effects, in their turn, and in the course of a second period, produce secondary effects of the same type as the first. The process is repeated several times in a given lapse of time. The multiplier makes it possible to calculate the sum of the various primary, secondary and tertiary effects of the same type, and hence the relation between the total effects of the same nature and the primary effect. This relation is represented by the multiplier, which is then applied to the primary effect in order to arrive at the total effect. The multiplier mechanism has also been applied to tourism and in particular to tourist expenditure. The nature of the tourism multiplier and its effect may be described as follows: “The money paid by a tourist in, say, paying his hotel bill will be used by the hotel management to provide for the costs which it had incurred in meeting the demands of the visitor, e.g., such goods and services as food, drink, furnishing, laundering, electricity and entertainment. The recipients, in turn, use the money they have thus received to meet their financial commitments and so on”. In other words, tourist expenditure not only supports the tourist industry directly but helps indirectly to support many other industries which supply goods and services to the tourist industry. In this way money spent by tourists may be said to be used several times and to spread into various sectors of the economy. In sum, the money paid by the tourist, after a long series of transfers over a given period of time, passes through all sectors of the national economy, stimulating each in turn throughout the process. However, this transfer of money is not absolute as there are ‘leakages’ which occur. Such leakages may occur as a result

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of, say, importing foreign goods, paying interest on foreign investments, etc. Any leakage of these kinds will reduce the stream of expenditure which, in consequence, will limit and reduce the multiplier effect. Income generated by foreign tourist expenditure in countries possessing more advanced economies, which generally are more self-sufficient and less in need of foreign imports, will tend to have higher multipliers than countries which are less self-sufficient and need to support their tourist industries by substantial imports. If the developing countries are to gain maximum economic benefits from tourism, they should control very strictly those imported items of tourist consumption and to keep foreign investment expenditure to a reasonable level. The benefits, otherwise, accruing from tourism would be reduced or even cancelled by the leakages. The other leakages include: (i) remittance of incomes outside the host area, for example, by foreign workers; (ii) indirect and direct taxation where the tax proceeds are not respent in the host area; and (iii) savings out of income received by the workers in the hostel area. The most important leakage would appear to arise from expenditures on importation of agricultural products like food and drink. In a primary macro-economic approach to the prospects opened up by tourism establishment in a developing country, it is regarded as advantageous that a good portion of tourist consumption should consist of food products. It is estimated that the major part of these products can be found in those countries whose economic structure is largely agricultural in character. In this sense, tourist consumption, derived from international flow, can offer an assured outlet to a production which is already active within the country, without raising problems connected with export of such products in the international markets. Home-grown products could thus be substituted for imported foodstuffs and a significant saving effected. Such savings would help to increase the tourism multiplier, which, in turn, would help the host country to derive maximum

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economic benefits from its tourist industry. This aspect of the question is all the more important in that the multiplier effect maintains its efficiency as long as no importation takes place. It follows that if the national economy is to derive the maximum benefit from the impact of international and national tourism, there is an elementary obligation to find all those products needed for tourist consumption. The dynamics of agricultural production in recent years appear to confirm the ability of developing countries to produce the major part of their agricultural products required for tourist consumption without resorting to massive imports. The tourist economy of any country, if it is to remain healthy, must rely upon local agricultural production and this elementary condition seems today to be on the way to realization in the majority of developing countries. In an economy with a high proportion of leakages such as high tax rate or high import levels, tourism income multiplier (TIM) tends to be low and tourism will not stimulate the local economy much. On the other hand, with a low proportion of leakages, tourism income multiplier tends to be high resulting in the high contribution of tourism to the local economy. In general, the value Economic Dimensions of tourism income multiplier has been found to range between about one and two and a half.

The Reformations Expansion and modernisation of infrastructure is perhaps the single most important challenge to travel and tourism in reaching its potential for wealth and employment generation. Many regions in the world are not in a position to reap the benefits of tourism simply because of the lack of infrastructure. In fact, if we look at the countries and the regions within the countries, the ones having adequate infrastructure are the greatest beneficiaries. The world’s top 40 tourist generating and receiving countries all have excellent infrastructure.

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Income from tourism is an important source for expansion and modernisation of infrastructure in a country. The benefits from infrastructure investments, justified primarily for tourism— airports, hotels, roads, water supply, information systems and other public utilities—maybe shared by the other sectors of economy. In addition to development of new infrastructure, the improvements and upgradation in the existing infrastructure which are undertaken in order to attract visitors is also of crucial importance. These improvements would also confer benefits upon the resident population by providing them with amenities which, hitherto, they had not enjoyed. Furthermore, the provision of infrastructure may provide the basis or serve as an encouragement for greater economic diversification. A variety of secondary industries maybe promoted which may not serve the needs of tourism. Thus, indirectly, tourist expenditure may be responsible for stimulating other economic activities. One of the characteristics of under development is that of deficiencies in the basic infrastructures, which lie at the root of a series of serious problems related to the development of tourism. Construction of primary infrastructures represents the foundation of any future economic growth even though they are not directly productive. The tourist industry illustrates the elementary need for basic infrastructures. It has today the important benefit of being able to profit from the existing infrastructures and thus to make a decisive contribution to the growth of the national economy. The traffic arising from international and national tourism, moreover, represents a reward for the capital invested and can contribute to the financial efforts required for maintenance. The satisfactory degree of development achieved in this specific sector permits major tourist progress, while giving further proof of the complementary character of tourism in relation to other economic sectors. Creation of basic infrastructures for tourist usage will also be of service to the other sectors of the economy like industry and agriculture. The outcome of this is better equilibrium of general economic growth.

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Regional Progress Another important domestic effect relates to the regional aspects of tourist expenditure. Such expenditure is of special significance in marginal areas, which are relatively isolated, economically underdeveloped, and have unemployment problems. The United Nations Conference on International Travel and Tourism held in Rome in 1963 noted that tourism was important not as a source of foreign exchange, but also as a factor in the location of industry and in the development of lessdeveloped regions. It further stated that in some cases the development of tourism may be the only means of promoting the economic advancement of less-developed areas lacking in other resources. The underdeveloped regions of the country can greatly benefit from tourism development. Many of the economically backward regions contain areas of high scenic beauty and of cultural attractions. These areas, if developed for use by tourists, can bring a lot of prosperity to the local people. Tourism development in these regions may become a significant factor in redressing regional imbalances in employment and income. Tourist expenditure at a particular tourist area greatly helps the development of the areas around it. Many countries, both developed as well as developing, have realized this aspect of tourism development and are creating and developing tourist facilities in underdeveloped regions with a view to bringing prosperity there. Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh, which is now an internationally famous tourist attraction, is an example of one such region. A remote and unknown village about forty years ago, Khajuraho is now on the world tourist map attracting thousands of tourists both domestic as well as international. Today, Indian Airlines flies a jet plane between New Delhi and Khajuraho, and seats are not easy to come by. Thousands of tourists visit the place by air, rail and road-transport every month

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to see the architectural beauty of temples and erotic sculptures built by the Chandela kings, who held sway in North India from the ninth to thirteenth centuries. Out of the 80 odd temples built in Khajuraho, only 22 temples remain today; yet they are among the most glorious embodiments of Indian temple architecture, wreathed in seemingly living sculpture. Together they represent the finest expression of the art of medieval India. The area around Khajuraho now pulsates with life. The place has provided employment to hundreds of local people in hotels and shops. There is already a thriving clay model industry devoted to making replicas of the famous temple sculptures. A number of shops dealing with items of presentation, handlooms and handicrafts have created jobs for many. As a result of this, local people are recipients of additional income which has resulted in their increased prosperity. The subsequent development of areas around Khajuraho will provide additional employment opportunities resulting in general prosperity of the people. But for the development of tourism in the area, Khajuraho would have remained a remote unknown village. Many such areas of tourist interest where industrial development is out of question because of distance from markets, lack of raw materials and transportation facilities, scarcity of power, water, etc., can greatly benefit if developed properly. There is no dearth of areas which could, after they are developed for tourism, become great assets to the region in particular and to the country as a whole. The French government has created a series of new resorts particularly to bring prosperity to the areas which traditionally have been underdeveloped. The Italian government is likewise attempting to develop tourism in southern Italy in order to redress the economic imbalances which have long existed between the north and the south. Tourism is to be regarded not as an area of peripheral investment but as one of primary investment whose benefits will help in creating

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employment opportunities and in the regeneration of backward regions.

Job Opportunities Tourism creates employment. As mentioned earlier, the World Travel and Tourism Council had estimated that in the year 1999 travel and tourism was expected to generate almost 200 million jobs across the world economy, both direct and indirect. Approximately one-third of these jobs were to be directly from the industry itself and the remainder from its very strong catalytic flow-through effect in other sectors such as retail and construction. WTTC further expected that over 8 per cent of all jobs worldwide will depend on travel and tourism in 1999 and that the industry will support the creation of over 5.5 million jobs per year over the next decade. Looking forward, WTTC states that in the decade 2010, employment in travel and tourism is expected to grow at 2.6 per cent per annum. The majority of jobs associated with travel and tourism tend to come in the form of direct-service jobs in tourist-related facilities and attractions at the destination and in touristgenerating areas. However, the bulk of the jobs are in tourist destinations. These jobs are available primarily in accommodation sector (e.g., hotels), with travel intermediaries (travel agents, tour operators) supplying services, restaurants, shops selling discretionary goods and travel enterprises. In addition, employment opportunities are also available in other sectors of the economy which service and supply the main tourism sector, such as manufacturing and transport services, banking, agriculture and fisheries. Many of the jobs are created in areas where few alternative employment opportunities are available. The tourist industry is a highly labour-intensive service industry and hence is a valuable source of employment. It employs large number of people and provides a wide range of jobs which extend from the unskilled to the highly specialised.

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In addition to those involved in management, there are a large number of specialist personnel required to work as accountants, housekeepers, waiters, cooks and entertainers, who in turn need large number of semi-skilled workers such as porters, chambermaids, kitchen staff, gardeners, etc. In addition, it should be emphasised that tourism is also responsible for creating employment outside the industry in its more narrowly defined sense and, in this respect, those who supply goods and services to those directly involved in tourism equally are beneficiaries from tourism. Such indirect employment includes, for example, those involved in the furnishing and equipment industries, souvenir industries and farming and food supply. The construction industry is another very big source of employment. The basic infrastructure—roads, airports, water supply and other public utilities and also construction of hotels and other accommodation units—create jobs for thousands of workers, both unskilled and skilled. This important sector represents appreciable source of employment of manpower. In many of the developing countries, where a high rate of unemployment often exists, the promotion of tourism can be a great encouragement to economic development and, especially, employment. When discussing about employment, it is necessary to consider the seasonal nature of the tourism industry. In areas where general diversification alternatives are scarce, a combination of heavy dependence on tourism and highly marked seasonality calls for measures to develop off-season traffic. Employment Multiplier : Like income multiplier, employment multiplier does the same for employment. Employment multiplier can be expressed in one of the following two ways: (a) As a ratio of the combination of direct employment. At the destination, the jobs are directly created in the industry there. (b) As a ratio of secondary employment generated per additional unit of tourist expenditure to direct employment.

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The workers and their families require their own goods and services giving rise to further indirectly created employment in shops, schools, health-care institutions, etc. The value of the employment multiplier is similar to that of tourism income multiplier (TIM), assuming that jobs with average wage rates are created.

Role of Culture It may appear strange to discuss cultural tourism in this era of mass tourism. As an example of this conception of tourism, a statement by J. Fourastie may be quoted here: “It is necessary for us to lea to look, to behold, to meditate, to question actions virtual unknown if we are to judge by the bands of tourists who are content with a brief glance which will allow them to affix the mention ‘seen’ to the greatest number of countries or monuments. We c then hear them say ‘I have done Italy, Greece, Mexico’— as if it were sufficient to pass through a place to know it. A man who has seen ten cathedrals once has not seen a single one, a man who has seen the same cathedral ten times may perhaps have set something.” Nevertheless, the first appearance of tourism in the world had a cultural motivation, and tourism has always stood as a unique vehicle for the cultural propagation that is necessary to a deeper understanding of peoples. Tourism, with its basic element of movement, stands for the possibility of communication between differing civilizations and it has served in this sense since its first emergence. Tourism has always been an essential medium for broadening the limits of human knowledge. From the very early times, a mainspring of the urge to travel has been that based on the cultural interest. Even today we can witness large masses of people travelling to foreign countries to become acquainted with the usages and customs, to visit the museums and to admire works of art. As Medlik says: “When the tourist comes in contact with the place he visits and its population, a social exchange takes place. His social background affects the

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social structure and mode of life of his destination; he is in turn affected by it and sometimes carries back home with him new habits and ways of life.” Every type of civilization, from the most sophisticated and advanced to the most primitive, is a source of attraction and curiosity for mankind. Tourism remains basically a cultural phenomenon. One way of hastening the beneficial effects resulting from tourism is to bring the cultural heritage into the economic circuit, thus justifying the investments made at the cost of the national community for its preservation. Taking a strictly economic view of the cultural heritage of a nation may not be altogether justified, considering that the preservation of its culture is one of the basic responsibilities of any community. But considering the financial obstacles especially for the developing countries, this may appear to be a rational approach. Hence mass tourism can contribute unique benefits to the exploiting of the cultural heritage of a nation and can serve indirectly to improve the individual cultural levels of both citizens and foreigners, while at the same time developing into national wealth. The circle thus closes: cultural and tourist economy, instead of standing in opposition, derive reciprocal advantage from one another. An Italian illustrated review, the Milan Tempo, sometime back published a full-page advertising display featuring a middleaged lady of unmistakably foreign origin, wearing a flowered hat, sunglasses and gloves and laden with an assortment of parcels. The caption in the advertising display reads: “A foreign tourist stands admiringly before a work of art. She came to Italy for this purpose. She bought six pairs of shoes in Milan, nine table cloths in Florence and seven dresses in Rome. Our artistic heritage is an inexhaustible source of culture and wealth. Let us protect it!” There is an affirmation in the above publicity slogan as to how cultural resources are brought into the economic circuit of the country. Cultural resources have another specific characteristic which

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can act as a positive element in the developing countries. Those developing countries that possess an ancient civilization or an original culture can benefit greatly from tourism as many people would like to experience the exotic. There will be a great urge on the part of the tourist to visit and become acquainted with the ancient civilization. The greater part, if not the totality, of the developing countries possesses clearly determined and original characteristics capable of attracting flows of tourists from industrialized countries who are in quest of novel human knowledge. The main justification for cultural tourism is, in fact, not solely the cultural heritage alone. It also means the prospect of contact with other civilizations, their original and varied customs and traditions with their distinct characteristics. The entire process creates a powerful lever on motivation towards travel. A factor favourable to the developing countries is the unequalled and characteristic novelty of the different civilizations, ancient or recent, so revealed, which can only add a further and decisive motivation for undertaking the journey. A two-way exchange is thus achieved between the industrialized and the developing countries. This two-way exchange is expressed in the following terms by Boyer: “We can say that the tourist process provides or should provide for exchanges between economic values (from the countries which send out tourists) and cultural values (from the countries that receive tourists).” It may be added that Boyer is clearly referring to the industrialized countries as generators of tourists, and to the developing countries as receivers of tourists. The characteristic benefit resulting from cultural tourism for the national economies and the balance of payments of the developing countries are quite significant.

International Concept Tourism can be a vehicle for international understanding by way of bringing diverse people face to face. Tourism has played a major role in improving international understanding. It has

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been a contributor to international goodwill and as a prime means of developing social and cultural understanding among all peoples of the world. The interaction of a large number of people with the local population of the country visited results in making friends and goes a long way in increasing friendships. Tourism can greatly enrich and promote friendship and goodwill. People belonging to different countries, practising different lifestyles and speaking different languages come together to make friends. There is a mingling of cultures which has positive effects. Tourism helps to break down prejudices, barriers and suspicions that exist between nations. The best way of getting to know another country is to go there, and when vast numbers travel, the narrow, rigid boundaries that keep people in compartments naturally tend to shrink and a positive move towards better international understanding begins to operate. Tourism thus is not only an economic activity of importance inasmuch as it earns a country the foreign exchange. It is an important medium of social and cultural development and also of promoting lasting goodwill and friendship among the nations of the world. It also helps in the regional development of the country and acts as a means of social education and better understanding among the peoples in different regions of the country. In the long run, the most important contribution of tourism is developing understanding among varied cultures and lifestyles.

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8 COMMERCIAL ASPECTS OF TOURISM Before the introduction of price mechanism in the world, the goods and services produced were exchanged through simple barter system. The exchanges have always taken place through various means and it is through these exchanges that some sort of markets were evolved. These exchanges, however, have undergone a great change in the past and particularly since the advent of the industrialized societies first in the West and subsequently all over the world. In the early nineteenth century, most of the country’s production was conducted in small manufacturing units and on small scale. The market for the goods produced was also small and limited to the areas surrounding the manufacturing unit. Due to limitation of connectivity to other far-off places in the country it was rare that a particular manufacturer’s product were sold in other parts of the country. Another reason for products not finding wider markets was the absence of distribution channels and non-availability of products in sufficient quantities as required by these channels.

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The means of transport to carry the goods over to distant areas had not yet been evolved. Limited purchasing power as a result of considerable unemployment was yet another factor responsible for smaller and localised markets. Markets for products other than required as necessary for life was limited. Besides, only a fraction of the total population could afford to indulge in purchase of products other than those which were considered to be essential.

