Shodhganga : a reservoir of Indian theses @...
Transcript of Shodhganga : a reservoir of Indian theses @...
CHAPTER-IX
CONCLUSION
India as a country cannot afford to miss the opportunities for economic developments,
employment generation and foreign exchange earnings from cultural-heritage tourism,
specifically archaeo-heritage tourism. Management practices in the Indian tourism
sector should strive to achieve better growth of tourism through infrastructure
development, development of new products, improvement and proper mix of new
tourism products and innovative strategies for promotion and marketing of the rich
cultural-heritage. Management of right practices by all the agencies concerned with
the promotion of cultural-heritage tourism can help in generating new strategies for
achieving diversification of tourism products, packages and circuits developed on the
basis of core competence, strength of individual states and cultural products, instead
of going for common products and packages.
The process of globalisation has resulted in considerable stresses and tensions due to
competitive lifestyles, breakneck speed of change and ever-growing need to excel.
There is a tremendous demand from tourists, world over, to go to exotic and
unexplored places just to relax and run away from their monotonous, mechanical and
routine lifestyles. The rich cultural heritage of India has always evoked great interest
in people from all over the World. India is, and has always been a storehouse of
intellectual and cultural wisdom. Our, diversity, cultural richness, and multifarious
ways of living provide us the distinction of being in a position to offer many unique
products to the global community. Indian cultural heritage, with its deep roots in
ancient civilization, is enormously vast and varied, which can boast of original and
unique achievements in the field of spiritualism, yoga, art, architecture, religion,
philosophy, music, dance, festivities, customs, traditions, and, value—much beyond
the brand image of being a mysterious land of snake charmers.
Tourism management should be inbuilt with new cultural tourism products, packages
and circuits based on our rich cultural heritage focusing on archaeological/historical
sites monuments and palaces, sculpture and architecture, people and lifestyles, ethnic
diversity and languages, values and beliefs, myths and legends, rites and rituals,
customs and traditions, fairs and festivals, colours and costumes, deserts and beaches,
232
artifacts and handicrafts, folklore and music, poetry and drama. These products based
on cultural heritage can be developed into attractions for tourism to accentuate in such
a way as to make them living, vibrant and entertaining for the tourists.
Modem management practices would be required to present these cultural tourism
products in the form of multimedia and audio-video presentations, seminars and
lectures, regular music and poetry recitals, reconstruction of the past with light and
sound shows, guided tours and heritage walks, books and publicity material like
picture postcards, posters, CDs, exhibitions, live performances and displays. These
would require creating world-class infrastructure and manpower to provide a tourist
with all the information and amenities at par with the best in the world together with
holistic experience and satisfaction of getting a good value for money and time spent
by him.
Cultural-heritage tourism products and management practices must ensure to
assimilate and support local needs and aspirations by promoting local cuisine,
handicrafts, folklore performances, cultural and recreational activities, local fairs and
festivals and heritage walks. The creation and development of such cultural tourism
enterprises would be best managed, if operated and owned by local people. The
modem travellers are better educated, culturally more aware, curious, analytical and
sensitive. They look for alternatives to large mass tourism markets. They want to stay
in small locally owned accommodation and become part of the local communities to
comprehend local values and ways of life instead of large modern hotels equipped
with international facilities.
In the Indian context, there appears to be a conceptual mindset of neglecting domestic
tourists. Policy makers, industry representatives and opinion makers in India have
always equated tourism and foreign visitors. The reasons are obvious; firstly, it is
traditionally the foreign visitors, who occupy hotel accommodation, fill the airline
seats, frequent the bars and restaurants and use the recreational adventure facilities
like beaches, mountains and exotic holiday resorts. Secondly, foreign exchange was in
short supply and the following tourists were looked upon as the purveyors of
unlimited money supply. Every aspect of Indian tourism, therefore, has so far been
designed to suit the requirements of the foreign visitors, be it accommodation,
transportation, recreation or shopping.
233
The hidden dimension of Indian tourism that comprises a nominal rise of domestic
tourism from 63.8 million visitors in 1990 to 176 million visitors in 1999 (Table 9.1)
has somehow escaped the attention of the policy makers.
Table 9.1 Growth of Domestic Tourism in India
Year Domestic Arrivals
1990 63,817,285
1991 85,864,892
1992 102,465,705
1993 109,237,566
1994 127,116,655
1995 136,643,600
1996 140,119,672
1997 159,877,008
1998 168,196,000
1999 176,082,442
(source: WTTC Report, August 2001)
The phenomenal rise of domestic tourism is an inevitable byproduct of economic
development of the country. As people acquire more disposable income, the demand
for travel and tourism grows exponentially. This is already explained in the well
recognized axiom of Maslow; wherein travel becomes the first priority of an income
earner after the basic requirements of home, food and other necessities are met. It is
therefore imperative, that some good facilities are provided to domestic tourists at
234
reasonable costs and at par with foreign tourists for a balance of growth of both
domestic and international tourism in India. The foreign tourists visit India mostly
during winter months from October to February, whereas domestic tourists move
around during the summer vacation coinciding with school vacations. These
characteristics can be effectively harnessed to reap the maximum advantages of
economic returns offered by tourism round the year.
