Fashion Began to Change With Women’s Shoes
Shoes are universal and women just love them. Shoes have the power to make women not only happy but sexy also. Women use different collection of shoes to match their outfits. Even researchers have attested to the fact of increasing love of women for shoes. Some women keep a large collection of shoes in their wardrobes while some like only few selected ones. Men can easily make women happy by gifting a sexy pair of shoes.
High heel shoes can develop confidence in a woman. These shoes add a little height to women who are short and their stature and confidence grows in general social gatherings. These women with high heels become the center of attraction.
About Sexy Women?€™s Shoes
Nowadays woman want to buy shoes that look sexy and add value to their look. The vast collection of shoes available in the market has also changed to the thought process of women and they opt for sexy and trendy shoes. Common women are emulating celebrities and models and their wardrobes include shoes ranging from high heels to fetish shoes.
The fetish of women for shoes is well known. Sex appeal and allure is what women want and fetish shoes hit the right spot by providing both to women. The different styles like pointed shoes, stilettos, and shoes with wedges make women buy them without any second thoughts.
The vast collection of sexy women?€™s shoes is available in almost every leading store. You can also buy this collection from online stores that are genuine and sell durable shoes. This collection of shoes include high heels, platform shoes, thigh high boots, knee high boots, ankle boots, mules, lace up leg shoes, court shoes, wedges, stilettos, peep toe shoes, pointed shoes, party shoes, strappy shoes, flats, gothic, and fetish shoes. This list is endless because women are not satisfied with only few. However, they can choose among this collection to complete their wardrobe.
Wedges Shoes
These types of shoes are popular with fashion lovers. Wedges can add appeal to catwalk. Those women who are trendy and fashionable buy these shoes. The different sizes, styles, and colours give options to all women to select the best shoes.
The different types of shoes available for women in leading stores have affected the fashion trends. The fashionable aspects of shoes were not explored in the past but due to growing reach of internet worldwide, women are catching up with the latest fashions and shoe industry is coming up with trendy and sexy shoes.
Shoes are important in all seasons of the year. However, some stores make sales offers usually at the start of every season and it generates huge craze among women who want to buy the latest and sexy shoes at not so high prices.
Shoes industry has become the busiest industry in the world, women are unstoppable when they move out on a shopping expedition. The introduction of sexy summer shoes or fetish shoes at the start of the season generates lot of demand. You can find every type of shoes that fits both your size and imagination.
Sexy shoes can make women look sensuous even if they do not have matching outfits. The power of shoes is such that men just kneel down at the feet of women who look sexy with high heels or fetish shoes on.
Pointed shoes
Some women like pointed shoes. The closed point becomes a seductive sight and women look very sexy in these shoes. They can wear it with skirt or dress. This is also very trendy, as women want slim and trim things. These shoes are available in different sizes making it easy for women to get the size that fits them easily.
Stilettos
Stilettos are generally seductive shoes. These shoes have closed toe ankle strap pump and are available in different sizes. Buying stilettos online is a new trend that is catching up with most of the women nowadays.
Original post: Fashion Began to Change With Women’s Shoes
Internet & Tourism
By David Lon
The advent of the Internet in the tourism sector has quickly transformed the balance between operators and the ways in which consumers buy travel products.
Airlines were the first to invest considerable resources on the web, with the aim of transforming their website into their main selling tool for the consumer, excluding the traditional system of intermediation in hand so far to tour operators and travel agents. Airlines, and generally the major transport operators have thus created a channel of direct negotiation with the client. The hotel industry has instead found more difficulties in detaching themselves from traditional intermediation channels due to high fragmentation and therefore strong weakness of single structures in respect to the market. These structures are difficult to reach directly, but can be reached by a multitude of more or less convincing intermediaries. In particular, consumers are often confused with the great number of websites that offer the same structure at different conditions.
Travel portals sell the same products at different prices. So, while for a structure site X can be more convenient, for another, site Y could more convenient. It follows that the consumer who wants to buy the most advantageous rate is forced to make long and complex research. On the web it often happens that who wins are websites that invest a lot in advertising rather than websites with the best prices.
In the UK, tariff comparison portals do not draw the same success they have in other countries (I speak from personal experience, because I am promoting a site that operates in several European countries), but they can certainly make life easier for all those people who are looking for savings on the Internet and are therefore willing to devote more time to the reservation of their vacation. This kind of site really does not sell travel, but collects all rates available on other websites. Therefore they are a starting point for the consumer, who will then be directed to web pages to complete the purchase, with the undeniable advantage of convenience, simplicity and speed.
But a question is still unanswered. Why if I go directly to an hotel to stay one night I pay more than If I would have booked a room on the Internet? This is due to the fact that the supplier grants lowest fares to companies who sell on the Internet (always speaking from personal experience, as a tourist). As we said before, in the hotel industry the direct channel with the customer fails to replace the intermediation one, and even if the supplier sells directly it will not do it below web fares. Clearly, the supplier cannot sell below web rates otherwise major contracts would be cancelled.
