Role of Indian Tourism Industries in World Trade

INTRODUCTION

Tourism is an important catalyst in the socio-economic development in the modern times, contributing in multiple ways and strengthen the inter-connected processes. While often shows as panacea for many evils such as underdevelopment, unemployment, poverty eradication, social discrimination and so on; its contribution in creating a global and regional socio-political environment for peaceful co-existence of the cultures and societies has been equally established at various levels. Perhaps, this realization took many advocators to position tourism as one of the biggest peace industries, a means to strike equilibrium of global peace process though development. Because, tourism practiced in responsible and sustainable manner bring about the peace and prosperity of the people and that its stakeholders share benefits in fair manner, which is a necessary condition for the equilibrium of sharing to sustain. Due appreciation of such key role of tourism in development and global solidarity is forthcoming in recent years. The U.N systems have been well on record about the growing significance of tourism, which can be traced back to the 1980s. The latest being the candid endorsement of U.N Secretary General who went on to state as precursor to his World Tourism Day 2011 message: tourisms ability to generate socio-economic opportunities and help reducing the gap between rich and poor is more important than ever. This statement acquires significance in the face of the economic crisis in recent times. Hence, any formulation on tourism and its role in the society and economy must be rooted in due cognizance to the contribution of tourism in the development process and according its rightful place and position in the economic planning and programming.
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Meaning of Tourism
When we think of tourism, we think mainly of people who are visiting a particular place for sightseeing, visiting friends and relatives, taking a vacation and having a good time. They may spend their leisure time engaging in various sports, sunbathing, talking, singing, taking rides, touring, reading, or simply enjoying the environment. Furthermore, we may include in our definition of tourism people who are participating in a convention, a business conference, or some other kind of business or professional activity, as well as those who are taking a study tour under an expert guide or doing some kind of scientific research or study.

These visitors use all forms of transportation, from hiking in a wilderness park to flying in a jet, to travelling by rail or going on a cruise. Any attempt to define tourism and to describe fully its scope, we must consider the various groups that participate in and are affected by this industry. Their perspectives are vital to the development of a comprehensive definition.

Advantages of Tourism
The tourist: The tourist seeks various psychic and physical experiences and satisfactions. The nature of these will largely determine the destinations chosen and the activities enjoyed. The business providing tourist goods and service: Business people view tourism as an opportunity to make a profit by supplying the goods and services that the tourist market demands. The government of the host community or area: Politicians view tourism as a wealth factor in the economy of their jurisdictions. Their perspective is related to the incomes their citizens can earn from this business.

Politicians also consider the foreign exchange receipts from international tourism as well as the tax receipts collected from tourist expenditures, either directly or indirectly. The host community: Local people usually see tourism as a cultural and employment factor. Of importance to this group, for example, it is the effect of the interaction between large numbers of international visitors and residents.

Thus tourism may be defined as the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of tourists, business suppliers, host governments and host communities in the process of attracting and hosting these tourists and other visitors. Tourism is a composite of a activities, services, and industries that delivers a travel experience, namely transportation, accommodations, eating and drinking establishments, shops, entertainment, activity facilities, and other hospitality services available for individuals or groups that are travelling away from home.

It encompasses all providers of visitor and visitor-related services. Tourism is the entire world industry of travel, hotels, transportation, and all other components, including promotion that serves the needs and wants of travelers.

Finally tourism is the sum total of tourist expenditures within the borders of a nation or a political subdivision or a transportation-centered economic area of contiguous states or nations.

Impact of tourism
As an industry, the impact of tourism is manifold. Tourism industry nourishes a countrys economy, stimulates development process, restores cultural heritage, and helps in maintaining international peace and understanding. Tourism at present is Indias third largest export industry and the forex earnings is estimated to be about Rs.9186 cores (approx Us $3928 million) in 1995-96.

Employment Potential In Tourism Industry

The most significant feature of the tourism industry is the capacity to generate large scale employment opportunities even in backward areas, especially to women, both educated and uneducated. Another important feature of tourism is that it contributes to national integration of the people who live in different regions of the country with diverse cultures and languages.

