TOURISM

TOURISM

Introduction: Tourism is a basic and most desirable human activity deserving the praise encouragement of all people and all governments. In early years of this century tourism was not looked as industry but as a collection of business whose common link was to provide service to travellers with standard of living fast technological revolution .Today it has undoubtedly became an industry to be studied in its totality .

According to UNWTO definition, Tourism may be defined as "People who travel (min 50 kms) to and stay places outside their usual environment for a minimum period of 24 hours and not more than one consecutive year for the sole purpose of leisure, pleasure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited.

                          From the above definitions it is clear that tourism represents various types of short -term travel and is variably defined for a specific purpose of the journey, its duration and other criteria.

Categories of Tourism- 

Tourism is one of the fastest growing industries. People are not only travelling with in the country but exploring other countries of the world. The U.N derived differnt categories of tourism by combining the three basic forms of tourism.

A.      International Tourism- Movement of tourist of people from one country to another country is called an movement of tourist to and between foreign countries is called I.T. In order to visit a foreign country, one may require a legally valid passport, visa, foreign currency. It is consisted of inbound tourism and outbound tourism.

a.       Inbound tourism-visits to a country by non residents are called inbound tourism and tourist coming into a country from another country is called inbound tourist.

b.      Outbound tourism- Residents of a country visiting another country is called outbound tourism and a tourist departing to a destination beyond the border of a country of residence is called outbound tourists.

B. Domestic tourism - movement of the tourist with in one’s own country. A person who engages in tourism in his/her own country is called domestic tourist.

COMPONENTS OF TOURISM:

·        Transportation

·        Hospitality

·        Attractions including Manmade, natural, culture, handicrafts etc

·        Guides and escort services

·        IT and Telecom

·        Marketing

Impact of Tourism

1) Building Social System:-. Travel experience have a great effect on the tourist as well as on the society. It break the barriers of suspicion that exist between the nations and develops social and cultural understanding among all people of the world.

2) Health Benefits:- Holidaying is also considered as an investment in health. It is suggested by many medical specialist that it is relatively more beneficial to go for a number of vacations at regular intervals for recouping energies both psychologically and physically. Tourism, thus, becomes instrumental in breathing new life or rejuvenating .

3) Educational benefits:- Tourism, no doubt, is the best medium to broaden the limits of human knowledge. Historical buildings, monuments, battlefields, and shrines are a means of communicating with past.

4) Transportation Development:- Government of each country is taking steps to improve the movement of travelers and making journey enthusiastic and comfortable by introducing and improving various modes of transport such as Airlines, Railways, Cruise liners, Motor cars etc.

5) Environmental Benefits:- Tourism is called smoke less industry, which can be synonymous with the protection and conservation of the environment.

Raising awareness of environmental issues and stimulating tourist to advocate for conservation through education and interpretation shall result in environmental application, conservation and up-gradation, which is turn enhance visitor enjoyment. Tourism can became an instrument for beautification and improvement of the environment if it is planned in a systematic manner.

5) Employment Generation: - 

Another major direct economic effect of tourism relates to employment. The tourism industry is a highly labour intensive service industry and hence is a valuable source of direct and indirect employment to millions of people. In many developing countries, where unemployment problems are very acute, the promotion of tourism can be great encouragement to economic development & especially, employment. It provides skilled Job opportunities to people.

There are 3 types of employment which may be generated by tourism.

Direct:- Jobs created as a result of visitor expenditure and directly supporting tourism activity e.g. notes, restaurants, travels agencies.

Indirect: - Jobs created within the tourism supply sector but not as a direct result of tourism activity. Such as suppliers to hotel crusted etc.

Induced: - Job created as a result of tourism expenditure as local residents spend money earned from tourism. A job among direct and direct services helps to employment of wider section of generations.

6)  Economic Benefits / Economic Significance of Tourism:- It contributes significantly to a country gross domestic product (GDP). Tourists from the developed counties bring valuable foreign exchange, which is essential to developing countries like India to offset the balance of payments (BOP) positions.

Environment issues & Challenges

1)    Laying down new roads and developing new infrastructure to stimulate tourism, adversely affects the plant life in the area.

2)    Due to the cutting of trees and diminishing of forest areas causes serious damage to the natural habitat to animals, birds and tribes.

3)    With the massive construction of hotels and resorts huge area is overcrowded with people adversely affecting local climate and living.