Online booking helps corporations maintain strategic travel by lowering costs. While most companies have had to reduce travel spending, many are strategically using online technology to reduce the cost of travel rather than purely eliminating trips. Online business travel bookings are currently dominated by air travel, but online hotel reservations and car rental bookings will increase over the next few years.
About the Author: David Lon – http://uk.ebookingcentral.com
Source: www.isnare.com
Permanent Link: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=214074&ca=Travel
Continue reading here: Internet & Tourism
travel and tourism industry
Tourists
The origin of the word “tourist” date back to 1292 AD. It has come from the word ?€?tour?€™. A number of experts have defined the term:
“Tourists are the voluntary temporary travelers, traveling in the expectations of pleasure from the novelty and change experienced on a relatively and non-current round-trip”.
“Tourist is a person who makes a journey for the sake of curiosity for the fun of traveling”.
Tourists are:
-Persons traveling for pleasure, health and domestic reason.
-Persons arriving in the sea of sea cruise.
-Persons traveling for convention.
Tourism ?€“ the first commercial venture.
A religious Englishman called Thomas Cook in 1841 arranged, for a fee, a one ?€“day rail excursion from Leicester to Loughborough for 540 members of a temperance league. Thus the first bona fide travel agent was Thomas Cook.
While Cook himself did not make a profit on this first venture, he was a man of vision and was convinced that there was a need for a skilled “travel arranger”. So by 1845 he had become the first full-time travel agent, operating train excursions from Leicester. The next year he chartered a train and steamer for an excursion to Scotland for 330 people. In 1851 Cook arranged ocean steamship travel and accommodations for more than 1,50,000 visitors to the World Exposition in London and in 1856 he operated the first escorted “grand tour” of Europe. Tours to Europe and Middle East were also conducted and, in 1872, the first around the world tour was conducted.
Tourism as a Service Industry
Tourism as a service industry comprises of several allied activities which together produce the tourism product. Involved in the tourism product are three major sub-industries. They are: -
1. Tour operators and travel agents.
2. Accommodation sector (hoteling and catering) and
3. Passenger accommodation.
According to international estimates, a tourist spends 35% of his total expenditure on transportation, about 40% on lodging and food and the balance 25% on entertainment, shopping and incidentals.
The product in this case is not confirmed to travel and accommodation but includes a large array of auxiliary services ranging from insurance and entertainment and shopping, demand generation, in addition to the consumer motivation, is also heavily dependent upon powerful persuasive communication both at the macro (country) level and the micro (enterprise) level. The participants in the process of this service business can be illustrated by the figure below.
Some of the pointers to nature of tourism as a Service Industry
1. Tourism accounts for nearly 6% of world trade.
2. Bulk of tourism business is located in Europe and North America., with 1/8 of the market being shared between the other regions.
3. The highest growth rate in tourism in recent years has been in the third world.
4. Tourism, like most pure services, because of the character of inseparability, exemplifies a product, which cannot be sampled before purchase; the prospective consumers have to travel to a foreign destination in order to consume the product.
5. The major players in the tourism market include a number of intermediary companies. Some of them transnational in character, some of them exhibit
vertical integration, both backward and forward, acquiring interests in all major sectors of this service industry.
The Tourism Product- Factors Governing Demand.
Because of the unique nature of the nature of tourism product- it being an amalgam of the characteristics of a destination and the infrastructural as well as managerial efforts of the promoter, the determinants of tourists demand emanate from both individual tourist motivations and the economic, social, technological factors. Some of these are:
?€? Income Levels
In the last 30 years, disposable incomes around the world have shown upward trends, thus allowing more money for activities like leisure travel. Smaller families have meant higher allocations per person in the family. More and more women are entering the workforce and in real terms the cost of travel has fallen. The dramatic rise of tourism in the last 50 years can be attributed in a large measure to the combined effect of more leisure time and rise in both real and disposable incomes.
?€? More Leisure time:
Increasing unionization of labour right from 1930 onwards has reduced the number of working hours per week. Changing managerial orientations towards human resources have increased the levels of pay and paid vacation time in most developed countries. Now people have longer periods of leisure, which could be allocated to travel.
?€? Mobility
Better transportation and communication services have made the world a smaller place, and have brought both exposure and awareness of distant lands to larger sections of potential tourists across the world. Faster modes of transport have cut down on travel time, making it easier for people to economically plan and execute trips abroad.
?€? Growth in Government Security Programmes and Employment Benefits:
The growth in government security programmes and well entrenched policies of employee benefits mean that quite a large number of families may have long term financial security and may be more willing to spend money for vacations.