Employment Effects
a. Tourism is seen as a boon in terms of employment for people in developing nations. But in fact, tourism-related jobs are uncertain, seasonal and part-time, with a high turnover of staff. b. The loss of livelihoods through tourism - e.g., in agriculture and fisheries - has rarely been subjected to research. But the high out-migration of locals from tourist centers is a clear indication that tourism destroys more jobs than it creates. c. Despite the tourism leaders' new affection for 'corporate social responsibility' (CSR), exploitation of tourism workers remains rampant. Worldwide, the industry is taking advantage of migrant workers who provide the cheapest labour, endure the harshest working conditions and are least likely to organize in trade unions. d. Women in tourism are found to have the most dehumanizing and the worst-paid jobs. Tourism has an infamous reputation of boosting the sex industry wherever it takes root. Efforts to make industry comply with the Code of Ethics promoted by the UNWTO have not helped to curb trafficking in women and girls for sex work in tourist destinations, which in many cases deprives the victims of their fundamental human rights and exposes them to health risks such as HIV/AIDS. e. Industry self-regulation has proven an utterly inadequate tool in tourist centres, such as Pattaya in Thailand, Cancun in Mexico or Johannesburg in South Africa, where the sex, drugs and crime, gang violence, mafia-style politics and corruption are out of control. f. The erosion of culture and traditional values is visible in all tourist destinations driven by over-commercialization. Even many of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)'s World Heritage sites are not properly protected from privatization and 'Densification'.

Many indigenous peoples' rights groups are therefore condemning tourism as a form of development aggression. Highlighting incidents of land rights violations and biopiracy, they have raised serious concerns about the rigorous approach of the 'ecotourism' industry that threatens indigenous peoples' sovereignty and aggravates conflicts and tensions in their communities in tourism-related processes at the UN (e.g., at the Commission on Sustainable Development, meetings of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the International Year of Ecotourism 2002).

Environmental Impacts
Tourism as 'sustainable development' is a myth as it continues to wreak havoc on land and marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Despite the industry's 'green wash' attempts, fertile agricultural lands are still being cleared, forests cut down, mountains flattened, beaches dug up, and coral reefs destroyed to provide resources for more and more monstrous tourism complexes. Moreover, tourism accelerates unhealthy urbanization processes and contributes to traffic congestion, noise and air pollution and the dumping of waste and untreated sewage. The depletion and degradation of scarce water resources, particularly due to mushrooming golf courses and spa businesses, aggravates the water supply crisis in many communities. According to a UN study, the average tourist consumes as much water in 24 hours as a Third World villager requires to produce rice for 100 days.

High energy consumption in tourism facilities and greenhouse gas emissions linked to transportation, especially the explosive growth in air travel, contribute significantly to climate change.

Given all these serious impacts, tourism must no longer be treated like a holy cow that is protected and nurtured at all costs. Particularly in these times of looming social and environmental crises, governments and inter-governmental agencies like the UN should prioritise people's basic needs, particularly food security. Decision-makers should take a more responsible approach to tourism, by establishing strong legal and regulatory frameworks and ensuring the enforcement of these rules and regulations on the industry.

Corporate-driven voluntary initiatives, such as guidelines, codes of conduct and accreditation schemes, are not the key to effectively tackling tourism-related problems. What is needed instead is a people-centered approach to development that is aimed at reversing the negative impacts of globalisation and restoring the values of justice, democracy and self-determination in development - an approach that allows local communities to reclaim land and resources that have been unfairly taken away, to rehabilitate the environment that greedy capitalists have ravaged and to revive traditions and cultures that have been distorted and exploited for profit-making purposes. .

Indias Tourist Place

India is a paradise for tourists and sightseers. It can provide attraction to people of all tastes and temperament because of the unique and happy blending of modernism with orientalism. Tourism industry is the biggest service providing industry of India. Indian tourism industry is expected to cross 400 billion by 2019.

Beautiful beaches, extraordinary natural beauty, soaring temples with delicate art works, Historical monuments in stones and marble, enchanting mausoleums like the Taj Mahal, jungles teeming like wildlife, ancient cities with age old splendor, colorful festivals-religious and national, deserts in Rajasthan, spectacular buildings of architectural interest are all over India.

Variety In India

India presents a panorama of travel destinations for all types tourist. The land abounds with many masterpieces of nature. On the north of India is the valley of Kashmir with its picturesque gardens and beautiful lakes, luscious peaches and delicious apples, salubrious climate, golf clubs and boat houses.

At the south of India lies the Cape Camorin, the meeting place of two sea and one ocean, an ideal place to watch the serene beauty. It may be mentioned that all the tourist centers have well equipped transport and accommodation facilities.

For e.g.: Goa is connected with all major cities with connection flights.

We are dividing the India Tourism to nine categories based on region for the welfare of foreign tourists travelling to India.

Delhi-Agra-Rajasthan The Golden Triangle

Golden triangle Tourism has become one of the top branded tourist circuits in Indian tourism.

