Essays

In today's world, tourism does not merely moan a vacation, a source of entertainment, or a way of expanding one's knowledge but tourism in the recent years has emerged as one of the most important socio-economic sector of the nation. It is now recognized as an industry providing substantial support to the economy of a country. Tourism promotes National Integration and International Understanding. It also helps in improvement of infrastructure, creates more opportunities of employment and most importantly provides foreign exchange.

Tourism in India plays a vital role in the country's economy, cultural growth and unity. India's great diversity and cultural richness provides ample potential for growth in tourism. The rich heritage of art, architecture, pre-historic spots, places of historical importance, picturesque palaces, topographically diverse places from the wettest to the driest, hill stations, soothing beaches, mesmerizing deserts, lush green valleys, snow-peaked mountains, mysterious forests etc all speak of the infinite possibility of India becoming a favourite tourist destination. 

The basic reason behind the increase or development of tourism in India is religion.  Places of pilgrimage attract local as well as foreign tourists year after year  Moreover, travelling and tour is now not only confined to religious places and religious feelings but now is also associated with trips for pleasure. Due to this reason domestic tourism is on rise since the last decade or two. Rise in economic status of an average middle-class family, exposure through mass media and increasing awareness of new tourist destinations has promoted tourism. Better income and good incentives provided by private organizations to their outstanding workers have also contributed to harnessing tourism potential of the country.

One of the most favourable aspects of tourism is that it creates more Job opportunities a-id has great potential tor employment in the wake of its rise. Presently, about 8.5 million people are directly employed in this field. In addition to  this, the industry provides indirect employment to about another 20 million people.  The Indian tourism industry is expected to generate $275.5 bn by 2018. In 2010 India saw over 50 lakh foreign tourists and 40 crore domestic tourists. A noticeable  thing is that the tourism industry employs a large number of women; educated, & uneducated, skilled as well as unskilled. Women are employed in hotels and airline services, travel agencies, handicrafts and cultural activities. Hotels form an important part of the tourism industry. The Department of Tourism classifies hotels  along the lines of a star system beginning from one to five star hotels Another category that has been recently introduced is of Heritage Hotels. This series has been introduced to cover palaces, havelies, castles, forts and grand residential places built before 1950 which have been converted into hotels while preserving the original taste of the place to help the foreign tourists get a glimpse of the most sought after Indian Culture.

There are various tourist destinations in India including places with historical and archaeological importance, religious places, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks, hill stations, sea beaches and deserts. The lofty Himalayas are still a favourite destination in the country with its breathtaking snow-clad peaks, waterfalls, rivers, forests and wild life. For adventurous ones, the ranges also provide opportunities for hiking and trekking as well. Srinagar, Gulamarg, Pahalgaon, Patnitop, Amarnath, Vaishno Devi. Sonmarq, Leh etc are important tourist places in Kashmir while Shimla, Dalhousie, Kullu Manali, Kasauli are centres of tourism in Himachal Pradesh. Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have abundance of pilgrimages like Haridwar, Kedarnath, Badrinath, Rishikesh, Mathura, Allahabad, Varanasim, Vrindaban, Lucknuw, Agra etc along with a few hill stations. Darjeelmg, Gangtok, Shillong, Kohima, Imphal, Aizawal and Agartala are a few famous tourist spots in the north-eastern states.

Besides, there arc places of historical or religious importance in Rajasthan, Punjab, haryana, Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Delhi etc. Rajasthan is not only famous for its forts and palaces but also attracts tourists due to the ha un ling beauty of its desert. Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Bikaner together form the famous desert triangle. Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Fandabad, Surajkund (due to its annual crafts fair), Delhi, of course along with Chandigarh famous for its Rock Garden, are common, tourist haunts. Delhi, Agra and Jaipur form the world famous Golden Triangle.

In the peninsular India, states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Daman and Diu. Goa etc., are all tempting to domestic as, well as foreign tourists- The islands of Andaman, Nicobar and Lakshwadeep too are major tourist attractions. Thus, India has great tourist possibilities which can be exploited further to make it a good revenue earning sector of the Indian Economy.

Despite the great potential of India as a favourite tourist place, the growth of the tourism industry has been very slow. This is mainly due to poor infrastructure in the form of roads, railways, airports, sea-ports, tele-communications, hotels, accommodations and other allied services- Another factor which adversely affects tourism in India is the lack of proper propaganda and advertisement. India's inability to sell tourist potential effectively in an attractive, cost-effective and desired package is a major drawback. Violence in some parts of the country too has affected the number of tourists in the country. These few drawbacks have made Indian Tourism fall behind the tourism sectors of smaller countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Maldives etc.