Tourist Classification:-
Tourists can be classified into the following seven demand categories:-
1. Explorer: – Very limited in number, these tourists are looking for discovery and involvement with local people.
2. Elite: – People who favour special, individually trips to exotic places.
3. Offbeat: – These are filled with a desire to get away from the usual humdrum life.
4. Unusual: – Visitors who are looking forward to trips with peculiar objectives such as physical danger or isolation.
5. Incipient mass: – A steady flow, traveling alone or in small-organized groups using some shared services.
6. Mass: – The general packaged tour market, leading to tourist enclaves abroad.
7. Charter: – Mass travel to relaxation destinations, which incorporate as many as standardized, developed world facilities as possible.
The Travel Decision:-
The average tourist is faced with considerable uncertainty regarding the decision and may have only scanty ideas about distant destinations. His evaluation of alternatives is also limited to the extent of this awareness about possible destinations. The stages of travel decision can be described as: -
1. Travel Desire:-
The first step where the need to travel is felt and the pros and cons are thought about.
2. Information Collection and Evaluation:-
This stage involves the process of finding out the trip from travel agents, books and acquaintances .information so collected is evaluated against criteria of cost and time constraints, alternative possibilities, relative attractiveness of destinations, perceived ?€?safety?€™ o the alternative destinations etc.
3. Travel Decision:-
This is the decision phase involving selection of destination, travel, mode of accommodation and activities to be undertaken.
4. Travel Preparation and Experience:-
This involves tickets, bookings, travel, money and documents arrangement, clothing and undertaking of the travel.
5. Travel Satisfaction Evaluation:-
The whole tourism expenditure is constantly evaluated before, during and after the experience is used to influence future decisions.
The marketing concept for the travel and tourism industry is profit driven and customer centric (unlike sales which are volume driven and target centric).
Service Marketing Triangle
Service marketing is unique in many ways in the travel and tourism industry. There are 3 players in the transaction process:-
- Company: A travel and tourism company listens to the customers and evolves/develops the travel/tour package and it communicates the attractiveness and the utility of that very tour package directly to the customers. Here it (the company) performs external marketing. The company makes promises to the customers.
- Providers: They are a travel company?€™s internal customers constituting employees and agents. The company does internal marketing with the providers educating and motivating them about the idea of the particular tour package which they can offer to their customers. This is done to enable the providers to effectively carry out the service transaction process. The providers make provisions for office space, accessibility and connectivity. The company enables promises to be kept by this infrastructural association.
- Customers (Travelers): The customers are the reasons that the travel company exists and for whom the company has designed the traveling and touring package as well as set up the infrastructural facilities and spent money on employee development programmes. Here the providers are the only ones who interact with the customers, like the travel agents interact with the customers and not the company. The agents perform interactive marketing which is on-time, all-time, every-time. This is the most crucial aspect of service marketing in the travel and tourism sector. Those agents have the responsibility of ?€?keeping promises?€™ made and enabled by the company. The providers (agents) are responsible for the perceived quality level of the service transaction. This underlines the uniqueness of service marketing.
Tourism Products:
1. Accommodation
?€? Hotels
?€? Motels
?€? Boatels
?€? Flotels
2. Destination
?€? Natural Scenes
?€? Historic Excellence
?€? Artificial Beauties
?€? Social Cultural Excellence
3. Transportation
?€? Infrastructural
i. Airways
ii. Railways
iii. Roadways
iv. Waterways
?€? Local
i. Local transport
4. Tour operators
?€? Travel companies
?€? Travel agents
?€? Guides
5. Shopping
?€? Handicrafts
?€? Handloom
?€? Books
Marketing mix for tourism product:
The designing of the marketing mix variables in case of tourism is significant as it helps the marketer in conceiving the right ideas, particularly to raise the acceptability of the tourist product by stimulating and penetrating the demand. Framing of a proper marketing mix is significant because it helps the tourist organization in accomplishing the objective and projecting a fair image.
Product Mix:
Tourism is a composite product with components like attraction facilities and transportation. Attraction deserves an intensive care. It includes natural site, places of historic interest, events and cultural attraction.
The facilities compliment attraction. The facilities include accommodation, food, transportation and recreational facilities. The transportation component includes the vehicles and infrastructure. Innovation in the tourism product helps raising the sensitivity. The users of the service are looking forward to better and improved product.
The provider of the tourist is a travel agent or the package tour. A well conceived and designed package tour, covering a wide range of tourist attraction at an economic price, helps in attracting the potential tourist.
The travel agent performs numerous activities such as hotel arrangement and accommodation, site seeing arrangement, domestic transport arrangement, air travel arrangement etc.
In a true sense the tour agents and the travel agents are the vehicles who can give a fillip to the tourism industry, provided they are well trained.
Pricing:
Pricing of the tourist product is complex. Geographical location of the destination, seasonality and varying demand affects the pricing decision.