Delhi Tourism:

Qutab Minar, Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque, Iron Pillar, Tomb Iltumash, Suraj Kund, Hauz Khas, Kolta Feroz Shah, Lodi Tombs, Purana Quila, Shrine of Nizamuddin, Humayun Tomb, Red Fort, Jama Masjid, Jantar Mantar,etc

Agra Tourism: Taj Mahal, Fatehpur Sikri, the Fort, the Jama Masjid, Tomp of Itemad-ud-Daula, Chini-KaRausa, Rambagh and Akbar's tomb at Sikandra

Rajasthan Tourism:

Jaipur, Udaipur and Jodhpur,Mt.Abu and Ajmer, Astronomical Laboratory, Sisodia Palace, Hawa Mahal and Amber Fort at Jaipur; Khwaja Chisti's Tomb, Annasagar Lake, Adhai-din-kaJhopra and Lake Pushkar at Ajmer; Lake Palace, Jagdish Temple and Museum at Udaipur; Nakki Lake, Toad Rock and Dalwara Jain Temples at Mt.Abu ;Kailana and Balamand Lakes and Fort of Jodhpur. Ranthombhore National Park

Himalayan Tourism-except East India and Kashmir .

The Himalayas, Jim Corbett National Park, Nainital, Shimla

Tourism in Kashmir

Valley of Kashmir,Srinagar, Gulmarg, Ladakh, Leh

Punjab Tourism

Amristsar ,Golden Temple, The Jallianwala Bagh, Baba Atal's Tower, Rambagh Garden and Gobindgarh Fort,Chandigarh , The garden of Pinjore

South India Tourism with Lakshadweep

Kerala, Kaudiyar Palace , Kovalam, Kumarakom, Kollam, Munnar, Thekady , Alleppey Kottayam, Cochin, Kozhikode , Trissur, the Legislative assembly, and Cape Comorin Kovalam beach, Backwaters of Kerala

Lakshadweep

Channai., Mahabalipuram , Rock temples of Mahabalipuram, Nilgiris,Kodaikanal ,Mysore, Botanical gardens , Coonoor,Bangalore -the Garden City, Temples of Belur ,Srirangapatna, Hampi, Vijayanagar Empire, Nagarhole national park and Periyar National Park ,Pattadakal , Chola Temples , Fort Cochin

The Glorious Central India-Central India Tourism

Khajuraho, Gwalior , Indore, Ujjain, Mandu, Bhilsa, Shivpuri and Sanchi, Pachmarhi.

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Orissa: Jagannath temple at Puri, Rana temple at Bhuvaneshwar and Sun temple at Konark, Bandhavgarh National park

The Andamans

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Tourism in East India

Darjeeling, Darjeeling Himalayan Railways , Kaziranga National Park and Sunderbans, National Parks, Sikkim, Nagaland and Dooars , Gantok, Kohima

West India tourism

Mumbai, Ajanta and Ellora ,The Ellora Caves, Goa, Karla Caves, Matheran

Festivals in India
India is land full of colorful festivals .Each region or state has its own local celebrities ,but the Dussehra and the Diwali are celebrated all over the country .In places like Mysore Dussehra is celebrated in great style. Entire city of Mysore is decorated and atmosphere filled with dance and celebrations.

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Shopping and Handicrafts in India

India is also a paradise for the souvenir hunter. Inexpensive objects of utility and art present a bewildering variety of skills, color and expression. And what a wealth of object India has to offer in her continuing tradition of fine workmanship Kashmiri shawls, Varanasi brocades, intricate jewelry etc .Much of the skills and sense of color displayed in the production of India's myriad handicrafts stem from inherited traditions that are nearly as old as Indian history.

Beaches of India -Beach Tourism in India

Indian coastlines add up to 7,500 -odd kilometers in length. Indian beaches make on the top tourist attractions in India for the foreign tourists. Indian beaches provide more than a strip of land beside a sea where surfing and merry making is done. History and culture blend along with fun and adventure ,that make beaches of India unique. You can watch forts and ports along with the sea side. Beaches of Goa , Andaman, Kerala and Lakshyadweep tops the list.

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Contribution of Travel and Tourism Sector in India (WTTC)

As regards to employment generation in 2011, the sectors direct contribution worked out to be 5% and the total effects- direct and indirect together- to stand at 7.5% in the countrys total employment pie. Respective figures might rise to 5.2% and 8.1% by 2021 and such prospects need to be taken as an important indicator for concerted policy interventions and programming for tourism sector. Because, as already established, the sector has a key role to play in the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment by way of creating employment and income opportunities for millions of the marginal and less empowered sections across the country.