The Growth From the times of simple barters to the present-day complex marketing systems, exchanges of goods have always been taking place. These exchanges, however, have undergone many changes since the advent of the industrialized societies first in the West and subsequently all over the world. In the nineteenth century, most of the production of industrialized countries was conducted in small manufacturing units as the market for the goods was limited to the areas surrounding the manufacturing unit. It was seldom that a manufacturer’s product found place in other parts of the country. There were several factors responsible for limiting the sale of products of the manufacturing units within the local areas. The main cause was the lack of efficient and inexpensive transport systems to move the products to other areas. Another important cause was the absence of system of distribution channels as also nonavailability of sufficient quantity of products as required by these channels. The absence of quality products due to lack of competition and the means of transport to carry the products to distant areas were yet other inhibiting factors. Besides, large majority of people during this period had limited purchasing power as a result of considerable unemployment. Market for goods other than the necessities was rather limited. Only a fraction of the population could afford to indulge in purchase of products other than those essential for living.

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Vast Growth The post-industrialization period witnessed the induction of mass production of goods. A large number of people now had access to the products. Coupled with increase in purchasing power, as a result of higher employment and better wages, more and more people could buy products. Rapid industrialization placed at the disposal of the consumer a variety of products of improved quality and in abundant quantity from a number of competing manufacturers. More and more manufacturers came in the field as the number of products exceeded the demand. As a result of mass production and competition, the consumers for the first time had a choice to purchase the products from more than one manufacturer. Consumer choice as a result of competition compelled the manufacturers to give greater consideration to the needs of the consumers. Rapid industrial advancement also witnessed the growth in communication and transport systems. The advent of mechanised transport, first the railways and later road transport, made the physical distribution of products possible over much larger areas. The increasing quantity of production of different manufacturing units found markets in far off places and was distributed by means of railway and road transport systems enabling more and more people to purchase the same. Subsequently, mass communication means like telephones, telegraphs and newspapers greatly helped the manufacturers in disposing their goods and services. All these developments eventually led to the introduction and adoption of a new concept, i.e., the marketing concept by a large number of progressive and forward-looking manufacturing organizations.

View on Sale Marketing has been variously defined through time, by different people. However, the definition which reflects the nature of marketing most adequately is: “Marketing is a human activity

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directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes.” The British Institute of Marketing has formulated the following definition: Marketing is the management function which organizes and directs all those business activities involved in assessing and converting customer purchasing power into effective demand for a specific product or service and in moving the product or service to the final customer or user so as to achieve the profit target or other objectives set by the company. In essence, the marketing concept is a customer orientation backed by integrated marketing aimed at generating customer satisfaction. The important aspects of marketing concept are: Customer Orientation: The companies practising this concept think in terms of the benefits they are selling rather than the products. Dual-core Marketing Job: This implies that the first task of the marketer is to identify the customer’s needs in order to guide the development of the suitable products and services and the second task is to motivate all the potential customers, through various means, to purchase these products and services. Integrated Marketing : The customer orientation alone on the part of the management is not enough. To be effective it must be backed by an appropriate organizational set-up within the company. Integrated marketing represents such a set-up. It signifies the substitution of a single logic for several different logics of the various departments of the company. It implies the responsibility of the marketing department to ensure coordination of various company actions affecting the buyers. Application of the marketing concept has certain important benefits. First, the management using this concept realise that customer needs are more basic than particular products. This provides a more reliable and enduring base to the operations of such managements. Second, the focus on the customer

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needs helps the management to spot new product opportunities more speedily. Third, merchandising becomes more effective under this concept. This is because managements view their tasks as that of supplying want satisfaction rather than creating demand for its products among the customers. The physical product is only a part of the satisfactions sought by the buyer because he wants, in addition, conveniences, service and certain other symbolic values. Fourth, the managements are able to create more harmony between their interests and those of the society because the market orientation under this concept means that the managements build their future profits through seeking better ways to satisfy human needs. Marketing Practical : It is a well-known fact that as long as the inherent sense of curiosity and adventure dwells in the hearts of human beings, the desire to travel in order to see new sights and experience new things, to live under different environments, will always grow. It may be presumed that such being the case, marketing in tourism industry is greatly simplified as part of the process already been completed by the desire for travel in people. The best example would be that a person may or may not choose a tangible product which has been introduced by a manufacturer in the market, solely depending on his ability to afford it or his likes and dislikes. On the other hand, without exception, all human beings will always nurture a desire to travel in order to see places. The question then arises that if the desire is ever present in people to travel and experience’ new things, why then would the tourism industry need marketing efforts at all? Are the marketing problems in tourism so much different from marketing problems in other industries that it is justified to make marketing in tourism a subject for separate and specialized enquiry? To what extent can the concepts and

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principles, the techniques and methods of marketing which have been applied effectively in other industries be applied to tourism? Answer to both the above questions can be found by identifying and considering the differences between markets for physical, tangible goods on the one hand and the market for tourism on the other. The marketing concept, as the overriding philosophy of any business undertaking, contrasts with the production orientation. Here the emphasis is on producing goods or services whereafter a sales policy has to be devised to sell what has been produced. In tourism, on the other hand, the product, from a destination viewpoint, is an amalgam of various elements or components, some of which are tangible and some are intangible (services). The only open path for the organization in this case would be to inform itself about the consumer needs, expectations, attitudes of mind, likes and dislikes in order to formulate and constantly develop the tourist supply components or products. The marketing concept should, therefore, be understood as a reorientation of the business policy and an overhaul of the organization’s or enterprise’s management concepts and practices. It helps the tourist organization or enterprise to establish a consistent and effective communication system with actual and potential tourists in the selected markets or market, and to get to know their wishes, needs, motivations, likes and dislikes in order to be able to condition the tourist supply accordingly. The marketing concept, therefore, facilitates a breakthrough in the tourist system. Tourism is a very complex industry because of its multifaceted activities which together produce the tourist product’ and various sub-sectors that are themselves complete industries, if considered independently (lodging industry, transport industry, etc.). Besides, its complexity lies mostly in the fact that tourists are located in different places having different socio-economic structures, different needs, tastes, attitudes, expectations and

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behaviour patterns. It is therefore necessary to understand the people’s tastes and preferences. The understanding that people are different in the same market helps in satisfying their needs in a better way.

The Understanding Tourism marketing could be defined as the systematic and coordinated efforts exerted by tourist enterprises at international, national and local levels to optimise the satisfaction of tourists, groups and individuals, in view of a sustained tourism growth. According to Krippendorf, “Marketing in tourism is to be understood as the systematic and coordinated execution of business policy by tourist undertakings, whether private or state owned, at local, regional, national or international level to achieve the optimal satisfaction of the needs of identifiable consumer groups, and in doing so to achieve an appropriate return.”

Tourism : Consequences A ’product’ may be defined as the sum of the physical and psychological satisfactions it provides to the buyer. Marketing, by definition, is the development of a product to meet the needs of the consumer and then employing the techniques of direct sales, publicity and advertising to bring this product to the consumer. Availability of a product is the prerequisite for any organization which indulges in the marketing function. Unless there is a certain ‘product,’ be it tangible or intangible or a service, marketing is not possible. In the case of tourism, the product is the country’s natural beauty, climate, history, culture and the people. Other aspects of the produce would be the existing facilities necessary for comfortable living such as water supply, electricity, roads, transport communication and other essentials. In other words, the tourist product can be seen as a composite product, as the sum total of country’s tourist attractions, transport,

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accommodation and entertainment which hopefully result in consumer satisfaction. The tourist product can be entirely a man-made one or nature’s creation improved upon by man. Each of these components of a tourist product is supplied by individual providers of services like hotel companies, airlines or other suppliers, and is offered directly to the tourist by them. A consumer can combine these individual tourist products through a number of ways. There would be many possible destinations, each with a number of hotels, each to be reached by more than one airline. Thus the potential choice of the consume is very large. The growing number of tourist destinations have placed at the disposal of a tourist a variety of tourist products in abundant quantity from a large number of competing nations. This eventually has led to the adoption of the new concept, i.e., the marketing concept in tourism by various countries promoting tourism. The important point about modern marketing is that it applies to situations where the choice can be limited to a relatively small number of brands giving the consumer a reasonable choice. The process of selection thus becomes easier. In the field of tourism this process is taking place by the increasing use of package tours. A package tour is a travel plan which includes most elements of a vacation such as transportation, accommodation, sightseeing and entertainment. The tourist product is a composite product, whether it is sold as a package or assembled by the individual tourist himself or his travel agent. The tourist product can therefore be analysed in terms of its attractions, its facilities and its accessibility. Why to Tour?: Of the three basic components of a tourist product, attractions are very important. Unless these are there, the tourists will not be motivated to go to a particular place. Attractions are those elements in the tourist product which determine the choice of a particular tourist to visit one particular

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destination rather than another. The attractions could be cultural, like sites and areas of archaeological interest, historical buildings and monuments or scenic like flora and fauna, beach resorts, mountains, national parks, or events like trade fairs, exhibitions, arts and music festivals, games, etc.

The Comfortableness Facilities are those elements in the tourist product which are a necessary aid to the tourist centre. The facilities complement the attractions. These include accommodation, various types of entertainments, picnic sites, recreation and so on. These are indeed important for every tourist centre.

Direct Contact Accessibility is another important component in the tourist product. It is a means by which a tourist can reach the area where attractions are located. Tourist attractions of whatever type would be of little importance if their locations are inaccessible by the normal means of transport. If the tourist attractions are located at places where no means of transport can reach, or where there are inadequate transport facilities, these become of little value. The tourist attractions, which are located near to the tourist-generating markets and are linked by a network of efficient transport, receive the maximum number of tourists.

Fiscal Aspects Identification of markets like that of the product is crucial for any organization which adopts the marketing concept. In fact, the first step a marketing organization will have to take is to identify its markets. The term ‘market’ is used in a number of ways. It may be employed to designate the place where the buyer and seller of a good or service meet and between them the exchange transaction takes place. The buyer of goods or services may be the actual buyer or the potential buyer. It may

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be used in connection with a particular geographical area or in connection with a particular type of service or product. In the context of marketing and promotion, all of the above aspects are relevant, but especially those related to actual and potential buyers, to product and/or service and to geographical location. Another important additional element to be considered is the time factor. Taking into consideration all these elements, the ‘market,’ therefore, can be defined as “the totality of actual and/ or potential buyer of a given product or service in a specified geographical location at a given point in time or during a given period of time.”

The Classification A tourist market may be identified corresponding to each tourist product. The term market may be used to describe the collective actual or potential customers of tourism service or destination. It may apply to the geographical area, country, region or city from which a service or destination draws customers. The identification of tourist market, a segment of the total market, is of crucial importance. With a view to avoid waste, it is essential to reach only that fraction of the total market which is most likely to be attracted. Due to financial constraints, it is not possible for an organization to reach the entire market. Segmentation of the market is therefore made in order to achieve the most efficient use of marketing resources. Market segmentation is the process of identifying groups of buyers of the total market with different buying desires or requirements. Most markets are too large for an organization to provide all the products and services needed by all the buyers in that market. Some delimitation of the market is therefore necessary to ensure efficiency and also to conserve financial resources of the organizations. This leads organizations to select target markets

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necessitating market segmentation. Market segmentation has certain obvious advantages in that the organization is (i) better placed to spot and compare marketing opportunities, (ii) makes finer adjustments of the product and marketing appeals possible to cater to the needs of the buyers and (iii) can develop marketing programmes and budgets on the basis of a clearer idea of the response characteristics of specific market segments. The markets are divided on the basis of several factors. The most commonly used bases of market segmentation include (i) geographic segmentation (the market is divided into different geographic locations such as cities, provinces regions or countries); (ii) demographic segmentation: (on the basis of demographic variables such as age, sex, occupation, income, education, social class, religion, etc.); and (iii) psychographic segmentation (on the basis of psychographic variables which refer to such aspects of an individual as his lifestyle, personality, buying motives and product knowledge and use). In tourism, market segmentation is very important. T he strategy of market segmentation in tourism recognises that few vacation areas are universally acceptable and desired. Therefore, rather than waste promotion resources trying to please all travellers, the best market strategy is to isolate those segments of the entire market which are likely prospects and aim at the promotional efforts specifically to the wants and needs of these selected groups. Thus, one of the early steps in marketing tourism is to divide the present and potential market on the basis of meaningful characteristics and then concentrate promotion, supply and pricing efforts on serving these most prominent sections of the market—the target markets. Usually the market segmentation for tourism is in terms of demographic, geographic, psychographic, social and economic criteria. For example the market for a particular area might be largely archaeologists in their mid-years who have an income of over $80,000 per year

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and who live in mid-eastern United States, or it might be largely businessmen in the age group of, say, 40-60 years who have an income of over $100,000 per year and who live in southern parts of Germany. In tourism marketing, the total tourism market can be divided into the major segments mentioned above. A further segmentation, however, is possible within each of the above major segments for practical marketing purposes. This includes: The Vacation Tourist : The vacation or the holiday tourist is the most common and popular tourist. He is immensely affected by changes in price, and is easily influenced by skilled and aggressive marketing effort. This type of tourist is resort oriented (Rome, New York, London, Paris are resorts as much as Venice, Goa, Pattaya, Miami). The vacation tourist market has been regarded as highly seasonal. The Business Tourist : In recent years the market for business tourist has increased greatly. The choice of destination of a business tourist is generally determined by the nature of his business. The marketing efforts will not influence the choice of the business tourist much. Unlike the case of the vacation tourist, who has proved to be very sensitive to price changes, the demand for business tourism is relatively price inelastic. The demand will tend to be big-city oriented. The visits are of shorter duration and relatively frequent. Trade fairs, conventions, exhibitions, conferences and similar events attract this kind of tourism. The Common-interest Tourist : This segment comprises visits to relatives and friends, and visits for the purposes of education, pilgrimages, etc. Demand for this type of tourism will be relatively price elastic. The common-interest tourist will not be very readily influenced by the promotional efforts. The average length of his stay will be relatively longer. Because of his friends and relatives, he will not be a significant user of hotel and other such types of accommodation. The visits will not be frequent

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and expenditure relatively little on his stay as compared with the other two groups.

Important Traits From the ancient times when travel was a prerogative of a select few who travelled in search of adventure to the presentday jet travel, there have been many changes. Travel in ancient times was a simple affair and could be undertaken without utilizing the services of organizations like travel agents or tour operators. As a result, tourism marketing, as we know it today, was not needed then. The types of facilities which were required by the people for travel were provided to them by a handful of suppliers of such services. It was, however, the introduction of mass travel during the twentieth century that services of travel agents and others were needed. Introduction of air travel, especially jet travel expanded the travel, markets necessitating application of marketing techniques. Marketing in the field of tourism made its formal appearance only in the second half of the twentieth century. As the travel business expanded as a result of the introduction of air travel, it became necessary for managers of travel to use techniques of marketing for selling the tourist product. Marketing helps to create new customers by way of first identifying their needs and then trying to satisfy these. Customer satisfaction becomes a crucial part of travel sales. The first task of the travel marketer is identification of the customer needs in order to guide the development of suitable products and services. The second task is to motivate all the potential customers, through various means, to purchase those products and services. The objective of marketing in tourism can, therefore, be stated to be as attracting and motivating all the potential customers or users of tourist services to a particular destination and not to another.

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Tourism marketing, therefore, begins by a detailed assessment of the actual and potential demand and, on this assessment, development of facilities and services for use by customers. Tourist demand can be divided into ‘actual’ and ‘potential’; ‘actual’ demand represents those who actually travel to a certain tourist destination while ‘potential’ demand is the number of persons who fulfil the basic elements of travel and are, therefore, in a position to travel. Marketing of tourist product has certain peculiar characteristics. Although the general principles of marketing, which have proved quite effective in the marketing of products of other industries, could be applicable to marketing of tourist product, there are certain differences in approach. These differences are because of the peculiar character of the tourist product. Among the peculiarities of the tourist product are: Tourism is an Intangible, Non-material Product : Unlike a tangible product, say, a motor car, no transfer of ownership of goods is involved in tourism. Instead, certain facilities, installations, items of equipment are made available for a specified time and for a specified use. For instance, a seat in an aeroplane or a train for a journey from one point to another or a booking in a hotel through a travel agent or services such as information and advice are provided to a customer. Production and Consumption of Tourist Services are Closely Interrelated : The travel agent or tour operator who sells his product cannot store it. Production can only take place or can only be completed if the customer is actually present. There is a close link between production and consumption of tourist services. Most tourist services cannot be consumed incrementally. In other words, consumption, once begun, cannot be stopped, interrupted or modified at all. As a result, risk and uncertainty for the customer are higher, and his need for reliable prepurchase information is stronger. The potential customer’s

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decision risk and dependence on accurate information is further increased because he cannot see, inspect, compare, or try out tourist services before deciding to use them. A Tourist Product is Assembled by Many Producers : The tourist product cannot be provided by a single enterprise. Each of the components of a tourist product is highly specialized and together make the final product. This is not so in the case of other tangible products where one manufacturer produces a total product. In tourism, on the other hand, airline considers ‘seats flown’ or passenger miles to be product; a hotel produces ‘guest nights’, a travel agent ‘bookings’, while a theatre, museum or an archaeological site measures its ‘production’ in number of visitors. In the tourist’s view, however, the product he buys covers the complete experience of his visit to a particular place. In other words, the tourist product is not an airline a rail seat, or a hotel bed or a theatre ticket, but rather an amalgam of many components which together make a complete product. Because of these peculiar characteristics, coordination in marketing efforts is very crucial. Tourism Demand is Highly Unstable : Tourism demand is influenced by factors such as seasonal, economic, political, etc. Seasonal changes greatly affect the demand. Seasonality means that tourism plant is frequently used for only a limited part of the year and therefore uneconomic. Many tourist areas have short season—often as little as three months. A corollary of this seasonal usage is the seasonal unemployment, which is a serious problem. Some of the developing countries which have recently established tourist industries suffer particularly from seasonality. It also places strains on the transport system and other services. Thus seasonality presents a problem not only in relation to employment but also in relation to investment. On the other hand, political unrest and economic instability caused by currency fluctuations, inflation, etc., greatly affect tourism demand.