In India the pricing strategies become important for promoting or contracting the tourism industry, since more than 40% of the total population are below the poverty line. In order to develop the tourism industry more and more potential users are to be transformed into actual users.
When a tourist proposes to visit a particular place, the total cost of his traveling also include the expenses incurred on transportation, accommodation and communication.
Liberal pricing strategy is found to be a productive pricing decision, particularly in case of tourism industry. The pricing strategy which includes low income group people, student and retired persons can be more effective. This is possible if the government concessional and subsidized infrastructural facilities to the potential tourist below the average income.
The different pricing methods generally used are cost based pricing, demand based pricing and competition based pricing.
Promotions:
The promotion mix includes advertising, publicity, sales support and public relations.
The purpose of promotion is to make available the information to the user. Advertising the sales promotion can be effective when supplemented by publicity and personal selling.
Radio, TV, newspapers, cinema and printings are some of the important vehicles for traveling of messages. Effective slogans raises the effectiveness of advertisement.
Another important component of the promotion mix is public relation. It helps in projecting the image of an organization. Public relation and publicity include regular articles and photographs of tour attraction, use of TV and travel journalists to promote editorial comment.
Public relation officer plays an important role. He should be efficient, active, impressive, intelligent and well-behaved.
Good image projection can be made if the PRO manages the affair like a professional. It is said that word of mouth is the best form of publicity. The word of mouth promotion is an important tool in tourism marketing.
Place:
The tourist centers should be located at suitable points if the tourists spots are natural there is no question of selection. In a vast country like India with a divergent socioeconomic and cultural patterns, the promotion of domestic tourism encourages unity in diversity.
Infrastructural facilities, transport and communication are important for development of tourist centres. The site selected should have natural surroundings, increased accessibility and improved amenities. At the same time it is also important that the ecological balance is not disturbed. Since growing ecological imbalances leads to pollution, some important steps like promoting afforestation, promotion and beautification may be undertaken in countering the side effects of atmospheric pollution and maintaining ecological balance.
Continued here: travel and tourism industry
Benchmarking Indian Tourism With the Global Standard- a Critical Analysis
Introduction: The early history of tourism says people traveled from one place to another mainly because of food , shelter or just for curiosity. But in due course large scale mobility of people were caused by the natural elements of human pressure, entertainment or forced man to move to other location. Due to the absence of roads and other transport facilities, travel and tourism was a hard way to think of. This led to the emergence of land routes , river or sea navigation.
Now with dismantling of national boundaries, the tourism scenario is also changing. There is a steady growth in the number of tourist arrivals and more satisfactorily the average spending of foreign tourist has gone up.
Tourism Product: In the earth today any thing can be promoted as the tourism product anywhere.. It is not location specific as the agriculture and manufacturing sector do. India in particular has a 5000-year ?€“old heritage and thousands of monuments and archeological sites for the tourists to enjoy. The country abounds in attractive and well preserves historical sites and ancient monuments of architectural grandeur. India offers enormous diversity in topography, natural resources and climate. There are land- rocked mountainous regions, lush valleys and plains, arid desert regions, white sandy beaches and islands. Central India has numerous wildlife sanctuaries with countless varieties of flora and fauna. The country has unparallel cultural diversity, languages, religions, customs and traditions.
The major adventure tourism activities are trekking, and skiing in the Himalayas, river running in the Gangas, water sports in Goa, trout fishing in the Himachal Pradesh and many more. We have some of the best beaches of the world, many of which are still unexplored in Andaman and Lakshadweep islands.
Tourism Contribution: The impact of tourism in our country is multi dimensional. It is reflected on the economic, social, cultural, political and environmental issues and aspects of the country. In a more generic sense it develops understanding among the people, create jobs both directly and indirectly, augments foreign exchange reserves and helps in the overall economic wellbeing of the people.
Earnings from foreign tourist arrivals had grown strongly in the nineties and contributed to over Rs21,828 crores a year in the recent past. According to the World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC) the industry provides direct employment to 262 million people who constitute 10.5% of the global workforce. These numbers are expected to grow to 383 million by the year 2007. Tourism also accounts for 8% of the world exports making it the largest internationally traded products or services.
Tourism in Global View: Tourism is the largest industry in the world next to the oil industry. In terms of earnings it has left automobiles and information technology industry behind. Tourism is the largest employer.
Table-1
Growth of International Tourists from 1948 to 2004
Sl No
Year
No. of Tourists
(in million)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1948
1964
1990
1996
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
14.0
144.0
458.5
591.9
687.3
684.1
702.6
694.0
760.0
Source: 1. WTO Statistics- Published in Tourism and Travel Management, p. 64.