Investment Scenario of Travel and Tourism Sector in Asia (WTTC)

Table No.1

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As it evolves, what is encouraging is an atmosphere of growing confidence for investments in the travel and tourism sector in India. Instantaneous being, as revealed by WTTC estimates, India ranks 4th in terms of travel and tourism investment in 2011 with a total of USD 26.7 billion. The Table would further suggest that in terms of investment, India is much ahead of most countries in the Asian region. Many factors can be attributed to this like a consistently growing economy, fast expanding travel and tourism demand and supply, dynamic business environment, global integration and so on.

Growth of tourism in Asia

Furthermore, despite economically and politically induced setbacks threats of terrorism from a variety of global hot spots, recession in Europe, and economic upheaval in Japan, and the once Communist Eastern Block, the future of tourism is brighter than ever.

Expectations for growth tourism are 6.1 percent, 23 percent faster than the world economy. Travel and Tourism will create 144 million jobs worldwide between now and the year 2005 (112 million in the fast growing Asia pacific.)

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World Trade Organization

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an organization that intends to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1948. The organization deals with regulation of trade between participating countries; it provides a framework for negotiating and formalizing trade agreements, and a dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants' adherence to WTO agreements which are signed by representatives of member government.

And ratified by their parliaments. Most of the issues that the WTO focuses on derive from previous trade negotiations, especially from the Uruguay Round (19861994).

The organization is attempting to complete negotiations on the Doha Development Round, which was launched in 2001 with an explicit focus on addressing the needs of developing countries. As of June 2012, the future of the Doha Round remains uncertain: The work programme lists 21 subjects in which the original deadline of 1 January 2005 was missed (So was the next unofficial target of the end of 2006.)

The further imposition of free trade on industrial goods and services and the protectionism on farm subsidies to domestic agricultural sector requested from the developed countries, and the substantiation of the international liberalization of fair trade on agricultural products from developing countries remain the major obstacles.

These points of contention have hindered any progress to launch new WTO negotiation(s) beyond the Doha Development Round. As a result of this impasse, there has been an increasing amount of bilateral free trade agreements.
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WTO's current Director-General is Pascal Lamy, who leads a staff of over 600 people in Geneva, Switzerland.

Principles of the trading system

The WTO establishes a framework for trade policies; it does not define or specify outcomes. That is, it is concerned with setting the rules of the trade policy games. Five principles are of particular importance in understanding both the pre-1994 GATT and the WTO:

1. Non-discrimination. It has two major components: the most favoured nation (MFN) rule, and the national treatment policy. Both are embedded in the main WTO rules on goods, services, and intellectual property, but their precise scope and nature differ across these areas. The MFN rule requires that a WTO member must apply the same conditions on all trade with other WTO members, i.e. a WTO member has to grant the most favorable conditions under which it allows trade in a certain product type to all other WTO members. "Grant someone a special favor and you have to do the same for all other WTO members."

National treatment means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than domestically produced goods (at least after the foreign goods have entered the market) and was introduced to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade (e.g. technical standards, security standards et al. discriminating against imported goods).

2. Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule, and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets.

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A related point is that for a nation to negotiate, it is necessary that the gain from doing so be greater than the gain available from unilateral liberalization; reciprocal concessions intend to ensure that such gains will materialise.

3. Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments made by WTO members in a multilateral trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions.

These schedules establish "ceiling bindings": a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. If satisfaction is not obtained, the complaining country may invoke the WTO dispute settlement procedures.

4. Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO.

These internal transparency requirements are supplemented and facilitated by periodic country-specific reports (trade policy reviews) through the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM).The WTO system tries also to improve predictability and stability, discouraging the use of quotas and other measures used to set limits on quantities of imports.

5. Safety valves. In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade. The WTOs agreements permit members to take measures to protect not only the environment but also public health, animal health and plant health.

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There are three types of provision in this direction:

articles allowing for the use of trade measures to attain non-economic objectives;

articles aimed at ensuring "fair competition"; members must not use environmental protection measures as a means of disguising protectionist policies.

provisions permitting intervention in trade for economic reasons.

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Role of tourism in World Trade

Quest for New Tourism Product
Indias Tourism Policy (2002) has accorded great importance for tourism product development and diversification to increase the numbers of domestic and international tourists. It goes without saying that Indias ancient civilization, cultural diversity, unmatched heritage sites and other cultural manifestations have allured the tourists through ages and would continue to be its prime USP. But, the tourist motivation and purpose of holidaying are undergoing fast changes and that makes it imperative to create new tourism product offerings to satisfy the new tourist class. The environmental consciousness among a large section of travellers, many are even

transforming it as their lifestyle preferences, pose both opportunities and challenges to create environment-friendly products and practices. They are also strongly inclined for such tourism practices optimally contributing to local economy and therefore travel trends can no longer be taken as fads.