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Intermediaries Play a Dominant Role : In most industries, manufacturers have predominant control over product design, distribution, promotion and the pricing. On the other hand, in tourism, sales intermediaries like tour operators, travel agents, reservation services and hotel brokers play a dominant role and enjoy superior marketing strength. From the standpoint of tourism marketing, this strong position of travel trade has significant implications. The travel trade determines to a large extent which services will be sold and to whom. The type of services to be offered as well as the pricing policies and promotion strategies to be adopted by tourist enterprises, are, therefore, determined not only by the needs and preferences of the customers but also by those expressed by travel sales intermediaries. Travel Motivations are Diverse in Nature : It is comparatively simple to determine why people buy a certain make of refrigerator, smoke certain brands of cigarettes, use certain brand of toothpaste or prefer a certain type of packaged food. The subjective and objective reasons, expectations and desires which influence tourists’ choice for certain holiday destination, type of accommodation and vacation activities are far less evident. Very often two people make exactly the same choices for entirely different and sometimes even mutually exclusive reasons. Travel motivations, unlike motivations for buying a tangible article like a refrigerator, are heterogeneous— that is, they are composed of diverse elements. Marketing in tourism, therefore, as compared to marketing in other industries, needs a somewhat different approach. To a considerable extent, tourism marketing depends on various market factors mentioned above. Unlike the normal consumer product or service, the tourist product is marketed at two levels: (i) The national or regional tourist organization will be engaged in a marketing campaign to persuade the potential tourist to visit the country or region for which it is responsible. In view of the fragmentation of supply, the complementarity of tourist services, the predominance of many small- and medium-

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sized enterprises and importance of tourism to an economy, the official tourist organizations have important functions in tourism marketing. The official tourist organization will, however, not sell a tourist product directly to customers. It will have two major objectives. In the first place, it will seek to create knowledge of its country in tourist-generating markets and persuade visitors in these markets to visit that country. Secondly, it will seek to create an image of its country’s tourist attractions in the best possible manner in tourist-generating countries so that the potential visitors are attracted. (ii) The various individual firms providing tourist services can market their own components of the total tourist product after the national tourist organizations have launched marketing campaigns to persuade the potential tourist to visit the country or region for which it is responsible.

Administration Features During the initial days of industrializations, when the supply was short of demand, the emphasis was on sales management rather than market management function. The rapid industrial advancement subsequently placed at the disposal of the consumer a large variety of goods of improved quality and in abundant quantity from a large number of competing manufacturers resulting in supply exceeding demand. This compelled the manufacturers to give greater consideration to the needs of the consumers. This factor eventually led to the adoption of the marketing concept. Marketing concept in the field of tourism comprises the following major functions: (a) Market research (b) Product formulation and development (c) Product distribution (d) Advertising (e) Sales promotion (f) Public relations

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The Prospects One of the basic considerations for successful marketing is the need for research. It provides the information base for effective marketing. It relates to providing answers to various questions pertaining to the marketing activities. Market research can be defined as the “systematic collection of information relating to supply and demand for a product or a proposed product in such a way that the information maybe used by the organization to formulate informed decisions about its policies and its objectives.” The marketing process, in fact, starts by finding out answers to questions like who are the potential tourists where do they come from, what are their likes and dislikes, etc. In order to formulate any marketing strategy, it is very essential for a national tourist organization and others engaged or marketing a tourist product to know the answers to the following questions: (i) Who are the persons who engage in tourism and where do they live? (ii) Who are the potential customers and where do they come from? (iii) What are their likes and dislikes? (iv) What are their travel preferences and interests? (v) What do they buy and where do they stay? (vi) What mode of transport do they use? (vii) What are their entertainment preferences? (viii) What are the trends in competition? (ix) What type of marketing programmes would be needed? Market research provides answers to all the above questions. A national tourist organization’s promotion efforts without appropriate answers to the above questions will go waste. To make the overall marketing efforts effective and successful, as in the case of manufacturers of consumer products, the national

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tourist organization in a country has to be totally aware of the international trends in the travel habits, vacation habits and, most important of all, the reasons attributed to the better success of a competing destination. A marketing manager cannot visualise successful marketing strategy without having an up to date knowledge of their markets in general. It is very important to have detailed information on all the aspects of a market. Results of such research will work as guidelines for launching a successful marketing programme. Market research is a continuous process. There are various methods used to collect the data. Among the great variety of methods used, some seem to be widely resorted to because of their advantages over others. Two broad categories of marketing research techniques are (a) desk research and (b) field research. Desk Research : Desk research includes the collection and analysis of all available data, statistics and published information on tourist trends and markets. In tourism much of the basic information about tourist trends and markets is available from existing sources. There are a number of international organizations like United Nations, UNESCO, IUOTO, WTO, EC, OECD, IATA, ICAO, etc., which publish certain statistical information. Other data and statistics may be obtained from national tourist organizations, trade associations, carriers, hotel companies, etc. This information proves very useful in helping national tourist organizations to identify their markets and determine the objectives. This published information is of a particular use to those countries which do not possess resources enough to undertake independent market research. Field Research : Field research, on the other hand, is the research work carried out in the tourist-generating markets itself. The special investigations in the field are to be carried out with a view to know more details of the market situation. Field research includes many methods among which the most common are the sample surveys and motivation research.

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Sample surveys could be defined as the study of a given population through only a part or a fraction thereof. Much marketing information is obtained through the use of samples. In this method the population or ‘universe’ for which information is required is defined; for example, all households in a country might be the universe or population under investigation Then, a statistically valid sample of the population is drawn and information is obtained from the sample. Sampling technique consist of personal interviews of tourists, travel agents, carrier and hotel managers, etc., with the help of prepared questionnaires, by mailing questionnaires or through telephonic contacts. There are certain advantages of this method. Lower cost is the major reason why data are collected by sampling in place of complete enumerations. The actual obtaining of information from the sample units (i.e., households in this case) is done by way of use of interviews and questionnaires. The questionnaire is administered to the sample population and various data obtained. The sampling place could be anywhere. Interview may take place at homes or offices, at the places of arrival/departure or temporary stay. In many countries there are a number of specialized firms which carry out sample surveys. The survey investigations can be classified by reference to the kind of information they seek to provide. There are surveys of market behaviour, which record the holiday habits of the population, cross analysed by socio-economic and other characteristics. The trends in holidaymaking over many years may be seen and inferences made about the motives of holidaymakers. Furthermore, surveys maybe undertaken to monitor the conduct of marketing campaigns. Motivation research, on the other hand, attempts to describe and forecast the motives of the population under investigation by use of techniques originally used in psychology. Assuming that every individual knows what he wants, motivation research is oriented to discover the needs of potential tourists in order

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to adopt the tourist supply accordingly and thus be able to satisfy them. In other words, motivation research is the investigation into the motives behind travel. It concerns itself to answering the ‘why’ of human behaviour in contrast to answering the ‘how’, which is subject to sampling surveys. It analyses rather than describes the attitudes of both actual and potential tourists to travelling in general and to the tourist product offered in particular. Motivation research provides answers to very important questions. Research in the past has shown that people from some countries are traditional good travellers (the French, the Germans, the American and the British), while others have become a nation of travellers only recently (the Japanese). One of the most important techniques used in motivation research is the depth-interview method. The questionnaire to be used for this method needs to be carefully designed. As motivation research aims at discovering the deep, subconscious and even unconscious motives of human beings, an ill-designed questionnaire is likely to reach no deeper than the conscious level where rational factors prevail. Other techniques used are the projective methods like word-association tests, sentencecompletion tests and pictorial tests, etc., and observations. These means have been devised to record the reactions of a person and to understand his motives. Market identification through the method of market research leads to the next logical step, which is to develop a sound tourist marketing strategy. It may, however, be mentioned here that the market research, as a continuous process of investigating market conditions, is just a means to an end which is to develop a marketing strategy. This strategy aims at achieving certain objectives which could be an increase in the tourist traffic as well as increase in the foreign exchange receipts. These should be compatible with the characteristics of the market or markets and with the capacity of the tourist plant and facilities available. Realistic assessment of the market—its size, conditions and

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trends would therefore be the first step in developing the country’s tourist marketing strategy.

Economic Analysis In general marketing, the term ‘mix’ has gained prominence in the last few decades. Marketing mix means a mixture of elements which interact and complement each other to achieve the targeted results. Marketing mix can also be defined as “The mixture of controllable marketing variables that the organization uses to pursue the desired level of sales in the target market”. Marketing mix is a combination of the marketing variables which any organization uses at a particular time in order to achieve the results. The term ‘marketing mix’ was first introduced by Professor Neil Bordes in the year 1953. Professor Bordes got the cue from a study of management of marketing costs by Professor James Gulliton who described the marketing executive as a mixer of ingredients. The objective of marketing is to identify, anticipate and satisfy the customer needs in relation to markets. Within the limitations given by the market situation, by the available resources and the general direction provided by the organization’s overall aims, there is a broad range of different activities suitable for achieving the organization’s goals. The organization or a firm can use a variety of marketing ‘instruments’ in regard to its products or services, their pricing, their distribution or sale and their promotion. The combination of specific activities is called the marketing mix. Commonly described as the four P’s or the four variables, originally used to describe the marketing mix by McCarthy in 1960, these include: (i) Product (ii) Price (iii) Promotion (iv) Place or distribution

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Tourist marketing mix is largely a complex group of several factors intervening to achieve the end- product, which is the increased effectiveness in demand output in relation to supply and marketing investment by tourist enterprises. Marketing mix helps the marketing manager or a firm or an official tourism organization to understand where marketing action can be initiated to improve the acceptability of a tourist product and, at the same time, stimulate the demand. An example of this would be a policy of price reduction of tourist facility or service. This could be substituted either by increasing available facilities and services for the same price or by strengthening promotional activities due to competition and increasing sales output. A policy to combine both reduction of prices and extra facilities or extra advertising campaigns may or may not however achieve desired results. A tourist enterprise can use a combination of specific activities to achieve the best desired results. An enterprise can decide which of them to use, how, when and where to use and which resources to allocate to them. The various components of the ‘mix’ may be seen as cooperating with or replacing each other as complements or substitutes. Thus, the tourist marketing mix is largely a complex group of factors intervening to achieve the marketing ‘end product’, which is increased effectiveness in demand output in relation to supply and marketing investments (input). A balanced mix is necessary to reach this targeted result. The tourist marketing mix can include the following elements: (i) Product policy, (ii) Pricing policy, (iii) Promotion programmes, and (iv) Channels of distribution and sales. The use of tour variables in the marketing mix in travel and tourism industry can be described by an example of a wellknown luxury train “Palace on Wheels” in India.

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The Product • The characteristics of the product • Size and facilities offered • Staff members and their attitudes • Image, reputation, positioning (upmarket or economical) The Price • Normal • Promoting • Discounted • Corporate • Wholesaler rates • Seasonal The Promotion • Advertising (electronic, press) • Sales promotion • Public relations • Direct mail The Distribution • Channels of distribution • Reservation systems (CRS) • Intermediaries (travel agents, tour operators) • Airlines • Clubs/Associations The ‘marketing mix’ helps in the integrated approach to marketing. It helps the marketing manager, whether an individual or a firm or an official tourist organization, to understand where marketing action can be initiated to improve the acceptability

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of the tourist product and stimulate demand. ‘Marketing mix’ has both short-term as well as long-term aspects. The short-term aspects relate to meeting the immediate moves of competitors and include aspects like price reduction, aggressive promotion, introduction of a new product in the market, etc. Long-term aspects, on the other hand, are based on longer range plans derived from the study of all kinds of trends like natural, economic, social and technological. An Example: In the late seventies, the city of New York had a major problem. It had acquired a very bad image, a place where a visitor could be mugged, a woman walking alone in the dark molested or a hotel room burgled. There might have been only two such incidents on an average in a day in a city of twelve million people, but they were prominently splashed in the newspapers and a fear psychosis caught the rest of the Americans who avoided New York. Due to this fear, the number of visitors to New York from other parts of the USA and abroad dwindled, tax revenue declined, hotel occupancies went down and even restaurant sales were adversely affected. Several business corporations started moving out of New York, the largest and the most exciting city in the United States of America. New York is also one of the largest states and the commercial hub of the country. The Broadway Theatre is the city’s major tourist attraction. Among the other attractions are mountains and lakes, including the famous Niagara Falls. The authorities of the New York State decided to do something about it, to change the image of the New York State into a fun place for tourists, removing the ugly image of the city as an unsafe place to live in or to visit. They could not allow the economy of the city to be ruined by some stray incidents here or there. Economists had predicted a loss of thirty thousand to sixty thousand jobs due to this bad image. The Governor of the State created a new division of Marketing

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and Advertising which was assigned the creation of a new image to attract visitors. They hired the services of a major advertising agency to conduct research as to what Americans, other than New Yorkers, sought in a vacation and how they perceived New York as a place for their dream vacation. Some thirty thousand Americans were interviewed. The research revealed that most Americans visited New York State for (a) Broadway Theatre for plays and musicals, and (b) its open country, mountains and lakes. The advertising professionals then submitted their plan of action—a major advertising campaign—on television highlighting the two attractions. A score of leading Broadway actors and actresses sang a theme song on television commercials around the new slogan: I Love New York. The natural beauty of the State along with opportunities for open-air sports were highlighted. The State initially sanctioned five million dollars for this advertising campaign. A variety of publicity material was created for those who would seek information about New York. People were encouraged to call up and seek information, about New York on a toll-free telephone number (which does not cost the caller anything from anywhere in the USA because the owner of a toll-free number foots the bill). The advertising ran for five weeks and the total number of calls received for information exceeded ninety-five thousand. The campaign was an instant success. Within a year, it was discovered that average hotel occupancy was running at over eighty per cent, tax revenue had increased, new jobs had been created, restaurant sales increased and people started wearing I Love New York shirts and buttons on their own. Airlines flying out of New York collaborated to create their own TV commercials around the theme I Love New York and a massive promotion of New York started under its

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own steam in all parts of the USA and Canada, without much outlay on the part of the New York State. New York State also increased its own contribution and intensified its advertising campaign. Since then, tourism to New York has been on the upswing. No one talks about muggings and molestings anymore though it has not been wiped out—perhaps reduced marginally. But, the change of New York’s image is an example of tourism marketing in creating a new product which consumers could relate to. The product did not exist in the minds of the people—the marketers created it by fulfilling the needs of the customers. You may as well ask—where is the marketing in it? It is a simple case of selling New York as a tourist city. There is a difference. You sell a product that you have and do not concern yourself about customer’s preferences. The customer may lose interest, your sales may decline and ultimately you may be out of business. Here, the potential travellers were ignoring New York and going to other destinations because of fear. If no timely marketing action had been taken, New York would have fallen on even more bad days. The same is true of other products. Supposing you were in the business of manufacturing and selling shoes. If you did not worry about the fast-changing fashions and pattern of demand, there might not have been enough buyers to purchase the type of shoes you manufacture. If you want to remain in business, you have to manufacture shoes which buyers want and for that purpose constant research is needed. Therefore, marketing is an action plan to cater to the needs of the consumer, and ‘selling’ is to cater to the whims of sellers only. As we mentioned in the I Love New York story, the first and foremost requirement in such an action plan is market research.

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We must find out from the customers what they like or prefer. In the case of New York, the prospective visitors found their fulfilment in seeing the famous Broadway plays, visiting restaurants and enjoying the scenic beauty of New York State. And, the State offered that package. The new image of New York as a ‘fun’ place eclipsed the old image of lawlessness in the city. The second stage was preparation of the marketing plan—what to do, how and when to do it and getting approval from the decisionmakers.

The Interaction The third stage is communications with the buyers—in this case potential visitors to New York. The decision was to develop advertising commercials for television, based on the I Love New York theme and produce publicity material to support the campaign and simultaneously build up an organisation to disseminate the information in response to enquiries. Communications include promotion, advertising and public relations in all its aspects.

The Administration The fourth and most important stage is monitoring. We have to constantly watch how our campaign is doing. Is it producing results or is it unproductive? If it is producing results and increasing sales, it is fine. Otherwise, we have to devise new strategies. There lies the success of marketing. This, in sum, is the marketing process. Marketing principles are: research, planning, communications and constant monitoring. In the modern world, a well-thought out marketing plan is essential for success in any business. The following definition, developed by the British Institute of Management, may explain what marketing is all about:

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Let us take one more example, nearer home—Nepal, an independent kingdom in the Himalayas, was never a popular tourist destination with affluent Indian tourists till someone decided to package it in a way that Indian people could relate to it. Summer is relatively an off-season in Nepal. Most foreign tourists from Europe and America come to Nepal in the winter months, combining Nepal with India. The hotels are, therefore, half-empty in summer. A pioneering travel company called Holiday Nepal, persuaded hotels of different categories in Kathmandu to offer rock-bottom prices for rooms and meals for Indian visitors. Indian Airlines and Royal Nepal Airlines were persuaded to give discounts of thirty per cent on their fares during summer. The Casino in Nepal agreed to offer chips worth Rs 500, free of charge, to each passenger buying the package. The local tour operators joined hands in offering sightseeing at reasonable prices. Thus, all-inclusive tour packages to Nepal, lasting three to four days were advertised from major cities of India at very attractive prices. Knowing that the Indians prefer to travel with family, two children below twelve years of age were allowed free in the hotel room with parents. The package prices were so attractive that thousands of people grabbed it, setting in a new trend for Indians going to Nepal for holidays. Now, Nepal is a popular tourist destination for Indian visitors— no passports and visas are necessary for Indian citizens to visit Nepal and the Indian rupee is a legal tender in the country, along with Nepalese rupee. In the Nepalese tourist statistics, Indians are the largest group of foreign visitors every year—about forty per cent annually.