2. India : Tourism and heritage Challenge, Communiqué: a Journal of Confederation of Indian Institutes, November 2001,p.3
The table shows that the 760 million international tourist arrivals during 2004 is the biggest increase since 1984 which shows the best growth in the past 20 years. There is an increase of 69 million of tourists during 2004 compared to 2003 with an increase of 10% growth. This is mainly attributed to the countries like China and USSR those who recognized the importance of tourism in their national economy. A study shows the leading advanced countries particularly the fourteen countries namely, USA, Germany, the UK, France, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Yugoslavia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Italy, Switzerland, Scandinavia and Spain accounted for 78 percent of the world visitor arrivals.
Market Position of Tourism in India: For centuries India has been the centre of attraction for different people for different reasons. Ancient invaders viewed it as a gold mine with unlimited wealth to plunder. Where as others attracted to it because of its mystic spiritualism, sheer beauty of its natural manifestations and amazing variety of flora and fauna. These inherent advantages could have made India as an ideal destination. But various constraints have hampered the growth of tourism in India at the expected levels.
Table-2
Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India
S.No
Year
Arrivals
Changes
1
1991
1677508
——
2
1992
1867651
10.1%
3
1993
1764830
-05.8%
4
1994
1886433
6.4%
5
1995
2123683
11.1%
6
1996
2287860
7.1%
7
1997
2374094
3.6%
8
1998
2358629
-6.5%
9
1999
2481928
4.9%
10
2000
2641157
6.4%
11
2001
2536978
-4.0%
12
2002
2384384
-6.0%
13
2003
2726214
14.3%
14
2004
3367980
23.5%
Source: 1. Ministry of Tourism Annual report 1994-95
2. Dept . of Tourism Annual report up to 1999.
3. Economic Time 6.1.2002 Page 13
4. Business Line, New Delhi-09.01.2005
The travel and tourism business in India constitutes a pathetic 0.40 percent of the trillion-dollar world tourism industry and it remains stagnant over the past two decades. The above table shows since the beginning of the nineties the growth rate in the foreign tourist arrivals in India has recorded a highly fluctuated and erratic trend. The trend is mainly attributed to the terrorists attacks in USA and its subsequent apprehension on the security of the tourists. But surprisingly in 2004 , the foreign tourist arrivals crossed 3 million with an increase of 23.5% in India.
In contrast our neighboring countries are able to attract more foreign tourists. The Asian countries have increased their foreign tourist arrivals drastically in the last three years; Singapore 7 million, Thailand 11 million, Malaysia 14 million and above all China 36 million foreign tourists.
Contribution of Tourism to the Foreign Exchange Earnings: Tourism industry in India is thriving due to increase of foreign tourists arrivals during 2003-2004. This has significantly added to the foreign exchange reserves of the state.
Table-3
Foreign exchange earnings through tourism from 1998 to 2004 by India.
Sl No
Year
Amount (in US $)
Change over the previous year.
1
1998
2948
—-
2
1999
3009
2.1
3
2000
3168
5.3
4
2001
3042
4.0
5
2002
2923
3.9
6
2003
3533
20.8%
7
2004
4810
36.0%
Source: 1) Incredible India Figure-2003
2) Business Line New Delhi- 09.01.2005
During 2003 and 2004 the foreign exchange earnings from tourism was recorded US$ 3533, ( Rs 16,429 crore) and US $ 4810 (Rs 21828 crores) respectively. It was 20.8% and 36.0% increase over the previous respective periods. The tourism department anticipates a further hike in foreign tourists arrivals in the successive years.
Reasons for the growth of tourism: There are several reasons responsible for the growth of tourism in India. Among them the first one is our dramatic achievement in IT industry to make it as one of the major global IT hub. The second reason is attributed to the government effort. The nation wide publicity campaign ?€? The Incredible India?€? strategy during 2002 to 2004 proved successful of attracting more tourists. The advertising campaigns on the prominent TV channels and in magazines is a further step towards it. The initiative of public-private-participation for the development of tourist infrastructure is another reason. The intense competition in the airline industry between private and government airline companies in the form of cutting air tariffs and expanding their network increase the flow of tourist to India. In addition to the above the task force set up by the government to promote India as a prominent health tourist destination also attracted approximately 1,50,000 patients during 2004.
Problems: In spite of its growth rate during 2004, Indian tourism market constitutes around 0.4% of its world market share. India is unable to attract the expected number of foreign tourists despite extensive marketing efforts. The term India has not been sending the correct signals to travel enthusiasts across the glove. The image of India is portrayed to the world community is that of mysticism, political instability, grinding poverty, illiteracy, terrorism, unemployment, communal discord, lack of social services and corruptions. This image plays a very crucial role for de-motivating tourist to visit India and to visit the neighboring Asian countries.