To address fast changing tourist consumer preferences, India is also in the race for creating and recreating diverse tourist attraction portfolios but that understandably should position around its core competence of cultural endowments. The continental characteristics as being manifested in the diverse geography, culture, people and way of living would enable Indias endeavours much easier to position it as one of the most vibrant tourism destinations globally. Some of the latest tourism product development initiatives being pursued in this direction have been listed below to have a perspective of the countrys diversity and potential.

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Rural Tourism: India is a country of villages and showcasing the rich rural life, art, culture and heritage in villages in responsible manner would be mutually beneficial since tourism and conservation complement each other. Rural tourism schemes in India envisage encouraging and promoting the villages that have inherent strengths in art & craft, handloom, and textiles. The main purpose is to benefit the local community economically and socially, diversifying the local development opportunities as well as enable interaction between tourists and local population for a mutually enriching experience. The promotion of rural tourism is also aimed to arrest the migration from rural to urban areas.

Golf Tourism: Golf is considered to be a game of rich and is quite popular in advanced countries. A potentially viable market segment is also emerging in the country. Recognizing the potential to develop golf as a niche tourism product for attracting both international and domestic tourism, Ministry of Tourism took many bold initiatives to identify and strengthen the development. Recently, it organized a workshop (January 2011) in New Delhi on Promotion of Golf Tourism to evolve a road map for formulating strategies for development and promotion of golf tourism in India. (Annual report 2010, MOT)

Adventure Tourism: The urge for adventure is there in every human-being. Perhaps due to this innate nature of man that adventure tourism is one of the most popular niche segments of tourism industry. It is both a leisure pastime and serious hobby and entails in general travelling to remote areas and exotic places to indulge in learning and experiencing through activities with offering of

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higher risk and thrills. Owing to Indias enormous geo-physical diversity, it has taken a big shape over the years. Adventure tourism is very much a part of Indias tourism policy and almost ever State has definite programme to identify and promote its adventure tourism potential.

Camping Sites: Promotion of Camping sites has been encouraged with adequate acknowledgement of its adverse effects on environment. Besides providing unique rewarding experiences, responsible conduct of camping can be a major source for both additional economic opportunities in remote areas as well as an instrument of conservation.

Medical Tourism: Medical tourism or health tourism is often described as rapidly growing segment in the country. India is adequately equipped with state-of-the-art hospital infrastructure and facilities to treat many critical illnesses. By now, India has been able to establish as a favourite destination for many complex surgeries like cosmetic surgery, joint replacement surgery, cardiac surgery and like at very low cost in comparison to the developed countries. This indeed gives great momentum for the hospitals in particular and tourism in general. Many specialized hospitals and tour operators have already come up to promote the medical tourism.

Wellness Tourism: The core of wellness tourism in India is the ancient medical system of Ayurveda combined with the system of Yoga. Indeed, many states in the country have already taken great strides to promote wellness as a tourist product. Wellness tourism may be described as travelling for the purpose of revitalizing ones health and spiritual well-being.

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Ecotourism: India is often termed as hotspot of bio-diversity and this rich natural heritage is unparallel in many ways. Such valuable resource base gives impetus for the practice of variety of alternate tourism forms and many of which are already in existence. The national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, biosphere reserves and a multitude of other natural settings are indeed avenues for not only learning and experiencing the natures splendity and life systems but also a major source for great variety of adventure offerings. If planned and practiced in mutually complementing manner, ecotourism would be an important instrument for ecologic conservation and source of livelihood for people living in those areas. India has some successful examples of such complementarity of nature and tourism to further experiment with and Thenmala Ecotourism Project in Kerala is an interesting case in point.

Highway tourism: Highways are like veins in the symbolic body of a country. Even in the most ancient times, the kings have well envisaged the importance of highways and constructed numerous inns and wells to facilitate the travellers. In modern times too, initiatives has been taken to develop tourism infrastructure along the highways so that it caters the travellers and provides income and employment opportunities along the hinterland. Haryana has been pioneering this concept in successful fashion.