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Specific Traits Although principles of marketing are the same for all products, tourism has some peculiarities. These are summed up as under: • The tourism product is a combination of products and services. No single entrepreneur can produce it and each segment needs a high degree of specialisation. • The tourism product cannot be transported; a customer has to reach it to make use of it. • The tourism product or products cannot be stored for sale at a later date, a hotel room or an airline seat has to be used everyday or it is a total waste. In case you are dealing in readymade garments, you can store them if you are not getting the right price but it is not so with a tourism product. It has to be used today or it goes waste. • Any political upheaval, economic instability or natural calamity can immediately hurt the tourism product. Therefore, there is a certain amount of urgency in the marketing of tourism. This fact has always to be kept in mind—product must be sold today, even at a loss. Tourism marketing process will, therefore, comprise the following: • Fact-finding, data gathering (Market Research). • Communications to inform the public (Tourist Promotion). • Ensuring sale (Distribution Channels). • Coordination, control and evaluation (Monitoring the total Marketing Plan).

Meaning of Four ‘Ps’ While preparing a successful Marketing Plan, we deal with four Variables Called the four “Ps” in marketing jargon. These are:

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Product: In tourism, it means attractions, friendliness of the people or tourist resources of a country. In the case of an airline, it means not only the seat in the plane, but also the courtesy, attention, punctuality, quality of food and other services. Similarly, a hotel room means much more than a room. Price: It implies the optimal rate at which a tourist product could be sold. Place: Most suitable distribution channels, i.e., the places where the product could be effectively sold. Promotion: The entire gamut of the communications process required to let customers know about the product. Every national tourist organisation, airlines, major hotel or hotel chain has a marketing division to organise the above marketing process for success. Small business operations like travel agencies, can develop their own marketing plans without outside help. Once we collect all the data about the market, the next step is communication—to carry information to all the participants in the chain of distribution and the end user, the consumer. This includes all aspects of promotion: advertising websites, e-mail, public relations, sales brochures, merchandising, sales calls, newsletters, direct mail, etc. An essential factor in successful marketing is that all promotion must be based on facts and truthful description of the product. Exaggerated descriptions are counter-productive and should be avoided. Our advertising message, brochures, newsletters should all contain information which is credible and true.

Tough Job Marketing is not always as simple as we have explained above, especially for highly expensive products like travel. It needs more detailed examinations. Market segmentation is one

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of the areas requiring a closer look when it comes to the marketing of holidays. A holiday overseas or even a holiday within a country, is a relatively expensive product. Everybody cannot afford to buy it. And, if a person can afford it, he may not be able to afford time to enjoy a vacation. His business or employment may not permit him to take off for two to three weeks. Therefore, those who market the tourism product have to segment their markets. If we were in the business of selling shoes, we could afford to do some adventure marketing as most people need shoes once or twice in a year. But holiday is something which can always be postponed or sacrificed to buy something else more urgently needed by the family, i.e., a car or a television set, etc. The tourism marketeer, therefore, has to promote his product to a selected segment of population in a country which can afford the price and the citizens also have the time, interest and leisure to enjoy it. Let us take the example of an Indian holiday sold in the USA. It is quite expensive, in the range of US$3,000 to 4,000 for a single person and for a couple, the cost may be US $5,000 to 10,000. An Indian vacation will, therefore, appeal to only that segment of the population in the USA who are well-off and have leisure, i.e., retired couples or very highly educated, well-paid professionals who are curious about India. The India Tourist Office in the USA will, therefore, try to select only those American magazines for advertising which cater to readers falling into this category. The Tourist Office will also keep contact with travel agencies in the USA which are patronised by the rich, the elderly and the educated professionals. This scrutiny is called market segmentation, focusing marketing on those who have time, money and interest in India. India also attracts young travellers who are educated and curious but with low budget. They find

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ways to travel to India by making their own arrangements in economy hotels.

Publicity Factor Advertising is defined as a paid public message. In tourism advertising, it is designed to describe an area or a plan. It can be in newspapers, magazines or on radio, television, hoardings, posters, etc. Advertising is the commonest form of promotion reaching the potential travellers. But advertising cannot be done haphazardly. If your budget is large, you can have the services of an advertising agency which will do the research for you and advise you regarding the selection of media for your message to reach the right kind of people. Advertising agencies have creative writers who write an interesting text for your message and develop headlines for your advertisement. Such people are called copy writers. An advertising agency also has design artists to prepare the design and layout of your advertising message. These are all known as creative people. The services of an advertising agency do not cost much because they get a commission from the media for placing advertisements. This commission is normally fifteen to seventeen per cent, but advertising agencies charge from their clients for preparing designs and layouts. A good advertising agency can create memorable advertisements for its clients. In 1970, the British Airways (then called BOAC) came up with an advertisement in the USA which offended the members of the British Parliament, but attracted a lot of American visitors to Great Britain. The Advertisement read: London Bridge is in Arizona, Queen Mary is in California, Come to Britain While it lasts!

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Similarly, the USA celebrated the bi-centennial year of American Independence (from Great Britain) in 1976. The British Airways (then BOAC) came up with an advertisement with an amusing title: Do come Home All is Forgiven. In the late sixties, there were anti-American feelings among the Frenchmen and students were shouting anti-American slogans asking the ‘Yankees’ to go home. The Trans World Airlines, an American carrier, came up with an apt advertising. The title read: Yankee go Home with TWA! It was an instant success! The tourist product is varied. Advertising, therefore, has to highlight the quality of the product to be marketed, It may be an airline, travel agency services or a hotel. The interests of all these segments of travel services overlap and are often complementary. Therefore, sometimes they join hands to launch joint advertising programmes. For instance, the interests of a national carrier and the NTO are similar. The national carrier needs more passengers, preferably to its home destination which is also the primary function of the NTO. By pooling their resources, they can have more impact. The Singapore Tourist Promotion Board, the NTO of Singapore and Singapore Airlines often advertise jointly in overseas markets. An example: Most countries offer discount on goods, Singapore offers discounts on discounts. Under the text of the advertisement, it is written—Singapore Airlines. But the expenses were shared equally between the two organisations.

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Again describing the tropical greenery of Singapore, the advertisement read: While most countries have a Park in the City, Singapore has a City in the Park. Thailand (Tourism Authority of Thailand-TAT) has been advertising jointly not only with their national carrier, Thai International Airways, but also with hotels and other organisations interested in jointly promoting tourism to Thailand. Visit the World’s Most Exotic Country Flying the World’s Most Exotic Airline. (Tourism Authority of Thailand with Thai International). Discover Asia’s Most Exotic Country With a Touch of Hyatt. (TAT with Hyatt Hotels) Where on Earth Will you find a herd of Elephants? In a Rose Garden. (TAT with Rose Garden Resort Hotel) In such joint advertising, the TAT shared the expenses, on equal basis with the participating company. India too has been advertising extensively in overseas markets, but seldom jointly with hotels and the national carrier. It is true that hotels, national airlines and the Department of Tourism all promote India in their own way. If, however, they could join hands with the Department of Tourism in special cases, their money could go much further. Here are some good examples of advertising done by the Department of Tourism, the Government of India, in foreign markets: India It is not just another country It is another World.

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To persuade the price-conscious people to realise that India is not out of their reach, the Government of India’s Tourist Office in London released an advertisement with the title: Out of This World Not Out of Your Reach INDIA £740. (Prices have now gone up.) The text offered a one-week packaged tour to India including return air fare, accommodation in the best of hotels. An attractive proposition—£ 740—is an affordable amount even for an office worker or a sales girl in the UK.

Interaction with People While advertising is a paid-public message, public relations seek to communicate with the potential buyers of travel through publicity secured free of charge. But the Public Relations Manager has to be ingenious and smart to know what the press is interested in. For instance, all important travel happenings are news for consumers as well as the Travel Trade Press. If two new hotels have been added to the city of Delhi, a press release on this subject will be of interest to the Travel Trade Press in the USA or Japan. Even the photographs of the new hotels could be used. Similarly, a new and faster train to Agra or a new airlines service to Srinagar are news items of interest to the Travel Trade Press. If visas for tourists to India are liberalised, the information is of interest even to the general consumers and press as well. But, the text must be attractively written in the press release. Another popular way of getting more or less free publicity for a destination is to invite good travel writers to your country on what is called familiarisation tours. On their return, they write their impressions in their respective papers. This is one of the most effective methods of tourism promotion because the readers tend to believe these reports more than the tall claims made in a paid advertisement. Writers from some financially sound major newspapers do not accept Government hospitality, for

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instance, the New York Times or Los Angeles Times. In such cases, a clever public relations man can offer non-monetary assistance which is appreciated. For instance, an intelligent guide to escort the writer or to help him in making appointments with the right type of people will go a long way to win the goodwill of the writer. In tourism, travel agents’ familiarisation trips to a destination are also an important way of public relations with the travel agents. Travel agents who sell tours must know their product well and there is no better way to let them know the product than experience the product and have a taste of it. Therefore, NTA and national carriers, collaborate to organise such familiarisation tours for travel agents. Often, the travel agents’ group tours are hosted jointly by the two organisations. Sometimes, subsidised familiarisation trips are also offered to the members of travel agency industry. But the objective is the same. Other forms of public relations in tourism are special press releases, feature stories with pictures, newsletters, screening of touristic films, audio-visuals of a destination, an airlines or a hotel’s participation in travel exhibitions and fairs, etc. The sky is the limit in the area of public relations but the following basic principles must be kept in mind by the man incharge of public relations affairs. Honesty : The first rule of good public relations is to be candid and honest. Any attempt at an exaggerated portrayal of your product is likely to hurt you in the long run. Imagination : Cheap tricks to get attention are unproductive. They often arouse suspicion. The gains are temporary. Consistency : The core of public relations is consistency in approach—sympathetic listening and effective communications. Distinctiveness : The uniqueness of your tourist product

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and services has to be stressed—how it is better than competing products. Interest : Good public relation depends upon winning not only attention but also the sympathetic understanding and cooperation of the consumers. Consumer satisfaction is the key to success. In other words, honesty pays in all public relation activities. Printed Literature : Advertising and public relation activities are supported by printed literature—brochures, pamphlets, posters. The printed literature in tourism promotion must be of outstanding quality to attract attention. Remember, tourism product is generally bought by the affluent members of a society, and they prefer the best. The qualities of any good tourist literature are clarity and brevity, information that people want and finally creativity in the text and distinctiveness. Sales Calls : Trained salesmen, very familiar with the product, must call on travel agents, corporate offices and other potential clients. Telephone Sales : The telephone is an important instrument of effective marketing. Those who respond to enquiries on the telephone must be experienced, well-informed and motivated sales persons. Information given in a pleasant way helps clinch a sale. Postal Enquiries : Postal enquiries received in the office in response to advertising, e-mail, or on their own, must be replied to immediately, preferably with a personal letter. It creates trust in the prospective traveller. Delay in response results in loss of interest. Remember, they have other options. Use of mailing agencies for response to personal enquires is not favoured. They have their own priorities and often the replies are delayed. For holiday planning any delay is fatal.

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Kerala Model : Of the many States of India promoting their destinations, Kerala stands out above others. You look at the print media, large advertisements stare at you declaring Kerala as “God’s Own Country”. You open a TV channel—a slick advertisement shows you promoting Kerala’s greenery, backwaters, ayurvedic packages, the sea, cuisine and peace— describing it as Water Colours of God. The hype created by this all-round promotion is supported by excellently produced literature, generally associated with destinations abroad. The marketing campaign has been proceeded by product development and the tiny State can now boast of at least four resort properties operated by Taj Group of hotels—joint ventures between the Taj Group and the State Tourism Department. The Oberoi Group—another luxury chain of hotels has an investment plan of Rs 100 crore to invest in hotel development in Kerala. Till 1995, Kerala promoted its tourism in a low-key, like most other States of India with a modest budget. Kerala as an exciting tourist destination was really rediscovered by some foreign magazines. National Geographic Traveller—a prestigious travel magazine of the USA, listed in its issue, dated October 1999, fifty destinations of a lifetime in the world and identified Kerala as one of them along with Taj Mahal in Agra. The identification was done after tremendous research by some of the finest travel writers and experts. Following are some extracts from this article written by Bill Mckibben. “Kerala is a very easy place to simply sit back and enjoy. The name means the ‘land of coconuts’, and the palms shade nearly the entire state from tropical sun; many call the beach at Kovalam the best in India; visitors can spend a day riding small ferries through the backwater lagoons or watching elephants cavort in the wildlife sanctuaries; the spicy food may be the best vegetarian food on the planet.” “But for me the real reason to visit Kerala, which lies at the southwestern tip of the subcontinent, is for intellectual adventure: Kerala is a bizarred anomaly among developing nations, a place that offers real hope for the future of the Third World. Consider

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this small State in India, though not much bigger than Maryland, has a population as big as California and per capita income of US$300. But, its infant mortality is low, its literacy is among the highest on Earth and its birth-rate below America’s and falling faster. Kerala’s citizens live nearly as long as Americans or Europeans. Though mostly a land of paddy covered plains, statistically Kerala stands out as the Mount Everest of social development; there is truly no place like it.” Time Magazine of the USA followed it up with another article in its issue dated 10 April, 2000. Titled ‘Afloat and Afloat—Kerala is Worth A Journey’—it raves about the ayurvedic treatment. About the holiday ambience, the article says, “Despite its growing popularity, Kerala has all the charm of a backwater—the name actually given to it for its network of canals, lakes and small rivers. You will find none of the sleek resort hotels that congregate around the beaches of Southeast Asia. And, none of the hassle and aggression that tourists frequently suffer in North India. South India is different, as if an invisible line had been drawn across the country below Goa and its hordes of tourists and ravers.” With this beautiful product, if you add a pro-active Department, tourism is bound to prosper. Here business and Government have worked more seamlessly than perhaps any other place in India—to play up the virtues and erasing negative aspects. K. K. Krishan Kumar, the Managing Director of the Taj Group of Hotels described the Kerala Tourism as the most proactive. No wonder the tourists are growing every year—from one lakh, forty-two thousand, nine hundred and seventy-two foreigners in 1995 to over two lakhs in 2000—of twelve per cent per annum compared to the overall growth of only one per cent for the whole of India. They come by charters and also by cruise ships. The domestic tourism too has expanded from thirty-nine lakhs in 1995 to over fifty-two lakhs in 2000. Many of them are pilgrims. Earnings from tourism have increased four-fold since 1995 to Rs 500 crore. Average expenditure of foreign tourists

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is Rs 2326 and Rs 709 for Indians. The complexion of inbound tourism from abroad is tilting from the backpackers to affluent groups. The new tourist does not mind shelling out Rs 3000 for a night’s stay—despite the fact that Kerala does not offer the type of night life other destinations like Las Vegas and Hong Kong do. Even the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to Kerala for a holiday and spent ten days, so did the French Education Minister and the cricketer, Anil Kumble. Kerala has become very popular with the honeymooners. India Today, which carried a cover story on Kerala Tourism in its issue, dated 10 January, 2001, reported about a resort in Munnar where its reporter counted twenty out of forty-three rooms occupied by honeymooning couples from Gujarat and Maharashtra. After his holiday in Kerala, the then Prime Minister said, “Nature’s silent beauty provides a perfect setting here for contemplation.” How did they Market : Before starting the actual marketing, Kerala Tourism has been busy developing infrastructure to meet the flow of new tourists from India and abroad. It included an intensive backwater development. Houseboat terminals in major backwater nodes; tourism activities in the different popular areas; development of Kovalam waterways for houseboat operations; development of budget accommodation, way-side facilities, thrust on development of tourism, roads; illumination of historical buildings, etc. The marketing followed—Kerala has been trying to focus the attention of the world to the State as a number one destination in India. Promotional budget was enhanced from only Rs 150 lakhs in 1995 to Rs 600 lakhs in 2000 - 2001. Better than Rajasthan which is a progressive State in terms of tourism promotion. In the current promotions, the authorities changed the focus from print media to electronic media—TV channels. Services of a very senior cinematographer from Mumbai were hired to do some promotional advertising films. He worked for twenty

