Essay on Tourism as an Industry in

India
AATISH PALEKAR

Essay on Tourism as Industry in India.

Tourism is the world’s largest industry, bigger than iron and steel industry or electronics or auto
industries. According to an estimate the international tourism exceeded 663 million people in 1999
costing about 455 billion U.S. dollar and provided employment to about 200 million people which is
about 10% of the total work force of the world. In the year 2005 figure of the arrival world over was
about 808 million with India’s share of 3.92 million foreign tourists, barely 0.49% of the world figure
although India has been ranked as the 4th most favored country in the world for holidays. In India
tourism is the third largest foreign exchange earner after garments, gems and jewllery. Foreign
exchange earnings from tourism in the year 2005 were up to the extent of 5.73 billion U.S. dollars.

As a result of “Incredible India Campaigns” the arrival of foreign tourists increased from 3457477 in
2004 to 4429915 in 2006 accompanied by an increase in foreign exchange earnings from Rs.
21,603 crore in 2004 to 29603 crore in 2006. During the month of January 2007 some 5,14,453
foreign tourists visited India. The common wealth games are scheduled to be held in India in 2010
and tourism industry is all set to harvest the benefit of the occasion. Several schemes are in hand to
lure both domestic and foreign tourists who include “Incredible India” and “Atithi Devo Bhov” which
are contributing a lot to encourage tourism and attract tourists to India. In order to build tourist
infrastructure an amount of Rs. 423 crore of the previous year. In addition to this Rs. 150 crore have
been allotted to the Ministery of Youth Affairs and Sports as also a sum of Rs.350 crore to Delhi.
Government for Common Wealth Games 2010. There is a provision of Rs.50 crore for the Common
Wealth Youth Games to be held in pune in 2008.

To build up the infrastructure of Tourism Industry fifty projects with an estimated cost of 298 million
U.S. dollars have been market out. These include the construction of new grade separators, fly-over,
bridges and improvement of the linking roads. Additional hotel sites are being proposed and the
agencies involved therein have been advised to follow investor friendly land policies and single
window approach to encourage hotel projects. Land owing agencies such as Railways, Deptt. Of
Civil Aviation, D.D.A. and Ministry of Urban Development are the agencies taking interest in
promoting hotel project.

There are about 12, 00,000 hotel rooms in the country out of which only 80,000 are of star category.
It is estimated that nearly 60, ooo more hotel rooms shall be required within the next two or three
years to meet the increasing demand of the foreign visitors. On an average a foreign tourist stays for
about a month in India because of vast tourist potentials. The Tourism Ministry has proposed to
create a Land Bank for building hotels in public-private partnership. The railways have also decided
to utilize their land for hotels to set up 100 hotels across the country within next two years. The New
National Tourism Policy is motivated by the mythological concept “Atithi Devo Bhav” and revolves
round a framework – Government-led, private sector driven and community welfare oriented. The
Tenth Plan approach to the sector aimed at ensuring that that the tourist to India gets “physically
invigorated, mentally rejuvenated, culturally enriched, spiritually elevated and feel India within him.

Government of India is very keen for the development of tourist infrastructure in the North Eastern
Region in view of the immense tourist potential prevailing thereon. The rich natural beauty, serenity
and exotic flora and fauna in the eight states of the region are invaluable resources for the
development of tourism. The Ministry for Tourism has taken a number of steps including the setting
up of a full fledge institute of Hotel Management and Catering Technology in Shillong and opening
up of a chapter of a Chapter of Institute of Tourism and Travel Management at Guwahati.
Tourist may be motivated to undertake tours either according to their personal likings or for some
specific purpose such as research studies or enquires but mostly these are aimed at personal
recreation by sight seeing and the like. By far, the most important type is Ecotourism which may be
defined as a tour to natural areas that conserve the environment and lead to the welfare of the local
people. In India we have 98 National Parks such as Corbett, Bandhavgarh and Ranthambore, 492
Wild life sanctuaries e.g. Bharatpur, Gir and Sarika, Exsit Conservation Areas which include
Biological gardens and Zoological parks, coral reefs found in Remeshwaram, Andaman and
Nicobars and Lakshwadeep, Biosphere reserves such as Nilgiris, Nanda Devi and Gulf of Manar and
Deserts like Thar in Rajasthan and Cold deserts of Ladakh.

Rural tourism is a new concept in India but in Europe and other parts of the world it has been
practiced since long as people want their children to have first hand knowledge and experience of
rural life. Countries having agriculture economy e.g. Australia, Canada and the USA have Housing
tourist spots in country side. Rural tourism may include heritage tourism, Farm tourism, pilgrim
tourism, adventure tourism, nature tourism or folkways and ancient culture tourism. Specific potential
areas for rural tourism is India may be Gujrat, backwater of Keral, The Pubjabi cuisine, The Hills of
U.P., Shanti Niketan in West Bangal, dances and Folk songs of Orissa, The Nithyagram of
Karnataka, The tribals of Bihar, Natural beauty of Meghalaya, folk dances of Andhra Pradesh, Teej
festival of Rajstan, mask dances of Sikkim, the Holi of Nandagaon Barsana.

Crafts and Culture of the Indian villages not only helps the tourism industry but also creates rural
entrepreneurship and economic growth. There are a number of areas identified by the government
for the indigenous Tourism Projects across the country as tourist spots such as Pochampalli in
Nalgonda and Shrikalahaste in Chitor district in Andhra Pradesh, Durgapur in Golahat and Sualkuchi
in Kamrup district of Assam, Nepura in Nalanda district in Bihar.

The village destinations are market based known for their rich tradition, crafts and culture. Some
states are taking their own initiatives to promote rural tourism, their main objective being to generate
employment opportunities. It is estimated that one million of tourists create a revenue of Rs. 4300
crore and one million of additional investment provides 47 direct job opportunities and one direct job
opportunity creates another 11 indirect jobs.

Historical monuments like Taj Mahal of Agra, Red Fort of Delhi and many others have their own
attraction and these have been attracting tourists since long. Religious monuments and temples,
mosques and churches, Gurdwaras, Budhist establishment and Jain temples are no less fascinating
for the tourists. Seats of ancient culture and civilization and pieces of art like caves of Ajanta and
Ellora, khajuraho temples, Nalanda and Takshshila are places of deep interest. The natural beauty
of Kashmir valley and the Shikaras of Dull lake attract people from all over the world. Then the more
recent ones like Rajghat and Shantivan in Delhi are a must for the foreign official and unofficial
visitors. Cities like Varanasi have their own importance from all points of view- historical, cultural and
religious.

Above all, the Tourism Ministry is set to tap the great potential of attraction tourists visiting India.
Mrs. Ambika soni, the Tourism and Culture Minister, govt. of India speaking at the India Health
Conclave 2007 had underlined the need for promoting “Incredible India” Campaign through medical
visas special meant for medical tourists visiting India. She disclosed that Government of India was
offering a number of packages to encourage and attract medical tourists to pay a return visit. Nearly
1, 50, 000 medical tourists to had visited Indian in 2006. According to her, keeping in view the 2010
common wealth games and 2014 Afro-Asian Games it is most opportune time to set boom to the
Tourism Industry. According to an estimate medical Tourism may be safely estimated to bring 333
million dollars which can be go up to 2 billion dollars by the year 2012 as a result of inflow of foreign
tourists.
All out efforts must be made for development of tourism industry all over the country as there is
hardly any state which does not possess some or the other site for the tourists. This is very
necessary for the rapid development of our developing economy as the industry has great potential
for generating employment at all levels, skilled and unskilled alike and is mainly directed towards
earning foreign exchange, an urgent need of the day.

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