Rail tourism: Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a public sector enterprise under Indian Railway, promotes rail tourism in India. From luxury trains to steam locomotive trains, hill charters and Char Dham trains; it offers the tourists with attractive options and at the reasonable costs. Maharaja Express, Mahaparinirvan Express (Buddhist

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circuits), Bharat Darshan and Bharat Tirth are some of its famous train journeys. It also has provisions for charters and exclusive tour packages. Besides IRCTC initiatives, state-level corporations and private operators also operate tourist trains. Indeed, the world famous Palace on Wheels and Deccan Odyssey are part of successful rail tourism initiatives in the world.

Heliport tourism: In India, there are plenty of exotic places but reaching them out those is an uphill task. Viewing this, the States and union territories with the help of central financial assistance, identifies such places where helipads could be constructed to harness the tourism potential. The cardinal principles adopted by the Central Government for the

tourism development strategy are many pronged and rooted in the seven key areas envisioned in 2002 Tourism Policy: Welcome (swagath), Information (suchana), Facilitation (suvidha), Safety (suraksha), Cooperation (sahyog), Infrastructure (samrachana) and Cleanliness (safai).

The principles and approach for tourism development can be seen reflected in the 11th Plan allocation and provisioning for various schemes. For instance, over 40% of allocation has been apportioned to Product/ infrastructure development for identified destinations and circuits and another 20% for overseas promotion, publicity and marketing development assistance.

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To Understand the Present Status Of Global Tourism

The phenomenon of tourism since 1950 has been remarkable in terms of growth, spread and diversification. The international tourist arrivals since then have grown from mere 25 million to reach 940 million in 2010. The fast growth and spread not only resulted the globalisation of peoples movements as never before but also contributed in creating a vibrant industry and opportunities for millions of people.

International Tourist Arrivals and Receipts- 1990-2010

Diagram: 2

(Source: UNWTO)

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It is equally remarkable that irrespective of many challenges- at times far reaching in nature like economic threats, war and political instabilities, natural calamities and the like- tourism as an economic activity could withstand the test of the time and demonstrated its resilience as well as positioning in the modern way of living. Table. 2 is revealing of the contemporary nature of tourism. During 1990-2010, international tourist arrivals grew from 435 million to 940 million, recording an average annual growth of 5.8%, hiccups in some years notwithstanding. During this period, the international receipts also recorded considerable growth from USD 262 bn. to USD 919 bn., and its average growth has been more than double to that of the arrivals at about 12.54%. Regionally, international arrivals can be seen growing faster in emerging economies at a rate of about 7% compared to the world average of 4.45% during 2005-2010

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Tourism Industry, World GDP & Employment

With passage of time, the travel and tourism industry has evolved to become one of the largest and most dynamic industries of the global economy. A WTTC study has estimated in 2010 that the contribution of travel and tourism to the world GDP was to the tune of 9%, whereas, its total employment effect was more than 235 million jobs, representing 8% of global employment.

Diagram 3: Economic Effects of Global Tourism and Travel Sector (WTTC)

World 2005 2006 Travel & Tourism Direct Contribution to GDP In US$ bn 2011 Price (US$ bn) Real growth (%) % share In US$ bn 2011 Price (US$ bn) Real growth (%) % share Real growth (%) % share In thousands Real growth (%) % share In thousands 1377.85 1692.25 0.4 3 4415.35 5424.19 3.3 9.6 1.1 3.5 95307.4 0.6 9.4 256508 1471.67 1732.33 2.4 2.9 4768.24 5618.8 3.6 9.6 3.3 3.5 98473.9 2.7 9.5 263553

2007 1647 1787.9 2.8 2.9 5366.87 5853.46 3.6 9.6 -0.6 3.4 97794 3.1 9.6 271805

2008 1755.23 1763.93 -1.5 2.8 5807.13 5852.7 0 9.4 -0.2 3.4 97527.6 -4 9.1 260838

2009 1641.27 1711.85 -3.4 2.8 5408.68 5652.89 -3.9 9.3 -2.3 3.3 95260.1 -3.1 8.8 252720

2010 1757.54 1768.77 3.2 2.8 5701.95 5754.96 1.7 9 0.9 3.3 96130.5 -0.8 8.6 250565

Travel & Tourism Total Contribution to GDP

Travel & Tourism Direct Contribution to Employment

Travel & Tourism Total Contribution to Employment

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Further, the employment effect of international tourism appears to be optimistic in the medium to long-term. According to the UNWTO forecasts, the sector is expected to provide nearly 296 million jobs by 2019 given that there would be sustained growth of global tourist arrivals and the major economies maintain its momentum.