Table-4
Government Expenditure on Tourism and Travel in 2001
Sl No
Name of the Country
Amount incurred in percent
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
India
Thailand
United Kingdom
Germany
China
USA
Sri Lanka
France
Malaysia
Honk Kong
Singapore
Spain
0.9
2.8
2.6
3.3
3.8
3.9
4.0
4.7
5.1
7.4
9.1
9.5
Source: Economic Times, October 28,2001, p.7
The table shows the investment in travel and tourism, in terms of Indian government expenditure is 0.9 percent of the total budget allocation in 2001 and in subsequent years it is very low compared to other countries. Though India has much to offer in terms of tourist attractions, there are major constraints on the growth of tourism particularly in terms of lack of sufficient airports facilities, international and domestic air- seat capacity, surface transport facilities, accommodation, restaurants shopping and recreational facilities, trained labor force and other support services. The beggars, touts, and unhygienic waste in important tourist places are the other stumbling blocks for the free movement of the foreign tourists.
Table -5
Country wise Comparison of Rooms Available in Hotels in the Year 2002
Country
Rooms available in hotels
China
8,97,206
Thailand
3,20,565
Malaysia
1,30,757
India
85,481
Singapore
35,989
Source: World Tourism Organization
The country wise comparison shows that India has a sheer insufficiency of hotel rooms for the tourists.
Measures to be taken: After analyzing the above drawbacks we can say that India has the ability to capitalize on its rich product composition to attract a higher proportion of the international tourists at least to 1% of the world market share. For this the above measures are suggested.
Significant improvement in transport network: Efforts have to be undertaken to improve the efficiency of Indian airline services along with the domestic air transport system. The airports , railway stations, bus stops and the roads have to be up graded to the global standard. Air connectivity has to be improved through public-private ?€“partnerships.
Liberalize the Visa restrictions: Another major inhibitor of growth of tourism is the difficulty of obtaining visas for India. Government must liberalize visa restrictions to ensure a larger flow of tourists to the country which do not pose any political or security problems. Visas should be issued easily on entry at the airport in respect of visitors from such countries.
Engage local communities to develop their cultural heritage: It is seen in India that the ancient tourist?€™s destinations are in the way to destructions. This is mainly because of non- involvement of the local communities. The economic benefits of tourism must be shared by the local people who are mainly the preserver of it. Therefore a kind of consciousness should be developed among the masses to preserve the flora and fauna, the ancient monuments, scriptures and other archeological beauties.
Need for a strong marketing approach: Increased competition from the neighboring countries and a poor perception of the Indian tourism product need a strong marketing approach. The Incredible India campaign should be strengthened mainly targeting to the competitors of the overseas countries. The promotional expenditure of Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia far exceeds the promotional expenditure of India. India needs a vigorous effort to improve its image as an attractive tourist destination of global standard.
Develop tailor-made packages: Many of out tour packages do not respond to the tourists requirements. This is mainly because of erroneous development of the tour packages. Instead of a mass production and mass consumption approach , the tour operators must have flexible packages to provide life time value to the visitors looking into their profile.
Conclusion: India is no doubt a fascinating destination with an outstanding mix of ancient monuments, delightful jungles, virgin beaches, scenic beauties, colorful folk and classical dances and above all hospitable people. What it requires a more vibrant approach of welcoming tourists and sends them back as friends with enormous happy and living memories. The thorough implementation of the concept ?€? Atithi devo Bhovo?€? in each level of tourism will definitely achieve our target of global tourism market of India.
References:
Anand, M.M., Tourism and Hotel Industry in India, Prentice Hall of India, New Delhi.
Batra, G.S. Management of Tourism Corporation (A Case Study of Punjab), National Seminar on Tourism, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, 1994.
Tourist arrival in India- FHRAI- Newsletter, July-August 2005
Incredible India Figure- 2003
Business Line, New Delhi-09.01.2005
Economic Times, October 28, 2001, p.7
Read the rest here: Benchmarking Indian Tourism With the Global Standard- a Critical Analysis
Tourism – a Fight Against Poverty
TOURISM ?€“ A FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY
Creating Jobs and Wealth
Poverty alleviation has become an essential condition for peace, environmental conservation and sustainable development, besides being an ethical obligation in an affluent world, where the divide between poor and rich nations seems to have increased in recent years. There is a stronger evidence that tourism if developed and managed in a sustainable manner, can make a significant contribution to alleviate poverty, especially in rural areas, where most of the poor live and where there are very few other development options.
Travel & Tourism is the world?€™s largest industry and creator of jobs across national and regional economies. World Travel and Tourism Council research shows that in 2000, Travel & Tourism will generate, directly and indirectly, 11.7% of Gross Domestic Product and nearly 200 million jobs in the world-wide economy. International tourism arrivals in 2002 exceeded 700 million, generating $US 474.2 billion in worldwide receipts. These figures are forecasted to have an upward trend in 2010.