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days, with a crew of hundred in twenty different locations in peak monsoons. The result was a minute-long ad film—and a series of ten and thirty-second spots—Water Colours of God—a quality of international standards film. It cost Rs 70 lakhs and an equal amount was spent on airing it on some of the select channels. The CD-Rom Kerala also gives an exhaustive information on God’s Own Country. Simultaneously, Kerala Tourism’s website, www.keralatourism.org was developed. It is considered to be one of the best and the largest in the country. It is updated every week with new video and music clips which can be downloaded. All information has been computerised and a comprehensive database developed. With a network of dissemination centres set up in the country. Kerala Tourism actively participates in Trade Fairs and Exhibitions in India and aborad. It organised, for the first time for a State—A Buyer Sellers Meet—with two hundred buyers from overseas. It also organised Road Shows in major markets for Kerala tourism like Ahmedabad and Mumbai. A ten day familiarisation tour for promotion of ayurvedic rejuvenation holidays is organised every year, exclusively for travel agents and travel writers to promote ayurveda tourism. To remove the impression that Kerala is only for seasonal tourism, markets like the Gulf have been identified for promoting monsoon tourism coupled with ayurvedic treatment. Similarly, it is promoted in the domestic markets with brochures in different languages. Kerala Government claims to be a facilitator only in the matter of tourism—trying to attract investors in this field and making it easy for them. A Tourism Investment Cell has been formed a guide investors. No wonder Kerala is a new success story of tourism in India. Summary : Like all products, tourism needs marketing. In fact, marketing for tourism is more important than for manufactured products, because tourism products are highly perishable. A seat in the plane or a room in the hotel not used

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today is a total waste. There is an element of urgency in the marketing of tourism. The tourism product is an intangible product. It cannot be stored for future use and it cannot be moved to be shown to the consumer. The consumer has to come to it to feel it. Marketing is different from sales. Selling caters to the whims of the manufacturer while marketing looks after the needs of the consumers. If we do not take into consideration the changing preferences of consumers, we may be out of business very soon. Therefore, a successful businessman always has his written marketing plans. To prepare a marketing plan, we need to take the following steps: • Research: To find out where our customers are, where they live, what they do and what their likes and dislikes are. • Preparation of a Marketing Plan: On the basis of the above research. • Developing Communication Channels: To let the potential customers know about our product. It is also called promotion or publicity. • Regular Monitoring and Evaluation of Sales Results: If the plan is not working, we must change the strategy. In this connection, remember also the four ‘Ps’ of marketing: (a) Product, (b) Price, (c) Place, and (d) Promotion. In order to market any tourism product, we have to package and develop the product in relation to the needs of the customers; For instance, if the prospective visitors to India are not interested in India’s cultural heritage and prefer mountains or sea resorts, we have to focus our marketing efforts on these attractions of India. In order to get the best from our marketing plans, we have to segment the market further. If we are marketing India tours costing US$3,000-4,000 per person in the USA, we have to

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identify the people who can afford this price and also have time to take a tour to India which may last two to three weeks. Therefore, a good marketeer will select only those magazines for advertising which reach that segment of population and approach only those travel agents who have that kind of clients. The principal means of market communications are: • Advertising or paid commercial messages. • Public relations—ways and means through which we can get free publicity or attention to our product, i.e., developing websites, press releases, news items of interest to general public, sponsoring familiarisation tours of travel writers and travel agents to the host destination, participation in travel exhibitions and sales calls on travel agents, etc. The supporting measures for a marketing plan are wellproduced travel brochures relating to the product, whether it is a destination, airline or a hotel. Visual presentation of the product are essentially special tourist commentries. Two things are important in both advertising and public relations: consistency and honesty. If we exaggerate the attractions of our tourist product, it can harm our business in the long run. Again, our message must be consistent and repeated time and again. By frequently changing our message, we miss the attention of the readers.

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9 FISCAL ASPECTS OF TOURISM Like any other economic development activity, tourism needs financing. Since it is a capital intensive industry, it needs massive doses of financing. Tourism has an advantage over other major industries. A total new tourist development is a rare phenomenon. In countries like India, there are already several ancient cities, man-made wonders and scenic spots. The attractions are there, only infra and superstructure need to be added to make the place more easily accessible to visitors. Nature has bestowed every country something to boast about. Infrastructure involves the building of highways, railway lines, power houses, communication network and other facilities. Superstructure includes hotels, restaurants, stadia, places of entertainment, shopping centres, etc. Another advantage in developing infra and superstructure at existing tourist centres is that it serves the needs of the local residents and is also available to visitors. It is used by both local and foreign nationals. Nationally and internationally, there are many known sources of mobilising finance for hotel and tourism projects. Some of

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them may be institutional lenders like the Life Insurance Companies, pension funds, commercial banks, credit companies, saving and loan associations, institutions acting as intermediaries, construction contractors, hotel operating companies, brokers, debentures and so on. In reality, the finance for a project can come only from four main sources which will accommodate all the possibilities in one form or another. These major sources are owners’ money, loans, government subsidy and sale and lease-back. Financing systems vary from country to country depending on the level of economic development. The principal sources of finance generally are: 1. The government. 2. Commercial undertakings, banks, financial institutions. 3. Tourists. 4. Tourist organisations—national, regional and local.

Significance of the State Governments are involved in tourism financing because they are interested in promoting tourism for two reasons— economic development of their own people and for earning foreign exchange from visitors. Once a decision is taken that tourism is a priority area, the government cannot afford to stand aloof. Government financing comes in the following ways: To make a destination or an area to grow into an important tourist centre, there is need to build infrastructure in the form of roads, rails, power houses, etc., and these are provided by the governments from their national budget. National governments include these projects in their normal development plans and once these are in place, private entrepreneurs come in to build hotels and

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restaurants with or without the help of the government. Infrastructure is totally a government responsibility although the government can, in the long run, recover part of its huge investments by imposing road or toll taxes. Governments also fund the National Tourism Administrations of their countries. These administrations are set up to promote a country. The image-building and promotion of a country, it is believed, is best done if it is in the hands of the government. A majority of the National Tourism Administrations (NTAs) in the world are totally funded by the governments though there are some NTAs like Japan, UK and Switzerland, where certain percentage of funding, not more than 10 per cent, comes from the private sector as their contribution. In India, the entire expenditure of the Department of Tourism, which is India’s National Tourism Administration, is met by the Government of India. That includes also the expenditure on overseas tourism promotion. The private sector benefits from this promotion, but there is no easy way to make them pay for it. There are two major areas where the government has to play an important financial role. In developing countries where tourism has not significantly developed, the government plays not only the key role, but also a pioneering role in, financing tourism. The private sector has always been shy in investing in tourist projects where the risk factor is relatively high. This is specially true of India where traditionally business houses were reluctant to invest in hotels and restaurants as this business was not considered ‘respectable’. Except for a unique entrepreneur like Sir Jamshedji Tata who built Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay a 100 years ago, hotelkeeping was entirely in the hands of the British and the Swiss in the first half of the twentieth century. Rai Bahadur M.S. Oberoi is the only pioneering spirit and an exception who made hotelkeeping respectable. But he did not belong to a big traditional business house. He rose from

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a clerk in a Shimla hotel to become a hotel Mughal in less than 50 years. Now, he is over 90 and continues to oversee his vast empire as Chairman of the Oberoi Group with son Bicky Oberoi as Vice-Chairman. The first major hotel in independent India—Ashok, New Delhi—had to be built in 1956 by the Government of India because the private sector was not yet ready. From there on, the government played an important role in building hotels, motels, tourist bungalows, youth hostels and other superstructures at remote tourist centres of India to make them accessible to the foreign and Indian visitors. That was perhaps a wise approach in the early days of tourism development— 1950 to 1975. Subsequently, all the new accommodation units built by the Government of India were brought within the organisational setup of the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), a public sector corporation. For operational reasons, the Government of India also involved the state governments, tourism being the state subject, in the promotion and development of tourism by encouraging them to build accommodation units for travellers. Initially, the central government paid 50 per cent subsidy to state governments to encourage them to build such accommodation. During the last 30 years, a majority of the state governments have set up their own Tourism Development Corporations to look after the needs of tourists. A lot of investment has been made in new accommodation units all over the country, all in the public sector. In other words, governments—state and central—have been the primary source of financing tourism all these years. The change started only in 1990 when the Government of India took a policy decision that tourism facilities can be best developed in the private sector. Governments, specially the central government, are convinced that the private sector in tourism has now come of

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age. The future development of the tourism superstructure can be entrusted to them as in other developed countries. Even the existing accommodation units in the public sector can be sold to them. The government, in principle, has decided that they should not spend any more resources on the development of the tourism superstructure. Several state governments are also thinking of privatising the accommodation and catering units which they had been operating for years, frequently at a loss. Although the process of privatisation is slow due to the vested interests, including the trade unions involved, the trend is irreversible. Apart from direct expenditure on tourism in the funding of highways, railways, airlines, power projects and tourism administrations, governments indirectly help finance tourism projects in the following ways.

Different Means Loans : Special loans are offered with interest subsidy to entrepreneurs wishing to start a tourism project like hotel/resort in an area which a government wishes to develop. At present, the Government of India is offering interest subsidies for the new hotel projects in many areas. Grants : To encourage building of new hotels and other tourism related projects, the governments give grants to entrepreneurs. There are countries where governments grant subsidy for building hotels on per room basis or on percentage of the total cost. These are generally free of any strings although grants are verified with regard to their eligibility. In the eighties, the Himachal Pradesh Government offered grants to people who built hotels in the Kulu-Manali area which was a backward region. Surprisingly, the entire area is now full of new, badly designed and ill-planned hotels turning the beautiful region into an urban

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ghetto. Apparently, the government did not lay down specifications with regard to design and the size of hotels and where these were laid down, the enforcement was weak. In the seventies, the British Government wanted hotel accommodation to expand in London, to meet the demand of increasing number of visitors. It offered grants to existing hotels to expand. The hotels owners added hundreds of rooms within months. But, standards laid down were vigorously enforced. Taxation Relief : To encourage the construction of new hotels and resorts in a country, governments often resort to taxation relief measures to make investment in tourism attractive. Countries like Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Indonesia offered major tax relief to investors to tempt them to put their money in tourism. The Government of India was slow to realise this truth. It was only in the late eighties and early nineties that the Government of India rose to the occasion and offered some taxation benefits. As a result of these tax incentives, hotel construction in India is now progressing satisfactorily. Financial Institutions/Banks : For normal financing of hotel and other tourist projects, banks as well as other financial institutions are always there. Again, systems vary from country to country. In India, most of the banks are nationalised and the government has some kind of remote control on their functioning. The government can also determine priority sectors for lending and the banks have to obey their instructions. Financial institutions, too, are indirectly controlled by the government. Unit Trust, Insurance Companies are all under government control. Banks and financial institutions go by their normal regulations in giving loans, but in the case of the tourism sector, the government has given some special dispensations for interest subsidy which helps.

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Financing is also available from foreign sources, if the project is sound. Foreign equity participation is another source of financing. Among other methods of financing hotel projects are Sale and Lease Back arrangements in franchising. Both help reduce the amount of capital a developer may require to put through a project. Sale and Lease Back involves selling of a building to an Insurance Company or Pension Fund and then leasing it back on an agreed percentage of fee. It helps raise 100 per cent capital needed instead of 75 per cent or 50 per cent to be obtained on mortgage. If a buy-back clause is included in the contract, the method becomes even more useful. A developer has an option to join a franchising organisation. It enables the buyer to use the expertise and the name of a well established hotel chain in return for an initial fee. Sometimes the franchise provides all or some of the capital need by the developer. Banks, too, become more helpful and sympathetic when they know that the new hotel is to be run by a well known hotel chain, reducing the inherent risk. The important ingredient for success is already there—availability of a standard product for which there is a market worldwide. In the new environment of liberalisation in India, a developer can very easily join an international franchising organisation. Some of them are willing to participate in the project with equity. The Oberois have an agreement with the Accor of France and their new brand of Novotel Hotels are being built with equity participation from Accor. There are several other examples of equity participation in Indian hotels by foreign chains in recent years. Tourism Industry : In recent years, the tourism industry too has become a significant source of finance. Taxation relief offered by the Government of India to hotels and travel agencies earning foreign exchange have encouraged them to deploy their

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profits in developing new hotels and resorts. Finance from the tourism industry involves investment by firms active in tourism. All the three major hotel chains—Taj, Oberois and Welcomgroup—have made massive new investments in their expansion and development programmes through their profits. Now, travel agencies too have ploughed back their profits in the hotel sector. During the last three years, SITA, a leading travel agency of India has plouged its profits in two hotels—one near Delhi and the other in Goa. Both are now open. Tourists : In some countries, tourists form an important source of finance for tourism projects. The Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) and Hong Kong Tourist Association (HKTA) are totally funded by tourists. The taxes levied in the hotels and restaurants are reimbursed by their governments to these two organisations. They spend this money not only on tourism promotion but also in financing new tourism projects including hotels. Among other ways of raising money through tourists is the Airport Departure Tax. India charges Rs 300 as departure tax from any passenger including foreign visitors leaving India. The Government of India collects 10 per cent expenditure tax on hotels (it was 20 per cent till 1994) with a tariff of Rs. 2,000 and above. Although the money is not directly spent on tourism projects, it helps the government to defray some costs of tourism development. National/Regional or Local Tourist Organisations : Although not a major source of finance, some national, regional or local tourism organisations are involved in commercial activities. They generate funds through subscription fees, membership fees, levies and grants. In India, each state has set up a Tourism Development Corporation. Some of them are running profitably and are a source of funds for new tourism projects.

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Finance In India : Till the 1970s, there was no system of preferred financing of hotels or other tourism projects. Tourism had to compete with other industries for loans. Hotels did not stand a very good chance in obtaining loans from the open market. It was only in 1970 that the Government of India decided that there should be different criteria for extending loans to hotels. An allocation was made by the Finance Ministry, Government of India, to the Department of Tourism and the department was asked to draw up rules and regulations to disburse loans to suitable hotel projects on special terms. The department was also required to recover the loans from the parties. In less than 5 years, it became apparent to the government that the Department of Tourism was in no position to administer the loans and undertake the responsibility of disbursement as well as collection. The responsibility was, therefore, passed on to the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI). They were advised to give loans to hotel projects on the terms and conditions determined by the Department of Tourism, which were favourable to the hotel industry. However, this did not debar other banks and financial institutions from financing hotel and other tourism projects. The National Committee on Tourism set up by the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 was not satisfied with the existing pattern of tourism financing. The committee recommended a separate, independent and autonomous financial corporation to deal with tourism financing. Acting on NTC’s recommendations the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and other financial institutions and banks joined hands to sponsor a new specialised institution which was called the Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI). It was set up as a specialised cell to cater to the needs of travel industry—for hotels, resorts and entertainment projects,

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etc. It was expected to ensure requisite priority in funding tourism and tourism related projects. TFCI was incorporated as a public limited company on January 17,1989 and it immediately commenced operations. On its Board of Directors are some of the leading hoteliers of India like Mr. Ajit Kerkar, Chairman of the Taj Group, P.R.S. Oberoi, Vice-Chairman of Oberoi Group, and Inder Sharma, Chairman of SITA World Travel.

Role of Share Market The authorised share capital of TFCI is rupees one hundred crore out of which the initial paid-up share capital is rupees 50 crores, subscribed by IFCI, IDBI, ICICI, UTI, LIC, SBI and a few banks. TFCI also issues bonds and raises loans/deposits for mobilising resources. It provides financial assistance to enterprises for setting up and/or developing tourism related activities, facilities and services. These include (a) Hotels, (b) Restaurants (c) Holiday Resorts (d) Amusement parks, (e) Complexes for entertainment, education and sports, (f) Safari parks, (g) Ropeways, (h) Cultural events, (i) Convention Halls, (j) Transport travel and tour operating agencies, (k) Air taxi services, (l) Tourist emporia and (m) Sports facilities. TFCI also coordinates and formulates guidelines and policies relating to financing of such projects. TFCI has a developmental role within the overall policies of the Government of India. In order to part finance the future requirements of funds, and to widen the shareholder’s base, TFCI entered the capital market in 1994 with a public issue of Rs. 1,70,00,000 equity shares of Rs.10 each for cash at a premium of Rs. 20 per share.

Different Kinds of Help TFCI renders financial assistance to entrepreneurs for new

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projects, expansion, diversification and renovation of existing projects. Its services include: (i) Rupee loans (ii) Underwriting of public issues of shares/debentures and direct subscription of such securities (iii) Guarantees for deferred payment and credits raised in India and/or abroad, (iv) Equipment finance (v) Equipment leasing (vi) Assistance under suppliers credit (vii) Merchant banking and advisory services. Eligibility for Assistance : TFCI provides financial assistance to projects with a capital cost of Rs 3 crore and above. Projects costing less than that are expected to turn to the state financial institutions. In respect of projects costing Rs. one to three crores, TFCI considers financial assistance only to the extent of unavoidable gap, if any, remaining after taking into account assistance available from state level institutions. Unique projects even with capital cost of less than Rs. one crore are taken up under exceptional circumstances, if they are considered important from the point of view of tourism. Projects with capital cost up to Rs. 3 crores will be financed by TFCI alongwith the state level institutions and banks. Projects with capital cost of over Rs. 3 crores may be financed with the help of other all India institutions like IFCI, IDBI and ICICI. The terms, conditions and documentation for assistance are according to the prevalent policies of the all India institutions. TFCI takes a flexible view in regard to the norms for financial institutions regarding promoter’s contribution, debt, equity ratio, moratorium period as well as repayment period, depending on the merits of the circumstances in each case. However, the general norms are as under:

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Part of Promoters The normal minimum promoter’s contribution for new projects is 30%. Relaxation is possible involving large projects with capital costs exceeding rupees 25 crores. Debt Equity Ratio : The general norm in debt equity ratio is 1.5:1. Marginal relaxation may be allowed depending on the project and its capacity to service the loans and the share capital. Rupee Loans : Basic Lending Rate (Based on risk precision): 17 to 19. Notes : Subsidy on interest as made available by the Department of Tourism, Government of India, is extended to the assisted concerns. The bridging/interim loans sanctioned pending creation of substantive security, carry additional interest of 1 per cent p.a. (thereby making the applicable lending rate higher by 1 per cent p.a.) from the date of first disbursement. Bridging loans against public issue of shares (restricted up to 50 per cent of underwriting commitment) carry interest at uniform rate of 21.5 per cent p.a. without front end fee. Additional interest at 1 per cent p.a. above the applicable lending rate is charged on rupee loans in respect of non-listed companies from the date of first disbursement. Interest subsidies keep on changing. Broadly, subsidies are available on construction of hotel projects in backward areas—up to four-star category. The five-star hotels do not get an interest subsidy. The metropolitan cities of Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai and Mumbai do not attract any interest subsidy. Heritage Hotels—hotels developed from the existing palatial properties of historic interest—attract not only interest subsidy but also capital subsidy upto Rs. five lakhs.