Recent trends in Indian Tourism

The tourist numbers and activities in India seem to suggest more of an optimistic scenario. The gloomy phase of 2008-09 has been mediated successfully with focused policy interventions and industry initiatives that in turn added momentum to the growth process. From a negative growth of -2.2% in 2009/08, foreign tourist arrivals increased considerably to register a growth of 8.1% in 2010/09. This turn-around is indeed encouraging given the fact that global economy was still recovering and has not reached its usual growth trajectory. Notwithstanding this, it is not heartening to mark that Indias share in the world tourism pie has never crossed the threshold of 0.7% at any point in time.

The reversal of foreign tourist arrivals was equally evident in the strong momentum being observed in the foreign exchange earnings post 2008. For, the earnings in rupee terms recorded an increase of around 28%, i.e. from Rs. 50730 crores in 2008 to Rs. 64889 crores in 2010. In the contrary, the increase in dollar terms was comparatively less at about 20.8% during the same period. This could perhaps be attributed to the factors like variations in the exchange rate as well as reduced tourist expenditure.

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Another pertinent dimension worth noticing is the relationship between the growth in tourist arrivals and the earnings during this period. For instance, in rupee terms, the annual increase in earnings has been much faster to that of arrivals with the figures for 2009/08 and 2010/09 recording 8.3% and 18.1% respectively. Further, while examining the monthly change, it was also observed that the earnings were fairing much better with only first three months of 2009 accounting a negative change over corresponding months previous year. But, when it came to the arrivals, barring December, as Diagram. 4 would suggest, the scenario in 2009 was that of either negative or negligible growth compared to 2008.

Percentage Change In Monthly International Tourist Arrival And Revenue- India Diagram. 4

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Post-recession trend in domestic tourism is rather poised for a leap if the growth of 18.8% (2009/08) and 10.6% (2010/09) in the subsequent years are any indication (Diagram 4). However, we often tend to underestimate the massive nature and significance of domestic tourism in the country despite the fact that it generates nearly three-fourth of total tourism revenue and that it acts as the backbone of Indian tourism industry. Needlessly, negating the contribution of the segment could jeopardize overall momentum of growth of tourism sector, both in short and long terms.

Trend in Domestic Tourist Arrivals in India

Diagram. 5 Year 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Domestic Tourist 391.95 462.31 526.56 562.98 669.02 740.0 Source: Tourist Statistics, GoI); * Provisional % 7.0 18.0 13.9 6.9 18.8 10.61

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The domestic tourist data further reveals a pattern of a few states garnering a larger chunk of the growing traffic. For instance, top five states namely Andhra Pradesh (155.8 mil), Uttar Pradesh (144.4 mil), Tamil Nadu (111.6 mil), Maharashtra (48.5 mil) and Karnataka (38.2 mil) constitute around 67% of the total traffic in 2010. This is indicative of a trend in spatial concentration of tourist activities, which indeed has been consistently observed over many decades owing perhaps much to the religious/pilgrim tourism and location of important cultural attractions in those states.

Not that Indians are touring only within its national limits. It is rather interesting to observe two main features of their overseas travel patterns. First and foremost is a consistent increase in the numbers of Indians taking international vacation travel over the years, which Diagram. 5 would suggest growing from 7.2% in 2005 to 12.3% in 2010. Even when the global tourist movements fallen substantially as a result of global recession, Indian outbound traffic has been growing with consistency and stability. Second, rather more pertinent from the perspective of travel account balance, is the difference in terms of inbound and outbound tourist numbers where the later can be seen double to inbound numbers. The phenomenal growth in outbound travel could be a by-product of many economic and social factors, most important being material prosperity and urge for travel and life styles. Other contributing factors being ease of travel documents like passport, visa, relaxation in foreign exchange regulations, better awareness of destinations and benefits of travel etc. As regards travel segments, the MICE and business travel are arguably growing faster compared to the leisure segments. The quantum of Indian nationals on overseas vacations increased from 6.2 million in 2004 to 11 million in 2009.

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World tourism scenario

People in general now view tourism as a way of life rather than a luxury item reserved for the affluent and the elite. Tourism has emerged as the largest service industry globally in terms of gross revenue as well as foreign exchange earnings. The present annual global income from tourism (international and domestic) is nearly US$13 trillion, an amount more than the GNP of all countries except the United States.

According to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the number of international travellers has risen to more than 500 million per annum, which means that one out of every ten inhabitants of this planet is a tourist. With rapid developments in the field of transport and communications, the global tourism industry is likely to double in the next decade.

WTO forecasts that there will be 702 million international arrivals in the year 2000, that arrivals will top one billion in the year 2010 and that by 2020, international arrivals will reach 1.6 billion nearly three times the number of international trips made in 1996 which was 592 million.