Jobs generated by Travel & Tourism are spread across the economy – in retail, construction, manufacturing and telecommunications, as well as directly in Travel & Tourism companies. These jobs employ a large proportion of women, minorities and young people; are predominantly in small and medium sized companies; and offer good training and transferability. Tourism can also be one of the most effective drivers for the development of regional economies. These patterns apply to both developed and emerging economies.
The Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization, Francesco Frangialli, rightly observed that ?€?tourism is a major factor in the war on poverty. For most Developing Countries, LDC?€™s and Small Island Developing States it is their largest single export and major driver of jobs, investment and economic transformation. It is growing in these countries at significantly higher rates than in OECD states. Also in general these poor countries are most vulnerable to climate change and at the same time are the ones who create the least green house gas emissions. Tourism must be allowed to grow responsibly to these states and actions to curb emissions must take this into account?€?.
The geographical expansion and labour intensive nature of the Tourism sector provide ?a spread of employment which is particularly relevant in remote and rural areas where ?many of the poor live.
?UNWTO statistics show the growing strength of the tourism industry for developing ?countries:?
International tourism receipts for developing countries (low income, lower and ?upper middle income countries) will soon pass more than US$ 250 billion.?
Tourism is one of the major export sectors of poor countries and a leading ?source of foreign exchange in 46 of the 49 Least Developed Countries.?
Through its ST-EP programme (Sustainable Tourism ?€“ Eliminating Poverty), UNWTO ?has put in place a framework for poverty alleviation, linking its longstanding pursuit of ?sustainable tourism with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and its own ?Global Code of Ethics.
Funding has been approved for 13 ST-EP projects so far, amounting to around US$1 ?million, benefiting 18 countries (Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Honduras, Kenya, Lao, ?Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Tanzania, Vietnam and Zambia, and a regional ?project in West Africa). In parallel, 25 ST-EP projects are being implemented by ?UNWTO with funding from the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) for a total ?of around ?sbquo;? 1.2 million (Albania, Cambodia, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Montenegro, Nepal, ?Niger, Rwanda, SADC countries, Uganda). Italy, is funding 8 ST-EP projects ??(Colombia, Ghana, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mali), and funding has been approved for ?additional projects during 2007.
International tourist arrivals, 1990-2002
International tourist arrivals
(millions)
Share
(percentage)
in 2002
1990
1995
2000
2001
2002
WORLD
455.9
550.4
687.3
684.1
702.6
100
Africa
15.0
20.0
27.4
28.3
29.1
4.1
Americas
93.0
108.8
128.0
120.2
114.9
16.3
Asia and the Pacific
57.7
85.6
115.3
121.1
131.3
18.7
North-East Asia
28.0
44.1
62.5
65.6
73.6
10.5
South-East Asia
21.5
29.2
37.0
40.2
42.2
6.0
Oceania
5.2
8.1
9.6
9.5
9.6
1.4
South Asia
3.2
4.2
6.1
5.8
5.9
0.8
Europe
280.6
322.3
392.7
390.8
399.8
56.9
Middle East
9.7
13.6
24.0
23.6
27.6
3.9
Source: World Tourism Organization.
Tourism in Asia and the Pacific region
During the period 1990-2002, growth in tourism in Asia and the Pacific outperformed the rest of the world, with arrivals growing by 7.1 per cent annually (compared with 3.7 per cent for the world), increasing the global share from 12.7 per cent in 1990 to 18.7 per cent in 2002. Over the same period, tourism revenue in the region more than doubled, from $US 40.8 billion in 1990 to $US 94.7 billion in 2002. Travel and tourism in the region has created 115 million jobs and made a significant contribution to GDP (North-East Asia, 9 per cent of GDP; South-East Asia, 7.56 per cent; South Asia, 4.87 per cent; Oceania, 13.55 per cent).
Given the broad income and employment figures as well as the impacts outlined above, tourism has considerable potential to contribute to poverty reduction in countries of the region. However, in most countries, tourism initiatives are still only at the pilot stage and the measurement of their impact on the poor is inconsistent. It is also well recognized that there can be leakages of foreign exchange from the tourism sectors and that the distribution of the benefits of tourism varies according t according to the market segment on which the country is focusing. Consequently, two of the challenges in the sector are to design tourism interventions that maximize net foreign exchange gains and focus on the potential of improving the living standards of the poor.
With the increased interest in using tourism as a tool for poverty alleviation, there is clearly a need to develop methodologies and indicators that will enable Governments and other stakeholders to understand the impact of various initiatives on the poor and shape future interventions more effectively. In this connection, preparations are under way to organize a meeting on measuring and assessing the impact of pro-poor tourism initiatives and policies at Bangkok in September 2004. The meeting will bring together a group of practitioners working in poverty and tourism to consider methodologies to measure and assess the impact of pro-poor tourism initiatives.
