Tourism Development: Products, Operations And Case Studies (Set of 8 Books)

About the Book

Book 1: Understanding Tourists and Hosts

Book 2: Guides and Escorts

Book 3: Tourist Sites : Products and Operationa-1

Book 4: Tourist Sites : Products and Operationa-2

Book 5: Tourist Sites : Products and Operationa-3

Book 6: Promotional Skills Case Studies - 1

Book 7: Promotional Skills Case Studies - 2

Book 8: Learning From Others

Book 1: Understanding Tourists and Hosts

It is important for all those related directly or indirectly with tourism to know the characteristics of tourists as well as hosts. These are necessary for all kinds of planning and development in tourism. This Block is an attempt to familiarise you with those aspects of tourism which are related to developing an understanding about the visitors and the hosts. Unit-1 discusses the profiling of foreign tourists and provides come essential data on international tourism flows.

Unit-2 takes into account the profiling or domestic tourists, an area often neglected in tourism studies.

In Unit-3, the focus is on guest-host relationship. It discusses the nature of this relationship and associated tensions and areas of co-operation.

Unit-4, the last Unit of the Block, mentions the Sociology and Anthropology of tourism. Besides discussing the approaches in this regard it also touches upon the relevance of such studies for tourism development.

Acknowledgement: We are thankful to World Tourism Organisation, Department of Tourism, Government of India, Mr. V.K. Malhotra, Economic Adviser, Economics and Statistics Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh and Mr. G .B. Dey of

Welcomgroup for providing certain data to us.

Book 2: Guides and Escorts

The emergence of travel and tourism as the world's most dynamic industry has made the closing years of the twentieth century as an invigorating time for tour guides and escorts, With the rapid development of tourism, services like guiding and escorting have to keep pace with the demand and quality of the tourism sector. In this Block the spotlight is on Guides and Escorts. We .have selected five specific cases for detailed enquiry into the role of the guides and escorts in those situations. These studies are intended to stimulate our skills and imagination in demanding more of yourself as a tourism professional. You will thus be able to utilise the theoretical understanding acquired about guides and escorts in Unit-15 of Block-4 (TS-1) to practical advantage.

Unit-5 is entitled Discovering A Town: Guide And The City Tour. It takes into account the conducting of a city tour with emphasis on the guide's role. There are several interesting details about your own town that often escape your attention. It is fascinating to know them and use that information to make the city tour both unique and more attractive.

Unit-6 is on Describing A Monument: The Taj Mahal. It takes up the famous mansoleum for a case study from the point of view of a tourist guide. Jt discusses the various facets of a historical monument, both real and mythical. The information provided in this Unit can form the basis for seeking information about other monuments and describing them to the tourists.

The next. Unit-7, is about The Mountain Guide: Sherpa. It discusses a totally different locale from the previous Units-the Himalayas. With growing frequency of visits to Himalayas by trekkers, climbers. and even general tourists, the Sherpas, as local guides, have assumed an important position. We have aimed at familiarising you with the Sherpa guide and his ambience in this Unit.

Unit-8, Journey Through A Museum , takes you on a journey through one of the premier museums, of the country, the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. It enables you to understand the peculiarities and attractions of a museum. This helps you in organizing the itinerary of your tourists to a visit to the different kinds of museums spread almost all over the country.

Finally, we give you details about one of tourism's most viable and economically rewarding area-the wildlife tourism. In Unit-8, entitled Visiting National Park: A Guide's Perception, we discuss the role of wildlife guide and the intricacies involved in promoting wildlife tourism. We especially take stock of the responsibilities that entail upon guides with regard to environmental protection and ecological awareness.

An overall need has been felt in the tourism Industry for upgrading the quality of the services of the Guides. We hope this Blok serves a useful purpose in this regard.

Acknowledgement: We are thankful to the Department of Tourism, Govt. of India, J & K Tourism Dept. and Travel Corporation (India)' Ltd. for providing photographs,

Book 3: Tourist Sites : Products and Operationa-1

A definition of tourism as an activity resulting from travelling and visiting an area by people who are not the residents of that area implies the existence of a set of products and operations pertaining to such tourist sites. This Block and the two subsequent Blocks (Nos. 4 and 5) are about such products and operations.