The 21st century will see a higher percentage of the total population travelling, especially in developing countries, and people will be going on holidays more often, sometimes two, three or four times a year. Travellers of the 21st will also be going farther and farther. The Tourism 2020 vision forecast predicts that by 2020 one out of every three trips will be long haul journeys to other regions of the world. Long-haul travel is expected to increase from 24% of all international tourism in 1995 to 35% of all international traffic arrivals by the year 2020.

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Tourism is the industry of industries and has a great multiplier effect on other industries. Tourism serves as an effective medium for transfer of wealth because here income earned in places of residence is spent in place visit. It is the highest generator of employment. A total of 212 million persons are now being employed globally through direct and indirect opportunities generated by this industry. This means that out of every nine persons, one person earns a living from tourism. For every million rupees of investment 13 jobs are created in manufacturing industries, 45 jobs in agriculture and 89 jobs in hotels and restaurants. Tourism is therefore considered to be an important area for intensive development for all governments. As the fastest growing foreign exchange earner, especially in developed countries, it is being given priority attention.

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Tourism a multi component industry

There is no obvious answer. One explanation is that tourism is a multi component industry, many parts of which are inextricably linked to other economic sectors such as airlines to transportation; souvenir shops, concession stands and restaurants to retail or service; hotels and other accommodation to commercial development. Broadening the Mind. A survey of the World Travel and Tourism published in the Economist offers the following rationale. The size of the travel and tourism business is difficult to comprehend for at least three reasons. First there is no accepted definition of what constitutes the industry, any definition of what runs the risk of either overstating of understating economic activity. Second, tourism is a business, many of whose activities (like tour guides and souvenir sales people) and much of whose income (tips) are well suited to practitioners of the underground economy.

In countries with foreign exchange controls (which are always evaded) every official figure on expenditure will be wrong. Third, international travel is bedeviled by astounding differences in the data of different countries. While efforts are underway to bring uniformity to data connection and analysis worldwide, it will likely to be sometime before a consensus is reached and the scope and impact of the tourism industry. However at least two organizations are dedicated to the task of giving travel and tourism its due as the worlds largest industry.

The Brussel based World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) us a coalition of 65 Chief executive officers from all sectors of the industry. Its goal as stated in WTTC reports is to convince governments of the enormous contribution of travel and tourism to national and world economic

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development, to promote expansion of travel and tourism markets in harmony with environment and to eliminate barriers to growth of the industry.

The World Tourism Organization (WTO), on the other hand, is an agency of the United Nations Development Programme, WTOs membership comprises 113 of the worlds government and boasts over 170 affiliate members from the travel and tourism industry. It is the only inter governmental organization open to the operating sector. Its mission is the promotion and development of travel and tourism as a means of stimulating business and economic development, and forecasting peace and understanding between nations.

Tourism, the world's biggest industry!

A survey of 400 policy and opinion makers in 20 countries placed these and three other industries ahead of tourism in global economic contribution, but recently gathered statistics tell a different story.

As a contributor to the global economy, tourism has no equal.

Tourism employs 204 million people worldwide or one in every nine workers, 10.6 percent of the global workforce.

Tourism is the worlds leading economic contributor, producing an incredible 10.2 percent of the worlds gross national product.

Tourism is the leading producer of tax revenues at US$655 billion. Tourism is the worlds largest industry in terms of gross output approaching US$304 trillion

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CONCLUSION
Tourism is a truly global business that turns everything on Earth - even the most sacred domains into commodities. Most travellers would not want to wake up to the fact that they are just feeding a multi-billion-dollar industry and contributing to unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. And there is little awareness that as always, it is the poor who have to pay for the social and environmental costs of excessive tourism. India represents one of the most potential tourism markets in the world. Tourism today is the most vibrant tertiary activity and a multi-billion industry in India. Traditionally known largely for its historical and cultural dimensions, tourism today is highlighted for its immense business opportunities. With its lucrative linkages with transport, hotel industry etc., the potential and performance of Indias tourism industry needs to be gauged in terms of its socio-economic magnitudes. Governments emphasize tourism as a driving force for economic development. The latest World Tourism Barometer released by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) indicates that international arrivals will amount to 880 to 900 million by the end of 2007, which points to a continuation of the sustained growth rate experienced over the past years. The AsiaPacific region is the acknowledged motor behind the global tourism growth, with China and India representing the fastest-growing markets. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism presently employs approximately 231 million people and generates over 10.4% of the world's GDP.

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