According to WTTC, the Indian travel and tourism is expected to generate 3.8 million
additional new jobs by 2013 if its natural resources and rich cultural heritage are
properly developed with the help of thriving business community and high levels of
entrepreneurship, to achieve this, government of India has to take tourism as one of
the priorities with increased allocation of resources for tourism in both central and
state plans.
The data so far available indicates the rate of growth of tourism in South Asia was 9%
and 10.7% during 1999-2000 and 1998-1999 respectively, compared to 6.2% in
Europe and 6.5 in America, which is even higher than overall global growth of 7.4%
during 1999-2000. In India, the growth rate of tourist arrivals during the period from
1990-1999 has been 5.04% compared to 17.5%, 8% and 7.02% in China, Hong Kong
and Thailand respectively. Tourist Satellite Account (TSA) research highlights of
2004 presented by WTTC have pointed out that India and China are set to harvest the
fruits of overall macro-economic progress and benefit from this new opportunity for
domestic and international travel and tourism, used as a catalyst for economic
development (WTTC Annual Reports).
9.1 PRIORITIES
In order to utilize this tremendous potential, the following priorities including
suggestions by WTTC, can dramatically alter the face of “Cultural-Heritage Tourism”
in general as well as “Archaeo-Heritage Tourism” in particular, in India:
1. Cultural-heritage tourism should be highlighted as the bedrock of tourism
development in India with a systematic campaign to project our ancient
civilization, cultural values and ethos. All the agencies need to be sensitized
towards important aspects of cultural-heritage tourism management.
235
2. Cultural-heritage tourism should not only be seen as a revenue generating
sector but also as a vehicle to project India as a great civilization.
3. Our priority should be to synthesize the elements of culture, tourism and civic
governance without taking cultural-heritage tourism as mere tourism. It should
be aimed at eliminating poverty, creating more employment opportunities,
empowering women and other weaker sections, creating new skills, preserving
cultural-heritage and most importantly, facilitating growth of just and fair
social order.
4. The intangible aspects of tourism can be substantially increased if proper
management practices are adopted and attractions are added in the form of
new products of cultural-heritage tourism.
5. Educational inputs in the form of cultural-heritage components should be
developed and incorporated in the tourism sector in order to attract more
domestic students travelling to various destinations.
6. The basic characteristics of Indian society like interdependent relationships,
emotional attachment, values, affection and bondage associated with
responsibilities of traditional Indian family system should be highlighted
through cultural interventions in such a way that foreign tourists can
experience these facets as a part of their visit.
7. There is an urgent need to highlight India as a cheaper destination providing
good value , for money to tap tremendous potential of budget tourists from
foreign countries besides encashing the higher income groups with more
satisfying experience through cultural-heritage manifestations. This will help
in encouraging repeating visits of tourists and increase in the duration of their
stay in India.
8. All the agencies involved with cultural-heritage (including archaeology) and
tourism should evolve appropriate strategies to take care of the demands of the
tourists during favourable seasons.
236
9. There is a need to develop suitable infrastructure in terms of transportation and
accommodation in order to improve accessibility and feasibility requirements
of all categories of domestic and foreign tourists.
10. There is a dire necessity of developing better, faster, cheaper and more
comfortable means of public transport for the overall convenience of tourists
of all categories.
11. Popular cultural-heritage products in transportation like “Palace on Wheels”,
“Royal Orient Express”, etc., which mainly cater to affluent foreign and
domestic tourists should be replicated with similar products with cheaper fares
for domestic tourists to link various cultural-heritage destinations of a region.
12. Provision for decent quality accommodation at reasonable prices should be
made for domestic as well as foreign tourists of all segments. The traditional
concepts of associating hotels with foreigners only have to be reviewed.
13. Qualitative improvement in goods, services, accessibility and infrastructure
development in all the aspects of tourism with better management practices
and linkages of cultural-heritage with tourism should be made. This will help
in passing on economic returns uniformly to all sections of society involved
with cultural-heritage and tourism.
14. Tourists should get maximum satisfaction by way of good value for money
and time spent by them on entertainment and purchase of commodities,
especially artifacts, where there is tremendous scope for spending by the
tourists.