The rising arrival figures do not necessarily mean that the poorer members of a society will also benefit. Nor are increasing numbers of tourists always welcome at a destination. It is therefore vital that destination managers find ways how the poor can obtain ?€?not crumbs off the table but a share of the cake?€?. In this context, Dr. SantaMaria introduced seven approaches for achieving benefits for the poor from tourism development:
?€? direct employment;
?€? supply of goods and services to enterprises;
?€? direct sales of goods and services to visitors;
?€? running of enterprises (SMEs, community-based);
?€? tax or levy on tourism income;
?€? voluntary giving / support by enterprises or tourists; and
?€? investment in infrastructure.
A study was conducted in order to discover how some of these approaches can be supported. To increase the number of poor people who are directly employed in the tourism industry, for example, three main activities can be suggested: the use of international partnerships and teaching support to ?€?catch up?€? on education and training, the setting up of tourism developments even in isolated rural areas, as well as the support through microfinance initiatives.
The following principles have been adopted by UNWTO and recommended to the governments in connection with Tourism and Poverty Alleviation:
1. Mainstreaming: ensure that sustainable tourism development is included in general poverty elimination programmes. Include poverty elimination measures within overall strategies for the sustainable development of tourism;
2. Partnerships: develop partnerships between international, government, nongovernmental and private sector bodies, with a common aim of poverty alleviation through tourism;
3. Integration: adopt an integrated approach with other sectors and avoid overdependence
on tourism;
4. Equitable distribution: ensure that tourism development strategies focus on more equitable distribution of wealth and services – growth alone is not enough;
5. Acting locally: focus action at a local/destination level, within the context of supportive national policies;
6. Retention: reduce leakages from the local economy and build linkages within it, focusing on the supply chain;
7. Viability: maintain sound financial discipline and assess viability of all actions taken;
8. Empowerment: create conditions which empower and enable the poor to have access to information and to influence and take decisions;
9. Human rights: remove all forms of discrimination against people working or seeking to work in tourism and eliminate any exploitation, particularly against women and children;
10. Commitment: plan action and the application of resources for the long term; and
11. Monitoring: develop simple indicators and systems to measure the impact of tourism on poverty.
Based on these principles, UNWTO?€™s general programme of work includes a number of activities aimed at maximizing the impact of tourism for the benefit of developing countries in general and LDCs in particular.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
There has been an up market trend in the tourism over the last few decades, especially in Europe where international travel for short breaks is common. Tourists have higher levels of disposable income and greater leisure time and they are also better-educated and have more sophisticated tastes. There is now a demand for a better quality products, which has resulted in a fragmenting of the mass market for beach vacations; people want more specialized versions, such as ‘Club 18 -30′, quieter resorts, family-oriented holidays, or niche market-targeted destination hotels. As well, people are taking second short break holidays.
The developments in technology and transport infrastructure such as jumbo jets and low-budget airlines have made many types of tourism more affordable. There have also been changes in lifestyle, such as retiree-age people who living as a tourist all the year round. This is facilitated by internet purchasing of tourism products. Some sites have now started to offer dynamic packaging, in which an inclusive price is quoted for a tailor- made package requested by the customer upon impulse.
There have been a few setbacks in tourism, such as the September 11, 2001 attacks and terrorist threats to tourist destinations such as Bali and European cities. Some of the tourist destinations, including the beach resorts of Cancún have lost popularity due to shifting tastes. In this context, the excessive building and environmental destruction often associated with traditional “sun and beach” tourism may contribute to a destination’s saturation and subsequent decline. Spain’s Costa Brava, a popular 1960s and 1970s beach location is now facing a crisis in its tourist industry. On December 26, 2004 a tsunami, caused by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake hit Asian countries bordering the Indian Ocean, and also the Maldives. Tens of thousands of lives were lost, and many tourists died. This, together with the vast clean-up operation in place, has stopped or severely hampered tourism to the area.
Sustainable tourism is becoming more popular as people start to realize the devastating effects of poorly planned tourism on communities. Receptive tourism is now growing at a very rapid rate in many developing countries, where it is often the most important economic activity in local Gross Domestic Product.
In recent years, second holidays or vacations have become more popular as people’s discretionary income increases. Typical combinations are a package to the typical mass tourist resort, with a winter skiing holiday or weekend break to a city or national park.
“The development of tourism means, above all, social progress, job ?creation and poverty alleviation”.
` Travel & Tourism has a number of advantages over other industry sectors:
it creates jobs and wealth whilst;
at the same time, it can contribute to sustainable development;
it tends to have low start-up costs;
is a viable option in a wide range of areas and regions;
is likely to continue to grow for the foreseeable future; and
the industry is, in a large part, aware of the need to protect the resource on which it is based – local culture and built and natural environment – and it is committed to these resources?€™ preservation and enhancement.
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