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Interest Rate Moratorium period depends on the period required for the completion of a project and stabilisation of the operations as well as cash flow generation expected to be available for servicing the debt Generally the currency of the loan would be 8 to 12 years including the moratorium period. For transport sector and similar projects, the repayment period would be 3 to 5 years. Before approaching TFCI for loans a promoter must have the following documents/titles ready: (1) Government approval of the building plan from local municipal authorities as well as land use clearance, etc. The Department of Tourism, Government of India, has launched a National Action Plan to accelerate the growth of tourism industry for stepping up the foreign tourist arrivals with corresponding investment in infrastructure and tourism industry. The total investment requirement in the next three years for achieving this target is estimated at Rs. 39,100 crores comprising government expenditure of Rs. 13,640 crores and private investment of Rs. 13,860 crores. The total requirement of investment in the tourism industry is of a very high order, out of which investment requirement for creation of additional rooms alone is Rs. 7,700 crores. TFCI being the only specialised and nodal financial institution catering to the specific needs of the tourism industry foresees a quantum growth in its operation. (2) Approval of the project by the Department of Tourism, Government of India. (3) Foreign technical/financial collaboration, if relevant. (4) Tie-up for pre-opening technical and post-commissioning operational arrangements.

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(5) Clear title to the land. (6) Proof of promoter’s capacity to bring in their contribution. Contribution of TFCIS : During the brief period of its existence (1991-94), TFCI has been able to sanction loans worth Rs 525 crores to 76 entrepreneurs. These projects are scattered over 70 centres in the country. It claims to have added 12,217 additional rooms resulting in employment to over 20,000 persons. It is a profitable organisation, earning a profit of Rs 63 crores in 1993-94. Hotel Financing—A Critical Look : Commenting on the current system of financing hotels in India, Dr. S.N. Pandit, a well known hotel consultant, is not happy with the debt equity ratio followed by the financial institutions. He thinks that the slow growth of hotels in India is due to this factor. He said, “The ratio of loan used to be one equity to 1.5 loan, (there are examples where it has exceeded this ratio). Currently it stands reduced to 1:1 which is one of the most unattractive financing ratios in the world.” Continuing, he added, “The promoter has to invest a large sum of money which he often does not have. Even at that the cost of the project as estimated by the promoter or his consultant is arbitrarily reduced by the bureaucrats of the financial institutions resulting in further reduction in loan. Knowingly or otherwise the promoter has to accept this position and proceed to develop the project. In many cases, he becomes aware of the real cost of the project after he has invested his equity. At that stage either he has to raise more finance from his own resources or he has to approach the financial institution again. If further loan is granted by the institution, the favourite reason covering such loan is ‘over run’ of the cost. In reality, it is seldom so as in most of the cases the cost had been underestimated both by the so called consultant and further by the financial institution.” In a situation like this, if the developer fails to mobilise new resources, the project is held up for years. And, if the developer

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wants to get rid of the project, there are hardly any takers because of heavy debt liabilities. Dr. Pandit recommends higher rate of loan and lower ratio of equity in the best interest of tourism development as well as financial institutions. Summary : Tourism financing is an integral part of tourism development in any country. Tourist projects often carry more risks than ordinary industrial projects. Finance is, therefore, difficult to come by in the case of tourism projects. To make things easier, governments often get involved in financing tourism projects, for in tourism, they see the possibility of economic development and employment potential. Governments make substantial investments in developing infrastructure like highways, railways, power houses and in communication networks. Governments also fund their National Tourism Administrations and bear all expenditure on promoting the tourism image of their respective countries. In developing countries like India apart from infrastructure, government has also funded superstructure like hotels and other accommodation facilities. In early days of tourism, the private sector in India was very shy of investing in tourism. So the governments, both centre and state, built numerous accommodations. Till the end of the eighties, the Government of India did not attach much importance to tourism. The financial institutions were not eager to offer loans to tourist enterprises. The situation has changed since the early nineties. A number of incentives and tax concession have since been offered to entrepreneurs investing in tourism projects. The Government of India has come forward with major tax benefits to make tourism projects remunerative. Besides tax benefits, low interest financing of hotel projects with interest subsidies is helping the entrepreneurs. In 1989, the Government of India set up a separate financial institution called the Tourism Finance Corporation of India (TFCI) to deal exclusively with

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tourism related projects. The new agency which was sponsored by the Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) and other financial institutions has done a good job and has financed scores of tourism projects. TFCI undertakes financing of projects costing Rs. 3 crores and above. Financing of projects costing less is left to the state financial institutions. A drawback of the current financing of hotel projects is that the equity ratio is quite high compared to loans affecting successful completion of some projects. Tax incentives enabling hotels and travel agencies to reinvest their tax-exempt profits in tourism projects have made it possible for them to expand and diversify. Now, travel agents are becoming hoteliers and hoteliers are diversifying into travel agencies making the travel industry healthy and vibrant.

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10 SOCIAL ORIENTATION OF TRAVELLING In today’s world, tourism has come to be recognised as a significant factor in the economy of many nations. In some cases, it has become the most important factor. Tourism is the biggest foreign exchange earner for countries like Nepal, Thailand, Spain and New Zealand, and ranks third among the export earnings of India. Without question, tourism affects the economy of the host nations. An increase in expenditure by foreign tourists in a country raises the national income. On the reverse side, an increase in expenditure on tourism abroad by the nationals of a country lowers the national income. Thus, the net income generated in a country by tourism will vary directly with the expenditure of visitors in the host country and inversely with expenditure abroad by their own nationals. USA, for instance, earned US$ 56,400 million in 1993 from foreign tourists coming to USA and its nationals incurred an expenditure of US $ 40,000 million on their trips abroad—leaving a net favourable balance of US $ 16, 400 billion in its favour. Till a few years back, USA

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invariably had an unfavourable balance in tourism. In 1995, the profile of Indian tourism has also changed—foreign exchange earnings from inbound tourism were US $ 2.7 billion while the money spent by 3 million outbound Indians was estimated to be over US $ 3 billion. For rich and developed nations like the USA and Japan, an unfavourable balance in tourism is an investment. It provides greater economic stability in the world to boost trade and investment. Japan, which used to discourage its people to travel overseas, changed its mind to boost overseas tourism in the mid-eighties. It had piled up huge trade surplus from exports of its manufactured goods and products. It took a decision to offset the surplus through aggressive promotion of overseas tourism from Japan. A target of 10 million overseas travellers by the close of 1990 was set but the target was achieved even earlier. The number of Japanese overseas travellers now is over 13 million (1996). In the Indian context, tourism has an advantage in bridging the gap of India’s balance of payments. According to Dr. N.K. Sengupta, a former Secretary of the Planning Commission of India, “Tourism has the capacity to generate valuable foreign exchange with almost 100 per cent value added, thus making it the most readily available source for resolving the balance of payment crunch.”

Advantages and the State How does the State benefit from tourism revenue? The following chart explains: Revenue from Tourism Property Imports Tax Duty

Sales Tax

Income Tax

Hotel Tax

Transport Enter Tax tainment Tax

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It will be seen that the state is a major beneficiary from tourism in terms of taxes. In USA, it has been officially estimated that the central, state and city governments get 6 cents for every dollar spent by the visitors. The estimate for India is 15 paise for every rupee spent by tourists because Indian taxes are higher, specially expenditure and luxury taxes on hotels. In 1992-93, India’s foreign exchange earnings exceeded Rs. 3,900 crores (US $ 1300 million) not very impressive when we compare it to Spain’s US $ 21,000 million, UK’s US $ 12,000 million and nearer home, Singapore US $ 5,200 million and Thailand US $ 5,000 million. But, it is good for a start and has the potential of doubling it in five years. In 1996, Indian tourist earnings were US $ 2,700 million. The United Nations General Assembly designated 1967 as the International Tourism Year. It passed a unanimous resolution recognising that “tourism is a basic and most desirable human activity, deserving praise and encouragement of all people and all governments.” The resolution brought to the attention of a member governments the importance that tourism deserved and they, in turn, started giving it some attention. They took notice of its economic benefits and now almost every country in the world is vigorously promoting it, including China, Vietnam and Myanmar (Burma). The significance of tourism is not merely for economic development. It creates opportunities for better understanding of each other’s way of life and institutions.

Making an Identity Each year, many people travel to foreign countries, attending conventions, special festivals and celebrations. Their visits afford opportunities to understand each other better and foster cooperation. The visits help improve the image of a country.

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Before tourism brought millions of people to India, India’s image was that of a backward country, very hot and very poor. But, now people worldwide look at India with a certain amount of respect because of its rich culture and the economic progress it has made after independence. Climate, too, is no longer a negative factor. The people all over the world have realised that India is a very large country with a wide variety of climates in its different parts. The social interaction with the people of the host country by the foreigners brings about change in both the residents as well as the visitors. Their presence and their social and cultural background affect the mode of life at the destination while tourists, in turn, take home a new outlook on life based on their experiences in the host country. Example: Thousands of foreigners come to India every year seeking spiritual guidance.

Significance in Education Much of the international tourism has educational significance. Its beneficial effects are manifest in the close and friendly contact between people of different races, cultures and nationalities. Study tours, courses in the universities, exchange programmes, seminars and conferences are part and parcel of the international tourism resulting in better knowledge about the host countries. Today, tourism helps further technological changes, brings about religious tolerance and promotes sporting activities.

Importance of Culture Tourism promotes culture and is often accompanied by cultural exchanges affecting visitors and those at the receiving end. India’s primary attraction has been its culture, its art, architecture, music, dance and history. Culture draws people to its shores and these people subsequently spread the word about India’s rich heritage. Attractions such as the Himalayas

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and Golden Beaches of Goa came into focus only in recent years. An indication of the growing economic significance of tourism is the growth in the number of trips taken by the people—both domestically and internationally. These has been spectacular increase in tourism worldwide and increase in tourist earnings. That money is absorbed by the local economies of the nations, increasing jobs as well as opportunities. Tourism in 1993 was a 2.9 trillion dollar industry worldwide—according to the World Travel and Tourism Council. This represents 12.3 per cent of the world consumer spending. In the years to come, tourism can look forward to higher growth with 450 million well educated people of Eastern Europe being in a position to travel after the collapse of communism. India and China, the two most densely populated countries of the world with 38 per cent of the world’s population, have now switched from their systems of controlled economies to market economies, opening new horizons for international travel. Whichever way we look at tourism, it appears to be economically beneficial to a nation. Developing countries benefit more from tourism because they use the foreign exchange earnings to import plants and machinery for further development. Foreign exchange is not the only advantage. In terms of employment tourism has an edge over other industries. India Tobacco Company (ITC) set up a factory with 300 million rupees investment which generated employment for only 300 people. A hotel with similar investment provided jobs to 600 people. This is applicable to most countries—more so in developing countries where wages are lower. Roger H. Ballou, President, American Express, USA (Travel Services) told the delegates to the 1993 annual convention of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) in Honolulu that worldwide employment in tourism services had grown to 127 million and capital investment had topped US $ 422 billion.

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Talking about USA alone, he said that travel and tourism had become the country’s single largest ‘export’. Over 43 million international travellers to USA spent 64 billion dollars in 1992, giving a net surplus of 16 billion dollars. Tourism employed 6 million Americans directly, and another 3 million Americans were employed indirectly. One out of every thirteen Americans was engaged in jobs relating to tourism services. It created new investment of US $ 50 billion every year—which is 6 per cent of total new investment. Tourism accounted for 13 per cent of consumer spending—the largest expenditure after food. Hawaii, the 52nd State of the USA, provides a good example of economic benefits of tourism. Addressing the 1993 annual convention of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), Mufi Hannemann, Director, Business, Economic Development and Tourism, said, “Without doubt tourism is Hawaii’s top industry. It is estimated to be US $ 10 billion-a-year industry and supports directly or indirectly about 2,50,000 jobs out of state’s population of only one million.” One out of every two residents is employed by tourism as half the population may consist of children, senior citizens and housewives doing no jobs. There were 7 million visitors to Hawaii in 1991—7 times more than the local population. In 1982, European Economic Community (EEC) estimated that there were 11 million jobs which were directly or indirectly related to tourism in EEC countries. Of this, 70 per cent were involved in domestic tourism and the rest in international tourism. The British Tourist Authority estimated in 1985 that there were one and a half million people engaged in jobs relating to travel business in Great Britain. The current estimate of people engaged in tourism business in EEC countries was about 15 million. Statistics relating to jobs in tourism industry can be a little deceptive. For instance, how does one separate workers in a deluxe hotel in India which is primarily patronised by foreigners

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though a certain percentage of rooms is also used by rich Indians rich? There are, however, formulae to make fairly accurate assessment of people involved in domestic and international tourism. The rule of the thumb is that one job is created by one international tourist from an affluent country in India’s low wage economy. Although no official estimate of the workers employed in travel and tourism industry in India is available, a reasonable estimate is 5 million people—one million in international tourism and four million in domestic tourism. Contribution to GDP : Tourism has an important contribution to make to the Gross Domestic Product. The size and value of a national economy is usually expressed in terms of the total value of all goods and services produced by that economy in a specific time, such as one year. For convenience, we call it Gross Domestic Product. Two main elements of GDP are goods and services produced for consumption (C) and those produced for fixed capital formation or investment (I) to produce more goods and services. Since the economy is not closed to foreign trade we should include the value of Exports (X) but exclude the value of Imports (M) of goods and services during the given period. The definition may be read: GDP = C + I + X - M Travel and Tourism figures in all aspects of GDP. All expenditure incurred by tourists—both domestic and international—will be included in consumption and the expenditure incurred on building hotels, roads and other tourist services will be included in investment. The money spent by tourists on the national carrier of the country of origin will, in a sense, be considered “exporting” services and the money spent by the tourists using the national airline of the host destination will be termed “importing” services. Estimates of contribution of tourism to the GDP of a country are not easy because of the fuzzy definition of services included

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in it. Despite these difficulties, several countries have tried to provide an estimate of the value of tourism component of GDP for comparison and planning purposes. The following is the estimated contribution of tourism to GDP of some selected countries for which figures are available: Estimated Contribution of Tourism to GDP (1987 figures in standardised $US) billion (‘000m) International receipts Australia

2.4

Domestic Total receipts 11.6

GDP

14.0

230

Total/ GDP% 6.1

Belgium

2.9

0.4

3.3

140

2.4

Canada

4.4

13.6

18.0

450

4.0

France

11.5

50.0

61.5

890

6.9

7.6

15.0

22.6

1135

2.0

11.5

22.5

34.0

560

6.1

Japan

2.3

9.7

12.0

2950

0.4

Netherlands

2.6

0.9

3.5

220

1.6

15.5

8.0

23.5

205

11.5

Sweden

2.0

2.6

4.6

125

3.7

Switzerland

5.1

4.9

10.0

165

6.1

United Kingdom

10.7

14.3

25.0

725

3.4

United States

15.0

200.0

215.0

4700

4.6

West Germany Italy

Spain

Average

3.6

Sources: Adapted from NTO/individual countries’ statistical offices, WTO and OECD data.

Note: Great care should be taken with comparisons in this table as different countries include different elements in tourism expenditure, different methods of data collection are used, and some figures, such as United States’ domestic tourism expenditure, are government estimates.

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According to a study done on New Zealand Tourism in 1986-87, the net value added by tourism was estimated to be US $ 1.53 billion next only to agriculture. Tourism rated higher in comparison with manufactured exports. In 1993, however, tourism became New Zealand’s largest export. Its contribution to the GDP, therefore, was even higher.

Growing Impact Direct and Indirect Effect : The economic effects of tourism can be further divided into two parts—Direct and Indirect Effect. The direct and indirect impacts of tourism on an economy are amongst the most intensively researched areas of tourism analysis. Most countries have concentrated on local area studies. Some have written on the impact of the tourism on developing countries. But, the conclusions are applicable to most countries— developed or underdeveloped. Direct effects of tourism are relatively easy to measure. Let us assume that a US visitor to India stayed in Maurya Sheraton Hotel, New Delhi. After his 3-day stay, he paid to the hotel $ 500 which became the direct income of the hotel. But, the $ 500 did not stay with the hotel. Of this amount, $ 250 was disbursed to employees as wages, $ 200 went to suppliers of food, liquor and other services, $ 40 went towards the payment of utilities and $ 10 were remitted to the owners of Sheraton Corporation towards their services. Although direct payment was $ 500 only, $ 490 moved through the Indian economy to several recipients who, in turn, passed certain percentage of their receipts to others who provided them goods and services. This is known as Indirect income or Flow in expenditure. The direct benefit to national income from inbound international tourism is the injection of fresh money and demand

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from an external source. This is equivalent to an increase in Export (X). While export of goods generates overseas credit, tourism generally does not. Tourism expenditure physically takes place inside the receiving country on goods and services which are normally consumable items. It has its impact on balance of payments. The impact need not necessarily be good for developing economies. Let us examine it further. Demonstration Effect : In less developed countries, residents tend to observe and learn the lifestyle of the richer visitors from affluent societies and try to emulate their way of life. In economic terms, it may bring about changes in the consumption pattern of local residents resulting in higher propensity to import consumer items used by the tourists. Therefore, new imports may affect to an extent the increase in export value brought about by increased tourism. The second change is on the price level in the host country. Tourists from rich countries may bring price pressures with them, affecting local residents. Researchers have cited such phenomena taking place in the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and the Fiji Islands. This is more applicable to economies which are small and not diversified—not necessarily in a country of the size of India. Employment Potential : A similar effect is seen in the area of direct employment. If there is an increase in the number of visitors to a destination, there is bound to be an increase in the manpower requirements of the travel industry. A 30 per cent increase in the occupancy of tourist hotel will result in increasing the demand for more staff at the hotel counter, drivers, guides and shops, etc. It is the direct employment resulting from increased flow of tourism. Indirect demand for new employees is also created in other areas, i.e., agriculture, horticulture, manufacturing, the sector catering to tourist needs.