In this Block we have chosen, for a detailed discussion, the three interrelated products of prime tourist importance, viz dance and music, cuisine and customs, and business and tourism.

Unit 10 is on Dance and Music: The Khajuraho Festival. It discuses mainly the importance of dance and music as elements of our culture and teaches you the methods of marketing dance and music as a tourism product. We have selected the Khajuraho Dance Festival as an illustrative case study in this Unit.

Unit 11 is on The Business City: Bombay. It" aims at introducing to you the business city as a tourist site. Bombay has been chosen by us as a case study for the Unit wherein the discussion is centred on business and tourism as the twin aspects of such a site.

Lastly we have Unit 12 on Cuisines, Customs, Festivals and Fairs. Here we have given you details on the role of cuisine in tourism' promotion, the importance of the knowledge of local" customs for a tourism professional and mode of incorporating" festival and fairs into promotional itineraries.

We hope you will find these Units informative as well as useful in your profession. Acknowledgement: We are thankful to the Department of Tourism, Govt. of India, Maharashtra Tourism Department, Orissa Tourism Department, Air India and -Travel Corporation (India) Ltd. for providing photographs.

Book 4: Tourist Sites : Products and Operationa-2

In Block 3, we familiarised you with some Products, Operations and Tourist Sites. Here in Block 4, we are extending the same subject to cover Products and Operations that form a related yet separate category. The common theme of the four constituent Units of this Block is nature and natural surroundings as tourist attractions. Different aspects of tourism products emanating from nature have been taken up for a detailed discussion in these Units.

Unit 13 is on Adventure and Sports, a product of tourism currently in great demand. You will get details on various kinds of adventure activities that have today become popular tourist attractions. Also with these activities have come to be associated a few sports. The Unit also deals at length with the nature and organisation of such sports and tells you ways to utilise this information for furthering tourism.

The next Unit 14 is on Beach and Island Resorts. Herein you learn about the development and growth of the concept of beaches and islands as tourist resorts. We have also given two case studies as illustrations viz. Kovalam and Lakshadweep.

Unit 15, Hill Stations of India, is a detailed study of the growth of hills into tourist sites. It traces for you the history of the hill stations as a tourist product. It also provides you with details of different kinds of hill stations in India along with a comment on their potential for tourism .purposes.

Finally you have Unit 16 on the Wild Life in India. This Unit has been devised in the form of a narration. This, we hope, will enable you to use the information given here more effectively to the benefit of the tourist groups attracted to such sites.

Acknowledgement: We are thankful to the Department of Tourism, Govt. of India,

Air India, J & K Tourism Deptt., Himachal Pradesh Tourism Deptt., The Adventure, Bangalore and Hugh Collin Guntzer for photographs,

Book 5: Tourist Sites : Products and Operationa-3

This is the third and the final Block pertaining to tourist sites promoting mainly products of indigenous culture and traditions. Thus pilgrimage, festivals, ethnic tourism, and crafts and folk art constitute the variety of themes discussed in detail in this Block.

The first of these, Unit-17 is on Pilgrimage. It takes into account the ancient Indian tradition of paying visits to holy places as an important generative factor for tourism. As a continuation of this tradition, the Unit includes four case studies, that of Vaishno Devi, Kamakhya, Tirupati and Ajmer Sharif.

The next, Unit-18, is on Festivals. You may have noticed that festivals as a topic occur at other places too. Here the focus, therefore, is on festivals that are of recent origin, are revived recently, or are contrived for promoting tourist activity.

Ethnic Tourism, is the' subject of Unit-19. In our case ethnicity, i.e. the customs and culture of indigenous people, is a strong factor in tourism activities. We have provided you an understanding of ethnic tourism and have given you some idea of the impact it has had' on our culture.

Lastly we have Unit-20 on Crafts and Folk Art where the discussion is mainly centred on the value of indigenous crafts and folk art as significant ingredients of tourism. The Unit also deals at length with the museums where folk crafts and art have been effortfully preserved.

We hope you will find substantive information in these Units and be able to use it professionally.