15. It is essential to link cultural-heritage with tourism because it is found that
sightseeing, which includes visit to archaeological/ historical sites, monuments,
religious places, witnessing dance and music and attending fairs and festivals,
is an important motivation for tourists to travel and visit tourist destinations,
even before embarking to a particular destination.
16. The educational aspect and human resource development of the host
community involved in the services of both domestic and foreign tourists
237
should be strengthened. This can be done by popularising tangible and
intangible aspects of culture through publicity material, seminars and training
with cultural-heritage inputs, to enable them to provide correct information
and a satisfying and fulfilling experience to tourists.
17. The quality of entertainment should be accentuated with the help of positive
linkage of cultural-heritage with tourism and introduction of right
management practices.
18. Proper attention on publicity and personal contacts should be given to help
increase repeat clients and further publicise the tourist destination with more
cultural-heritage inputs.
19. The special aspect of Indian hospitality reflected in our philosophy of “Atithi
Devo Bhava” meaning “Guest is akin to God” and the positive attitude to host
community towards tourists should be adequately highlighted to attract more
tourists.
20. The sensitivity and accountability of people involved in the service sector
working in the government agencies should be improved. It is better if the
government agencies do not indulge in the service sector and confine their role
to infrastructural development in tourism.
21. There is a dire need of improving the cleanliness and hygienic conditions at
tourist destinations. This aspect should be given top priority since no tourists
would like to visit unhygienic and dirty destination, even if they are of great
cultural value. Moreover, having visited once, they will carry wrong message
with them.
22. The grey areas of tourism sectors should be addressed with the help of
cultural-heritage interference in tourism management. Entertainment in the
form of cultural-heritage programmes must have representations of local
culture even while taking care of accommodation aspects.
23. With cheaper labour rates and good quality of human resources available in
India, good quality of products and services can be provided to tourists at
238
cheaper prices. This aspect of our ability to provide maximum amount of
satisfaction and good value of money and time spent needs to be popularised
in order to attract more tourists.
24. There should be some mechanism to link hotels with agencies working in the
field of art and culture to provide authentic and complgte panorama of Indian
art and culture to the tourists.
25. The accommodation sector should be encouraged to provide complete and
authentic understanding of Indian art and culture, so that tourists are not left
on their own to pursue their cultural interest.
26. It is suggested that developing cultural-heritage products and marketing them
exclusively in a hotel can attract tourists and improve occupancy much beyond
budgetary considerations, since such an accommodation could be perceived as
an attraction itself.
27. There is a need to develop vision and awareness amongst hoteliers about the
role of cultural-heritage in promoting tourism in India. Through suitable
incentives they should be encouraged to spend more money on promoting art
and culture as a part of tourism development.
28. All agencies involved in promoting tourism, should be made to realise the
possible harmful effect of over exploitation of cultural-heritage, which tends
to distort local culture, as has happened in some other countries.
29. The communication gap among travel agents/tour operators regarding the
local culture prevailing in a region and that marketed in bigger cities needs to
be bridged with the use of latest communication channels along with modem
management practices to effectively increase the reach of the tourists by
providing them with all available information at all levels, much before they
embark on their destination.
30. Institutions promoting art and culture need to outreach and contact all the
agencies working in tourism in order to make them aware of their work and
239
activities in the overall interest of promoting Indian art and culture for the
tourists.
31. Tourist agencies should take steps to develop confidence in the host
community so as to foster warm relationships with the tourists by making
them physically and mentally comfortable besides generating a feeling of
security and safety among them with a positive attitude of goodwill and
welcome.
32. Cultural-heritage interventions in the form of well-managed tourism products
should be introduced to help increase tourism in a region as tourists continued
to have positive inclination towards places of archaeological/historical and
cultural interest even after their visit to a particular destination.
33. The special talents of guides to narrate historical facts and cultural information
in a story form to the tourists can be utilized effectively if there are forward
and backward linkages with all the agencies like travel agents, hotels and
cultural-heritage institutions involved in culture and tourism by training them
as effective resource persons to present the authentic aspects of culture and
provide correct information rather than concocted and spicy stories that may
please the tourist for a short time, but ultimately prove harmful in the long run.
34. The interest of tourists should be drawn towards hitherto unknown and
unpublicised attractions and their itineraries should be enriched with right kind
of inputs and correct information about the regional culture and cultural-
heritage.
35. Guides represent the closest link between the tourists and their destinations,
and provide an effective link between the tourist-generating regions, travel
agents and tourist destinations. As such, there is a need to strengthen the
guides as resource persons by professionalising their services besides
equipping them with cultural components and linking them with all supportive
services like transportation, publicity material, reservations, money exchange
etc.
240
36. The government of India should lay more emphasis on unearthing hitherto
untapped tourist destinations of vast potential as tourists do not visit
destinations in India for entertainment or business purposes but are more
interested in exploring the country and knowing all nuances of its art and
culture.