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A third level generation of employment is also seen— employment created by the diffusion of receipts from direct and indirect beneficiaries. This is called Downstream or Induced employment. In other words, there are a lot more people who do not see the tourist but benefit from increase in expenditure incurred by visitors—foreign and domestic. Tourism Multiplier : Ardent supporters of tourism often argue in its favour because of its multiplier effect in the national economy—the impact of tourism on secondary employment and income—other than the direct impact—which is well-known. A number of techniques have been developed by researchers assessing secondary impacts. The main one is tourism multiplier or income output analysis. What is tourism multiplier? Basically, it means that international tourism expenditure means higher income for tourism suppliers. This income gets distributed over a wide area, i.e., wages and salaries, rent, interest, profits, and any indirect income to suppliers of goods and services needed for tourists. This is further distributed to food and beverage services, phone and electricity companies, fuel suppliers, taxis, printers and many others. The recipients of all these incomes may spend the new income or save it for further investment. To the extent that they choose to spend on goods and services produced locally, a round of new transactions creates new induced income for secondary suppliers. They themselves have more to spend and the cycle moves on. Let us explain it by an illustration. An American tourist spends US $ 2,000 in Bombay, including the hotel bill. Of this amount $ 1,000 is the direct income to the hotel and we know how it will be spent as explained earlier in the case of Maurya Hotel, New Delhi. The remaining $ 1,000 is re-spent in the

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economy from indirect or induced income. Since those who receive the money, keep certain part of it for further investments, they may recirculate only $ 500. The next transaction may be for $ 250, and the subsequent for $ 125. The total value of the income created over the same period works out to be $ 2,000 + $ 1,000 + $250 + $125 = 4,000. Multiplier=2. While the initial expenditure was only $ 2,000, through the process of recirculation, it adds up to $ 4,000. The value of 2 is directly related to re-spending habits of recipients of tourist income. In each round, they tend to spend less. This is called Marginal Propensity to Consume (MPC). This is the simple formula for working out the multiplier. But, things are not always so simple. There are other elements on this income removed from the flow in, and not spent in the local economy. The demands on this income are the government taxation, and that part of the extra income which people choose to save (Marginal Propensity to Save). And, finally, the expenditure on imports for tourists. These are called Leakages. The alternate formula, therefore, will be: 1 Multipliers MPS + MPI

MPS = Marginal Propensity to Save MPI = Marginal Propensity to Import. The formula explains that the multiplier effect is determined by dividing one unit of tourist expenditure by that proportion of it which leaks out of the economy by savings, imports or taxation. Another way of putting it would be: 1 Multiplier = Proportion of Leakage

Researchers have also identified the tourism multiplier coefficient of some countries. The following chart shows their multiplier co-efficient:

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1.77

-

1.99

UK

1.68

-

1.78

Hawaii

0.90

-

1.03

Bahamas

0.89

New Zealand

3.00

India

3.00

-

4.00 (1976 Estimate)

Cost Benefit Study of Indian Tourism, Indian Council of Applied Economic Research, 1976.

Similar techniques have been employed to determine employment multiplier. The tourism employment multiplier identifies total extra employment brought about by increased tourist arrivals added to direct tourism employment. There are other multipliers too, i.e., transaction multiplier, output multiplier and capital multiplier. A New Zealand study utilised the employment multiplier technique to estimate total direct and indirect employment. Total direct and indirect employment generated in New Zealand by tourism was estimated at 69,845 in 1986-87. With an employment multiplier of 1.6, it meant direct employment was 42,218 and indirect employment 27,627. The employment multiplier was marginally higher for international tourism—1.69 compared to 1.61 for domestic tourism. In 1996, it may well have been over 100,000 with rapid increase in tourist arrivals. Imagine the employment impact of tourism when we take note of this fact that New Zealand has a population of only 3.4 million. To sum up, the economic value of tourism to a country depends on its resources and its structure. Structure determines how a tourist dollar is allocated—payment to suppliers, wages to staff, taxation, etc. It also fixes secondary value of inbound tourism through direct and indirect effect on other parts of the

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economy. A large and diversified economy with little interference from the government is likely to benefit more from the injection of fresh money brought in by foreign visitors. A small economy depending on imports gains primarily by higher employment— they only sell their labour, The Bahamas, for instance. Again, tourist resources of a country will determine how many tourists will come and the volume of their expenditure. A country like India with diverse tourist resources and a vast economy will be able to absorb the tourist dollars more easily than a small country like Sri Lanka, Bahamas or Fiji.

Assessment of Advantages Some countries conduct cost benefit study of their tourism as India and Sri Lanka did some years ago. The cost-benefit analysis entails a comparison between all the costs and benefits associated with a particular investment. As far as possible, all costs and benefits of a financial or a social nature are weighed. Health-risks and environmental pollution would be quantified as costs while, for example, time saved by road users by the construction of a new road for tourism will be quantified as benefit. Some quantifications are very tenuous and they are best dealt with by qualitative assessment. The Indian study mentioned above dealt mainly with economic costs and benefits to India in terms of net foreign exchange earnings, multiplier effect, etc. They came to the conclusion that the multiplier effect of tourism in India varied from 3 to 4—one of the highest in the world.

Tourism : Pros and Cons Tourism is considered to be one of the most researched single topic. But, researchers have ignored it as a social phenomenon. Economic benefits have been focused to justify huge expenditure on infrastructure and tourism promotion by the governments. An objective analysis of economic and social impact of tourism is, therefore, called for.

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On the plus side, economic benefits bring social benefits with them. For example, if tourism is developed in new areas, jobs come to the local people. People do not move to urban areas in search of employment. The ancient temples of Khajuraho—a remote tourist centre in the heart of Madhya Pradesh in India—has helped create employment for villagers of this area. Similarly, the people of Kulu and Manali region in the northern Himalayas used to go to urban areas of Indian plains in search of jobs. Now, they do not have to as there are plenty of new jobs in hotels and guest houses and other tourismrelated activities in their own state. The social problem of depopulation of rural areas due to pressure on land is partly reversed and families are not disrupted. Another advantage is that the entertainment and cultural activities developed for tourists in touristic regions are also available to the local population. Facilities developed on the thin edge of viability become viable with the increased flow of tourists and their use by local residents. The increase in the revenue collected by governments, can be used for the betterment of the host communities. Tourism leads to re-distribution of wealth. The income generated in community A which is affluent is spent in community B which may be relatively poor in the absence of resources. For instance, up-market visitors from metropolitan towns of Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Chennai spend their holidays in remote areas of Himachal Pradesh, Garhwal Himalayas or Darjeeling, bringing more income and new jobs to the local population. Within an economy, domestic tourism expenditure counts as part of consumption or investment. Therefore, it is, principally, a re-allocation of consumers’ or producers’ spending on something else. To measure the impact of domestic tourism expenditure, one has to find out answers to (a) what would the tourists have done with their money, if they did not take a domestic holiday? (b) Do tourists spread their expenditure regionally in areas where the resources are scarce? Answering

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the first question, if the people had gone abroad for a similar holiday, it would definitely harm the economy. On the other hand, if the money was spent on high-priced imported goods, it would also hurt the economy. And if they spent money on locally produced luxury goods, the benefit would be to the local urban economy which was in any case doing well. Domestic tourism, therefore, may be a better answer for the use of disposable income of the people. If the domestic tourists spread out their expenditure in resource-poor areas, the benefit to the economy will be good in terms of employment as well as income. Government, too, will get its share of taxes. Internationally, a similar effect is created when citizens of developed nations travel to the developing countries bringing new wealth and creating new jobs. Japan’s recent move to reduce its massive trade surplus by promoting overseas tourism is a case in point. It is benefiting countries like Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal and India. The money pumped in by foreign tourists can be used on developmental projects removing poverty in the host countries. In some countries, tourism becomes a major employer and, in other cases, even the only employer. It has the advantage of creating employment with relatively low fixed investment per employee. Thus, countries with a few or limited exportable resources, find tourism a useful economic activity. Till a decade ago, the Government of India was not seriously involved in the development and growth of tourism as it was considered a peripheral activity. Tourism ranked 105th in its list of priorities in the sixth five-year plan. The reason advanced was that the scarce resources of the country could not be diverted from the primary needs of the Indian people, like health, education and agriculture, to an industry catering to rich Indians and foreigners. It was argued that expenditure incurred on the construction of a five-star hotel could as well provide clean water supply to a city. But, over the years, the government attitude has changed as the economic benefit became more evident.

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In the current environment of liberalisation, the government has decided that tourism development should be left in the hands of the private sector with the government providing broad guidelines and offering incentives and rebates in taxation. Another objection was from the left-wing economists who contended that high investment in the tourism sector created an “oasis of luxury in a desert of poverty.” That argument has been countered by the fact that the income generated from tourism can be utilised for alleviating poverty. Investment in tourism development is low and returns high. The main investment is already there— great monuments, scenic beauty—all that is needed is some hotels and transport to be provided to reap the benefits of tourism.

Different Issues While tourism, undoubtedly, helps the economy and the society, it creates some social problems. The first problem is regarding the land use. When, for example, much of the area is under cultivation or another forms of agriculture, a conflict arises when a demand is made to acquire more land for the purpose of tourism development. New tourist areas are also needed to be opened up for public access which require more land to develop infra-structure in the form of roads and bridges. The observers of international tourism scene cannot forget the decade-long struggle which the farmers of Japan launched to retain the possession of their land which was ultimately used for building the Narita Airport, near Tokyo. Now, Narita Airport has far exceeded its capacity and farmers are in no mood to oblige the government further with more land. A recent example is that of India. A former Chief Minister of Haryana decided to acquire thousands of acres of land in the State to build what they called a new Disneyland in the periphery of the Indian capital, Delhi. A good and economically viable project faced the wrath of thousands of farmers whose land was to be acquired. In the face of strong political agitation, the Chief

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Minister lost the election and the successor government gave up the project. The problems of land required for tourism purposes needs to be carefully dealt with using the scarce land resources in an equitable and aesthetic way to satisfy the contending parties. Secondly, there may be a conflict between the demands of the visitors and the interests of the residents. Both the visitors and the residents demand a high degree of facilities for leisure. The greater the number of visitors, the more the risk of inconvenience to local population followed by resentment and tension. Tourism generally brings euphoria in underdeveloped societies where initially a few adventurous and veteran travellers come to discover a new destination. But, where there is already some tourism, the local population looks at the visitors with apathy. The principal beneficiaries are those involved in servicing the tourists while the rest of the population, at least looks the other way. When tourism assumes mass scale, then this apathy turns into hostility towards the visitors. The governments are often interested in increasing numbers to keep the cash flow coming in but not the local residents. Example: France, Spain and Italy where tourists often outnumber the locals in some areas. Cities like London, Paris and Rome may be in a position to absorb millions of tourists who inundate these towns because of their extensive facilities but not the smaller tourist centres or countries. There have been outbursts of hostilities as pointed out by Rivers: “Among black Jamaicans, there is growing consciousness that the kind of tourist industry which has sprung up around them is both demeaning and exploitative and resentment to white visitors is widespread. Trinidad has only just lifted the

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It should be understood that there is a limit to tolerance level of tourists in a given society. As long as the number of visitors and their cumulative impact is below critical level, the tourists are accepted. The following chart is illustrative of the pattern how tourism affects different societies.

Role of Society and Economy Stage

Type of tourists

Economic impact

Social impact on local population

Underdeveloped countries societies.

A few enterprising tourists seeking and exploring a new destination.

Minimum

Euphoric

Developing countries

Tourists seeking off-beat destinations—small movements and small groups

Moderate

Friendly

Developed countries

Mass tourism— hordes of tourists pouring into a destination causing inconvenience to local residents.

Substantial Apathetic. economic Hostile. benefit to governments as well as to people involved in tourism.

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It is an important duty of the tourism administrations to educate the general public about the economic and social benefits of tourism. It is also the duty of the travel industry of the country to make similar efforts. Tourism, to a great extent, is a seasonal activity. Not all the facilities developed at great expense are utilised fully. Often, these facilities are used only half the year. This leads to wasteful use of resources and seasonal unemployment in the host country, particularly for unskilled workers. This is both a social and economic disadvantage. An attempt has to be made to lengthen the holiday season by systematic marketing and by offering incentives to those visiting the place during the off-season. A number of other problems relating to tourism growth have been raised by researchers such as whether tourism stimulates crime against people and property; whether it encourages prostitution in the tourist areas, and what measures are required to ensure safety of hosts and visitors. These issues were discussed in a conference on crime detection and law stabilisation in tourist regions. A study undertaken in Miami, Florida, noted a close similarity between the tourist season and the crime season, suggesting that it indicated the response of the criminals to increase in availability of targets of crime. It is reasonable to assume that large-scale tourism contributes to an increase in crime leading to more expenditure on law enforcement. In India, the ill-effects of tourism have not been visible, largely because of the size of the country and a very large population. At the present level of arrivals—2 million annually— there are, on an average, not more than 50,000 foreign visitors spread over hundreds of towns and cities of the country. They are lost in the huge ocean of Indian humanity. In fact, the old euphoria still prevails in the Indian countryside on seeing a tourist.

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In some of the hill areas, however, domestic and foreign tourists vie for space on mountain tracks causing, pollution. Last but not least, governments should not make an attempt to put all eggs in the same basket. A country needs diversified economy. Tourism industry is most vulnerable to factors like law and order in a country, a local or regional war or prospects of a conflict in a region. Tourists shun the area where they see the possibility of a conflict as they have other options. In early 1993, riots in some parts of India following the demolition of the so-called Babri Masjid virtually put a stop to inbound tourism which affected the flow of tourists for almost a year. India escaped economic devastation because the country’s economy is fairly well diversified. Despite a decline in international tourism, India was able to tide over the crisis. Neighbouring Thailand too had a coup in 1992—its tourism decreased but the country survived due to its diversified economy. Each country or region has to take its own decision: (a) Whether it wishes to become an important tourist destination, (b) If the answer is yes, they have to take steps to maximise advantages or benefits of tourism, and (c) Be prepared to face the problems that may arise from growth and development of tourism. The rewards are high for governments and countries which succeed in harmonising the interests of tourists with the interests of local residents. They have to plan tourism development in a scientific way rather than let it happen in an unregulated environment as has happened in some of the countries of the world. Example: Spain and Thailand.

Role of Atmosphere With rapid development of tourism all over the world, lots of people are concerned about its impact on natural environments.