Acknowledgement: We are thankful to the Tourism Department, Govt. of India, Tourism Departments of Haryana, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Assam and Gujarat for their cooperation and photographs.

Book 6: Promotional Skills Case Studies-1

In Block 6 of TS- 1 you were familiarised with various aspects related to marketing of tourism products. Promotion is an essential constituent of tourism marketing i.e. a process of communication between the sellers and the buyers of tourism products. The sellers in this case may be quite varied such as the National Tourist Organisation, tour operator, travel agent, an airlines or a hotel, etc. In many cases joint promotion is also done by sellers having common business interests. It is essential for tourism professionals to understand the intricacies involved in such promotions and bow promotional events are planned and organised. This Block is an attempt in this regard.

Unit 21 discusses the Festivals of India about which you must have beard or read. These festivals were held not just for the sake of entertainment. They bad a deeper motive i.e. generating interest and awareness about India through a cultural construction abroad. Hence, they were promotional events of the country as a whole.

Unit 22 deals with a specific case .i.e. India fest, a promotion organised. by the Travel Corporation (India) Ltd in collaboration with others. It was aimed at attracting more tourists from Europe. The Unit is based on' the TC 1 report of India fest. In Unit 23 we describe the adventure of Kallnga-Bali yatra organised By the Department of Tourism, Orissa.

Lastly in Unit-24 we discuss in detail a tourism Product i.e, the Palace on Wheels. A joint venture of Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, its success has encouraged the Railways to go for more such projects covering other parts of the country.

Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, New Delhi, the Travel Corporation (India) Ltd, Bombay, Departments of Tourism of Orissa and Rajasthan for providing photographs. We also thank Ms. Meher Bhandara of TCI and Mr. RK. Puri of Indian Railways for their help.

Book 7: Promotional Skills Case Studies-2

This Block introduces you to three case studies in relation to promotional events and skills. Different segments of the Tourism Industry adopt diverse methods to achieve their targets.

The sellers and buyers of tourism products and services interact and transact business in a travel mart. In Unit-25 we discuss the PATA Travel Mart.

Unit-26 mentions the work done by India Tourism Offices abroad for marketing India as a tourist destination. The Unit is based on the presentations made by the Regional Directors of the Tourism Department, Govt. of India at the Overseas Marketing Conference in New Delhi in February, 1994.

Practically. all the state governments in India have framed their tourism policy and promo- tional plans for tourism development. In Unit-27 we discuss the promotional plan of Maharashtra Tourism Department as a case study.

These Units will not only add to your knowledge in the field but will also enable you to understand the skills required for such promotions.

The School of Management of IGNOU has made a video Destination India for the Course on Marketing of Services. This will also be of use to the students of Tourism Studies.

Acknowledgement. We are thankful to Mr. D. Mehta former Managing Director, Department of Tourism Maharashtra, Ms. Nirmala Sharma, PATA, Mr. P.K. Dong Regional Director for Europe, Mr. Ratan Kotwal, Regional Director for England, Mr. Ahmad A. Azim, Regional Director for West Asia, Department of Tourism, Govt. Of India and Mr. Rummy Malhotra of Air India for their cooperation and photographs.

Book 8: Learning From Others

Certain Organisations have significantly contributed towards tourism development and promotion. Hence, it is useful for a tourism professional to learn from their experience. In this Block we have selected four such organizations.

Unit-28 is a case study of SITA a leading travel agency with diverse tourism operations.

In Unit-29 we discuss the organisation and operations of Air India, our national air carrier. Besides dealing with certain other aspects, the emphasis is on the role played by Air India in tourism promotion.

Highway services constitute a major component in tourism services. In Unit 30 we discuss their utility and significance through the case study of Haryana State.

In recent year's heritage tourism has gained prominence. Many old palaces and have lies have been converted in hotels and resorts to give the feeling and touch of the royal life styles as tourism products. Hence, in Unit-31, the focus is on Heritage hotels.

Acknowledgement: We are thankful to Air-India's Tourism Division and Haryana Tourism Department for their cooperation and photographs. We acknowledge the assistance provided by Mr. Michael P. Hmar in the production of the course.

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