37. The strategy should also be to concentrate on domestic tourism, particularly
rural and pilgrimage tourism, so that the infrastructure, thus created, can serve
as a backbone for International tourism in times to come. This will help in
compensating the fall of revenue from foreign tourism in lean season with
increase in revenue from domestic tourism in alternative seasons.
38. At least one centre should be identified in each state and union territory as a
hub of culture, tourism and civic governance. It is suggested to develop such
centers in Kurukshetra in Haryana, Bodh Gaya in Bihar, Mahabalipuram in
Tamil Nadu, Ajanta-Ellora Caves in Maharashtra, Lai Quila in Delhi, Hampi
in Karnataka, Bhimbetka, in Madhya Pradesh, Kumbalgarh-Chittorgarh in
Rajasthan, Dholavira in Gujarat, Rishikesh-Bardinath in Uttaranchal,
Udayagiri-Khandigri in Orissa, Nagarjuna Sagar in Andhra-Pradesh, Kiillu-
Manali in Himachal Pradesh, Kamakhya in Assam, etc.
39. Places like Raghurajpur village in Orissa, which is known for Patachitra
paintings have a unique techniques of writing on palm leaves and Guru-
Shishya tradition of teaching Gotipua dance to young children of poor families
should be selected as models of rural tourism in the country. Similarly,
villages like Badnava and Molela in Rajasthan should be projected as a
musician’s village and terracotta village, respectively to attract tourists.
40. India’s image has to be corrected with honest information available from
reliable source on safety security, cleanliness and hygiene by cultivating travel
writers to project a better image of India.
41. In order to fund, maintain and market India’s cultural-heritage, the
participation of private sector for promoting cultural-heritage should be
241
encouraged and private sector funds should be leveraged with the creation of
public-private heritage trusts.
42. There should be a rational entry system in the form of a package for all major
national heritage sites, so that the tourists do not feel discriminated and
harassed.
43. The government, central or state, must stand forth as a facilitator rather than a
regulator or roadblock. The government has no business to run hotels and
restaurants because it needs a high degree of accountability, commitment and
result-oriented approach, which is largely missing in government enterprises
managing a service sector.
44. The availability of airline seats for flights coming to India should be
augmented, since India is a long haul destination which cannot be reached by
rail or road alone. The policy of the Indian government to allow international
flights only on a reciprocal basis and sharing of segments needs to be changed,
the government of India should allow foreign airlines and charted aircrafts to
land in India to facilitate more international tourist arrivals closer to the actual
tourist destinations.
45. More international airports should be opened and the existing airports should
be privatised, which would facilitate investments and improve management of
airports. Nearly 85% of the tourists come to India through only five
international airports, which have been rated as among worst airports in the
world.
46. The visa procedures should be simplified to attract maximum number of
tourists from the developed countries, which are major tourist-generating
regions.
47. The accommodation sector should be opened up with liberal land policies to
attract investments and a uniform taxation system conducive to tourism should
be evolved. In some states as many as 48 clearances are required for
construction and operation of a hotel. Enactments like coastal regulation zone
have become biggest stumbling blocks in the development of seaside resorts.
242
It is no wonder, therefore, that the hotels and tourist accommodation in India
have become some of the most expensive places in the world.
48. There should be a rational taxation regimen in all the states. The government
should stop treating hospitality industry as a milking cow, which can be
flogged mercilessly. State after state has levied crippling taxes on
accommodation, restaurants, catering, liquor, and transport. There is no
, uniformity in the taxes administered by the states with Tamil Nadu charging as
much as 40% tax on accommodation while Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh
charge extraordinarily high transport taxes. The excise policy in Rajasthan and
elsewhere makes liquor cost 350% above its normal price.
49. Last but not the least, there is a dire necessity to link all aspects of
management with all facets of culture as well as tourism, in order to provide a
holistic view of Indian art and culture to domestic as well as foreign tourists in
its entirety.
It is time for the central and state governments to change their perception of seeing
tourism as an elitist activity set in the background of five star hotels, recreation and
pleasure. The implications of management of cultural-heritage tourism leading to
employment generation, community growth, foreign exchange earnings, promotion,
preservation and conservation of Indian cultural-heritage, etc., cannot be ignored.
Time has now become ripe for India to identify, prioritise, and implement uniform
management strategy to awaken this sleeping giant of cultural-heritage tourism,
turning it into one of the most powerful engines of economic growth, employment
generation as well as conservation and preservation of cultural-heritage in the decades
to come.
The overall strategy of cultural-heritage tourism management must ensure that a
tourist to India should get physically invigorated, mentally rejuvenated, culturally
enriched and spiritually elevated so much so that on return to his country he feels
India within him.
243