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In recent times, they have become quite vocal and have been aggressively voicing their protests against the unregulated growth of tourism. They are often called environmentalists. In the past two decades, the term “environment” has emerged as a catch phrase and many emotional statements have been made to put a check on the tourism growth. The World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) have taken note of the concerns of the environmentalists. PATA devoted a full conference at Bali (1993) discussing the relationship of tourism and environments and have laid down some guidelines. Some countries have enacted the laws relating to the preservation of environments. India is one of the countries which has enacted such legislations and has set up a separate Ministry of Environments and Forest to monitor the land-use from the point of view of environment. The ministry is very vigilant about the land which is under forests and prior clearance from the central governments is needed to set up any tourist project on such lands. Even the state governments have to seek the clearance of the Ministry of Environment. For instance, the State Government of Orissa had proposed the development of a major sea resort on its coastal belt around Puri and Konark. Since a part of that land is under forests, the Ministry of Environment in Delhi has withheld the clearance of the project. In fact, land was allotted to a leading hotel chain for development and they had undertaken the responsibility of making the least changes in the natural environments of the area. Western Attitude towards Nature : The concern for conservation or environment is a recent phenomenon in the West. Till the beginning of the nineteenth century, nature was seen as unkempt and needed to be tamed to suit the requirements of man as perceived by the West. Nature was seen as dangerous at its worst and at its best, it was uncomfortable. It was man’s duty to improve the land. This was the philosophy which led Britain in the 18th century to enclose

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common land with hedges, fields and copses. That gave Britain the landscape of the English countryside which is now its great tourist attraction. To the eighteenth century observer nature was the raw material to be moulded by man. When the railways came to Europe, people generally welcomed it. The French impressionists even celebrated the railways in their painting. They did not deplore it. It became part of the landscape. The British felt threatend by the Railways. Indian Attitude towards Nature : In India, people’s attitude towards nature has always been to let it remain the way it is and not to disturb it. That perhaps explains why the Indian government is aggressively vigilant about environmental issues and policies not only at home but also at international fora and conferences. Another, and more logical, reason is to protect land and forests from further depredation by the growing population. The Vedic Indians had great love for nature and animal life and the preservation of what nature has bestowed on us. There can be no better example of this love than the following Sanskrit Mantra from the Atharvaveda which, when translated, means: Whatever I take from Earth, may that have quick growth again. O Purifier! may we not impure the vitals of thy heart. The same sensitivity and concern for nature has been expressed in Kalidasa’s Shakuntalam. Kalidasa writes: After watering the trees, the Rishi damsels quickly moved away from the birds who were drinking water from the pools around the trees. Gautam Buddha said : The forest is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its life’s activity. It affords protection to

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India’s late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was more specific when she warned in her address to the World Summit at Stockholm in 1984: It is said that in country after country, progress should become synonymous with an assault on Nature—The higher standards of living must be achieved without despoiling Nature’s freshness and purity essential to our lives. Mahatma Gandhi, the father of Indian Independence, said a half century ago, The Earth has enough for everybody’s need but not for everyone’s greed. Need for Conservation : It is not easy to make an objective assessment of the impact of tourism on environment or ecology. Tourism, in its present form and shape, is only 50 years old. The raid on ecology began with the industrial revolution. The industrial revolution was followed by improvement in health and population explosion. The exploitation and overuse of earth’s buried treasures began. Coal was extracted. Minerals were dug out and natural oil was pumped out by drilling the earth to its lowest depths. Little effort was made to restore the earth’s surface to its original beauty. Many areas lie exposed like open wounds. New industrial units have crowded the face of the earth. Pollution of water and air followed industrialisation. The toxic effluents from the industrial waste flowed through the mighty and sacred rivers to our oceans. Industrialisation brought economic prosperity and prosperity led to tourism—both domestic and international. Tourism can also be a factor affecting the environments which we seek to protect. Millions of tourists are crowding the popular beach resorts, mountain treks, wildlife jungles and at the ancient monuments in search of a holiday. It has caused

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understandable concerns. However these concerns can be more easily resolved than industrial pollution. Who is responsible for the degradation of environments on this earth? Answering this question, Maneka Gandhi, former Minister of Environment in India, told a Western audience in London: Six per cent of world population in USA consume a third of all the resources including CFC’s. They generate 25 per cent of the carbon dioxide. Of more than half a billion vehicles on the roads, over twothirds are in the West. The world’s tropical forests are being ruined by the demands of the West for hard timber. Annually, 100 million cubic metres of hard wood coming from our forests are consumed by the West. The West uses about 160 million tons of wood pulp a year compared to about 20 million tons by all the developing countries combined. Each citizen of the West consumes nearly 300 kilograms of paper in a year, compared to 5 kilograms in developing countries. The citizens of the Third World do not use even half of what is used by a single edition of the New York Times on Sundays. She Added : Environments have no national boundaries. Remember Chernobyl—the world’s worst man-made disaster in Ukraine in the USSR on April 26, 1986. A reactor in the nuclear plant exploded throwing tons of radioactive material in the sky—about 90 times stronger than the atom bombs thrown by USA on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The radioactive fall-out was registered as far as India and the United States. Apart from the USSR, the countries affected included Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland and East Germany. Mrs. Maneka Gandhi’s successor, Kamal Nath, the Minister of Environments and Forests, expressed shock that Western countries, though most vocal on the need for conservation, are unwilling to change their lifestyle which is causing damage to environments all over the

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world. He said, “If everybody on the planet adopted the lifestyle which emitted carbon dioxide at the rate of North Americans we would have boiled long ago.” On the tourism side, a very conscious attempt is being made to harmonise tourism and ecology. The idea of management of tourism attraction and their protections from the worst impact of mass tourism started in USA as early as 1872 with the development of Yellowstone National Park. In the UK in 1883, concern over the protection of natural beauty of the Lake District resulted in the organisation of a defence society to protect the area. In the twentieth century, several countries have woken up to the needs of conservation. Wildlife has been protected in some parts of East Africa and South East Asia. In the seventies, India banned hunting of many protected animals like tiger, elephant, leopard, etc., in its jungles. Some national parks have been declared as safe haven for the tiger which was fast disappearing. Similarly, India has regulated the construction of hotels on the beaches of India—no building could exceed the height of tree tops—coconut trees. Even in metropolitan cities like Delhi, there is an Urban Arts Commission which accords permission of designs of hotels, etc. Similarly, the main hotel buildings on sea coasts have to be constructed 250 metres away from the high tide—earlier it was 500 metres under the orders of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. India has tried to learn its lessons in beach management from the mistakes of some countries which had a head-start in beach tourism—Spain, for example, overdeveloped its coastal attractions and ended up with a concrete jungle of high rise hotel blocks on all its coast. Hawaii and Miami in Florida constructed buildings thirty to forty storeys high, right on the beach front. Why is there so much poaching in Indian and African jungles? A large part of income from tourism never reaches the poor

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Indians or native Africans. As long as their standard of living remains low, no amount of argument or persuasion is likely to end poaching when the incentive for securing cash for animal trophies is high. Net boy states that in 1973 at least a 1,000 elephants were slaughtered every month in Africa. This was expected to increase as the trade for ivory grew and the value rose—tusks fetched in excess of US $ 2,000 in 1973. Now, some governments, including India, have placed an embargo on the export of ivory—that has sent the prices of ivory sky-high. Poaching, therefore, has become profitable. Some of the poaching outfits are internationally funded. Definition of Environment : Environment, today, has acquired a broad definition. It includes not only land, air, water, flora and fauna, but also encompasses “People, their creations, and social, economic and cultural conditions that affect their lives.” Environment, whether nature or man-made, is an essential resource of tourism. Modifications are unavoidable if we have to develop tourism. But, these modifications should be done aesthetically and without greed. Countries like Switzerland and Austria, with a long history of tourism, have done well. They have managed to expand their tourist facilities in the mountains without damage to environment. Only a 100 years ago, Switzerland was threatened by ecological despoliation due to population pressure and inadequate technologies. Switzerland was facing the same problem that India faces today in its Himalayas. The pattern was similar in Switzerland—soil erosion on the hillside and flooding in the valleys, as we see in India and Nepal. Switzerland succeeded in reversing the situation through tourism. In tourism, people discovered an alternate source of livelihood— giving up overgrazing and over cutting of forests that destroyed

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the mountain wealth. The Swiss started protecting forest wealth as tourism provided them livelihood. Today, tourism, both in Switzerland and Austria, is well planned and well managed, posing little threat to environment. There are other examples of successful harmonisation of tourism and environment. Singapore, a tiny country with very little land to expand tourism, has built high rise apartment blocks and hotels but has kept a limited area of the country unspoiled to still describe the city state as a ‘Park’ in its advertisements. They are renovating old streets and old buildings as part of their effort to protect their heritage. In fact, Singapore has improved its environments considerably. Forty years ago, the city was a swampy island—not even worth a visit as pointed out by one of its legislators. Now it is one of the most popular tourist destinations of Asia. Bali (Indonesia) which was in a bad shape, only two decades ago, has restricted development to its southern coastline protecting the rest of the Island. Mauritius, like India, has gone for tasteful single or two-storey establishments on the beaches using local materials and designs. Conservation really means wise use of resources. It implies safeguarding the visual beauty of the countryside. In man-made developments, an eye at conservation can help retain many characteristics of original landscape. Conservation of wildlife means survival of all living things— flora and fauna—providing them ample space to live, grow and breathe natural air. The protection given by the governments— specially by the Government of India—has given longer lease of life to endangered species of animals but the present danger is from the poachers. In China and Taiwan, tiger bones are considered good for sex life and, at present, large-scale smuggling of tiger bones from India is common, selling as high as $ 10,000 for one dead

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tiger in foreign markets, and causing even more serious challenge to its conservation. Man’s greed has no limit. Tourism—Bliss or Blight is the title of a book written by an Englishman, George Young, 25 years ago on the negative impact of tourism. He was particularly averse to mass tourism which affected local culture, way of life, museums, mountains, national parks, beaches, and rivers. He and some other critics of tourism have described modern tourists as “new barbarians” who ruined ancient monuments by petty vandalism. They furtively chip away pieces of marble to take home as souvenirs. They steal artefacts from temples and churches. They gouge out mosaics from walls and to top it all, they often carve their names into ancient walls of temples and forts. Only a decade ago, Herman Kahn, the well-known futurologist, described the rapidly growing tourism as “...next only to atomic powers in its potential for environmental destruction?” Due to tourism, Saint Paul’s in London has become more like a Departmental Store than a Church. Tourism has encouraged prostitution in some countries of East Asia which has become a menace to health. Young has given many other examples of tourists damaging environments in Europe. Here are some examples from India. The beautiful Dal Lake of Kashmir has been reduced to half of its size in less than 50 years by human encroachments. The boatmen who make use of the lake, throw all the garbage within the beautiful lake. If no timely action is taken, it will become a dirty pond in the next 50 years. Twenty-five years ago, Manali in Himachal Pradesh was a small hill resort catering to the needs of people who loved nature. It was Jawaharlal Nehru’s favourite hide-out in the Himalayas. Now, it is an overcrowded city with ugly multi-storeyed hotels built with concrete. Even the mighty Sutlej has been encroached upon and its view eclipsed.

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Precious wildlife—tigers, lions and panthers—have become virtually extinct in Indian jungles due to hunting or poaching. Ladakh in Kashmir was opened to tourists two decades ago. Already, its mountain treks are jammed with litter left by tourists. The area is too fragile to be visited by masses of people. Too many hotels on the lovely beaches of Goa have created an anti-tourism feeling among the local population. The 2000year-old paintings in the Ajanta Cave temples have started showing signs of decay due to thousands of visitors breathing in the small caves everyday of the week. The Taj is visited by millions of tourists every year and some of its walls show signs of vandalism by the ignorant hordes of tourists. An oil refinery only 50 kms away, is not helping it either. Son Climbs Mount Everest to Sweep it : Here is a great example of what people can do to save environment from the damage which has already been done. Since physical effects of tourism have become an emotional issue, we tend to forget what tourism can do for people. Tourism has helped India to maintain and beautify the surroundings of some of our ancient monuments—Khajuraho, Taj Mahal, Ajanta, Konark, Mahabalipuram, to name only a few. Wildlife sanctuaries and national parks are protected against the land grabbers and poachers. These parks are now visited by thousands of people who love animals—and not by killers or hunters. On April 25, 1994, Associated Press of America released the following story datelined Kathmandu: Thirty years ago, Barry Bishop climbed Mt. Everest with the first United States team on the world’s highest peak. Now his son, Brent, has gone up to clean up the mess. Over the years climbers have left tonnes of tents, plastic bottles, cans of food, oxygen tanks and assorted rubbish on the mountain.

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Brent Bishop’s United States Environmental Expedition brought down 2,300 kg of trash, including 250 empty oxygen cylinders. “Perhaps one of the bottles was from my father’s expedition. Some bottles had markings of as early as the 1956 Swiss expedition,” he said. His main goal was to return “without a scratch”. His father had lost all his toes and the tips of two fingers due to frostbite. In 1963, after he was evacuated by helicopter to a Kathmandu hospital, Barry Bishop said, “On Everest, there are no visitors, only survivors.” Sir Edmund Hillary, who with Tenzing Norgay of India conquered the peak in 1953, said by telephone from Auckland that climbers today had the “advantage of better knowledge and lighter gear.” Sir Edmund’s son Peter climbed Everest four years ago. Brent Bishop reached the summit on May 9, 1994 along with two colleagues and two Nepalese sherpa guides. Burkart and Medlik in their book on Tourism—Past, Present and Future (1990) refer to the ‘Positive Contribution’ of tourism to the quality of life of the 20th century Great Britain: London would not have had as many theatres, quality shops, restaurants and taxis without the massive spending of overseas visitors, and London underground transport system could not operate as many peak hour commuter trains but for the pound one million a week contribution by tourists during the off-peak hours. English Tourist Board research shows that an average of 21 new sightseeing attractions had opened in England every year in 1960s and 48 a year in 1970s. Since 1970, England had acquired about 200 new museums and art galleries. Tourism was generating and sustaining industrial heritage in the regions

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in a dramatic fashion. Many of the newer attractions were built on the obsolete, redundant, derelict, tumbledown or unwanted remains of earlier industries. The legislation that provided National Parks in Great Britain led to concepts such as country parks, long-distance footpaths, areas of outstanding natural beauty, natural trails and heritage coast. Besides, picnic sites and car parks have been opened by the local authorities on a very large scale all over Great Britain. In India, too, a similar pattern is emerging. Heritage sites have been identified in Delhi and some of the buildings like Hauz Khas and Qutab Minar have been illuminated. Son-et-Lumier shows in Red Fort Delhi are a major tourist draw. Scores of old palaces, havelis (feudal residences) have been converted into hotels, protecting heritage as well as creating new tourist accommodation with very little investment. To educate and inform people about the need for preservation of monuments, the Department of Tourism, Government of India, launched a major advertising campaign focussing on this aspect. The titles of some of the selected advertisements released in National Press will explain our point: 1.A richly carved temple is like A Sculptured PrayerLooted to Line Some Unscrupulous Pockets 2.Flawless Memory of a Monarch’s Love... Scarred and Disfigured by Sheer Vandalism. Then there were advertisements for preservation of wildlife. The Pride and Glory of India’s jungles... Slaughtered for Vanity, Greed and Personal Gain. A government-funded Himalayan Foundation has recently issued the following guidelines for trekkers, mountaineers and

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other tourists going to the Himalayas for preservation of environments in India. 1. All litter must be deposited in the litter boxes kept for this purpose. 2. People going on mountain treks must not throw litter on the way. In course of time, heaps of litter become an eye sore for people who may come the same way later. It is happening to our Himalayas. 3. Visitors going to monuments must not carve their names or initials on the walls. Such vulgarity ruins the monuments. If you see someone doing that, persuade him not to do so. 4. Noise pollution is not less harmful than air or water pollution. Honking must be avoided at all costs. 5. It is absurd to disfigure historical and ancient statues, depriving our children of the privilege of seeing these great works of art in their original glory. “A thing of beauty is joy for ever”. Our great artisans took scores of years to carve out these figures for us to enjoy but we seem to relish disfiguring them in a moment. 6. Smuggling and stealing of ancient statues and artifacts have become common due to the high prices of such precious treasures. Tourists and the local residents must remain alert to such vandalism. 7. Sea beaches were formed over thousands of years and we must not ruin them by our rash actions. Tall, multistoreyed buildings on the beach-front affect the structure of the beaches, sometimes leading to the disappearance of the beach itself. 8. Industrial waste should not be allowed to flow into the rivers, thereby killing marine life and depleting water resources. Our sacred Ganga has been so polluted due to industrial and city wastes that the Government of

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Tourism may not be a ‘blessing’, it certainly is no ‘blight’. There is need for more meaningful research to find answers to future patterns of needs and demands. We can harmonise the needs of the tourist with the demands of environment. Therein lies the future of tourism. The summarise, most researches in tourism have been concentrated on its economic benefits. These researches primarily highlight the economic advantages of tourism resulting in widespread optimism among government policy makers. The economic benefits of tourism are reflected in the balance of payment, higher employment, rising incomes and to new entrepreneurial activities in a country. The most noticeable economic argument in favour of tourism is its Multiplier Effect. All industries have multiplie effect but in tourism it is much higher. States benefits the most from tourism, through taxes. It is estimated that 6 cents out of every dollar earned through tourism go to governments in the form of taxes in the USA. Indian states too have similar advantages. It is estimated that 15 paise out of every rupee spent by tourists go to the government coffers. Among the disadvantages of developing tourism are leakages from the economies of developing countries through imports, high inflation, land speculation, low investment returns due to

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seasonal nature of tourism, etc. An important disadvantage of small countries with rich tourist assets is that they tend to depend too much on tourism which is vulnerable to local and regional conflicts as well as national catastrophies. A country developing tourism must undertake an objective study of costbenefits of promoting tourism. Tourism also needs to be studied more intensively from sociological and environmental angles. On the positive side, tourism has some immediate social benefits. Families are not disrupted as people living in tourist areas get jobs nearer to their homes. Migration to urban areas is reversed. Tourism brings entertainment and cultural activities to areas where such enterprises would not have been viable but for the influx of rich tourists. The local residents can share the facilities developed for tourists. Tourism leads to redistribution of wealth from rich areas to poor areas. Tourism which is welcomed initially can become a problem for the local residents, if the influx exceeds the limits of tolerance. It can cause social tensions in a country. Environmental effects of tourism are worrying many people who love nature and would like to cause the least disturbance to nature’s balance. Tourism has affected environments in many countries. A good example is Spain where unregulated construction of multi-storey buildings on its beaches has turned the beautiful region into a concrete jungle. An Indian example is Dal Lake in Srinagar which is likely to change into a muddy pond in the next fifty years, if no corrective steps are taken immediately. In Nepal, even the top of the Mount Everest has been polluted with litter and garbage. Herman Kahn, the well known futurologist, has described, “rapidly growing tourism next only to atomic power in its potential for environmental destruction.”

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Travel and Tourism

The world has become very conscious of environmentfriendly tourism. Clients in countries like Germany and UK decline to go to countries where ecology is under threat. Both World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) have developed codes and guidelines for environmentally responsible tourism for governments, people and the travel industry. An environmental friendly approach can harmonise tourism and nature. Good examples are Switzerland and Austria, and bad ones, Thailand and Spain. Tourism has its positive role. It has helped beautify areas surrounding ancient monuments. Ajanta, Khajuraho, Taj Mahal are good examples of preservation and beautification of monuments in India through tourism.