The Gist of Yojana: August 2015
Infrastructure and Tourism Development
Tourism Product is a complex consumptive experience that
results from a process where tourists use multiple of services (information,
relative prices, transportation, accommodation, and attraction services. Tourist
experiences are also shaped by economic and political conditions and structural
features which contribute to the nature of the destination product. Murphy et al
(2000) related this type of product to a supply and demand analysis and
described how the various components of the destination interact with travelers
during their trip.
The pioneer in acknowledging the role of service
infrastructure in creating a product experience was Smith (1994). He suggested
that “service infrastructure is housed within the larger macro-environment or
physical plant of the destination” (Smith, 1994). He also stressed the fact that
the level, use, or lack of infrastructure and technology in a destination are
also visible and determining features that can enhance the visitors’ trip
experience. The tourist destination product is also better understood in the
context of comparative and competitive advantage. Crouch and Ritchie (1999),
argued that factor conditions are important determinants of attractiveness as
tourists travel to a destination to receive the destination experience.
Every element has been categorised under core attraction and
supporting element. The destination’s general infrastructure services in this
category in fact, represent one of the most important factors. The tourism
phenomenon relies heavily on public utilities and infrastructural support.
Tourism planning and development would not be possible without roads, airports,
harbours, electricity, sewage, and potable water.
Tourism infrastructure is the supply chain of transport, social and
environmental infrastructure collaborating at a regional level to create a
destination including:
Transport Infrastructure which provides the visitor access from international
and domestic source markets to destinations; and includes airports, major roads
and rail.
Social Infrastructure which is the stock of rooms to
accommodate visitors and physical structures for exhibitions, events and
services that attract visitors. This infrastructure includes hotels, convention
centres, stadiums, galleries and tourist precincts in a destination.
Environmental Infrastructure which’ is the natural estate of national parks,
marine parks and reserves, including visitor facilities.
Collaborative Infrastructure which is the network of regional, state and
national tourism organizations that market destinations and distribute tourism
products.
India is probably the only country that offers various
categories of tourism. These include mountains, forests, history, adventure
tourism, medical tourism (including ayurveda and other forms of Indian
medications), spiritual tourism, beach tourism (India has the longest coastline
in the East), etc.
The Indian tourism industry did not have it so good since the
early 1990s. Though the Indian economy has slowed, it is still growing faster
than the rest of the world. With Indian economy growing at around 5 per cent per
annum and rise in disposable incomes of Indians, an increasing number of people
going on holiday trips within the country and abroad is resulting in the tourism
industry growing wings. The potential for India to attract tourists is unlimited
and tourism can play an increasingly beneficial role in the Indian economy in
the years to come. Despite the numerous problems, tourism industry was the
second-largest foreign exchange earner for India. Tourism contributed 6.6 per
cent of India’s GDP and created 39.5 million jobs in 2012. The total number of
inbound tourists has grown at 16 per cent in the last five years and is expected
to grow at 12 per cent in the next decade. During 2013, travel and tourism
industry contributed Rs 63,160 crore to the economy.
The growth pattern suggests that Indian tourism growth is not
solely based on foreign tourist arrivals alone as due to global reasons and
disturbances, this phenomenon is always affected adversely. However, domestic
tourism has been growing in a settled way. Fairs and festivals of India are
continuous phenomena. Events like Kumbha in north and Onam and
Mahamastakabhisheka in the south are events that fetch a lot of tourists almost
every year.
It is fast turning into a volume game where, an
ever-burgeoning number of participants are pushing up revenues of industry
players (hotels, tour operators, airlines, shipping lines, etc). This will
result in greater room occupancies and average room revenues (ARRs) in the
country. ARRs have moved up and room occupancy rates have also shot up. Thus,
the tourism sector is expected to perform well in future and the industry offers
an interesting investment opportunity for long-term investors. Realizing the
potential in India, international and domestic hotel chains were rushing to cash
in on it. Medical tourism was poised for rapid development in the future and
India is busy developing first-class facilities to attract this multi-billion
dollar niche market.
Accommodation, transport and recreation facilities are the
key components of any major tourism destination. The competitiveness of these
facilities at a national or international scale determines whether they become
valuable assets for, or likely impediments to, attracting visitors to a
destination.
It is quite obvious that India does not possess good roads.
Only 12 per cent meet world class criteria. This is far too less to attract
international tourists. Entire Europe loves to travel by road for tourism
purposes; but Indians have to think multiple times before travelling on roads.
Moreover, undisciplined driving makes it even more dangerous. India has one of
the highest rankings in road accidents. India has about 14,500 km of navigable
waterways which comprises rivers, canals, backwaters, creeks, etc. About 50
million tonnes of cargo corresponding to 2.82 billion tonne was transported in
2006-07 by Inland Water Transport (IWT). Its operations are currently restricted
to a few stretches in the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly Rivers, The Brahmaputra, the
Barak River, the rivers in Goa, the backwaters in Kerala, inland waters in
Mumbai and the deltaic regions of the Godavari-Krishna rivers.
India has 46 airports; however, there are not many which
connect with the rest of the country. Due to this, the time taken for travelling
by air is many times more than what is taken by train. For example, if one
wishes to travel from Agra to Varanasi or Jaipur by air, he or she will have to
go to Delhi before boarding any other flight.
If India does not take advantage of this tourism revolution,
it will have only herself to blame. With just a few initiatives, India can
really take benefits of this sunrise sector. The lack of infrastructure is
visible in all segments of tourism be it related to airports, railway, surface
transport, accommodation trained manpower, shopping with ease, traveling in
style, medical tourism, tourism education, sustainable development norms etc.
The challenge is to identify circuits for integrated development and select
centers where facilities to come up in terms of popularity as in all
infrastructural development financial crunch is the issue. So a very selective
approach is also needed.
When
I was growing up in Kashmir, my father often used to say that I should become an
IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer. That's when I first thought of
becoming one. It inspired me and I decided to go ahead and aim for it.
There
is no case of leakage of question papers or any recruitment racket in the
competitive examinations conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC),
the government said today.
26-year-old
Karnal lad Deepak Bansal has secured 113th rank in the UPSC exam, results for
which were declared on Tuesday.
