Tourism Has Been Enthusiastically Promoted In India

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Tourism has been enthusiastically promoted in India through the "Incredible India" campaign. Kashmir has been part of this campaign. The study aims to study the diversity in the purpose of visit or similarities in the tourist’s decision making process in selecting Kashmir as a vacation destination. The study would also be of help to researchers and decision makers as it is both informative and instructive.

Objectives of the study

The research was conducted with the following objectives:

To assess demand profiles of the tourists visiting the Kashmir valley, this may include demand for tourist places, tourism goods and services including transport and accommodation, travel agencies, cultural services, recreation and other entertainment services.

To assess the detailed expenditure pattern of tourists visiting Kashmir.

To assess the performance of existing tourist facilities in the valley.

To estimate the average duration of stay of tourists in valley.

To obtain demographic, economic and social profiles of tourists visiting Kashmir and the motivational factors responsible for attracting them to valley.

Research Design

Descriptive statistics has been used to describe the basic features of the data in the study.

Sources of data

The sources of data are primary as well as secondary. Primary data has been collected through the questionnaire while as secondary data has been collected through the reports published by the Ministry of Tourism India and Department of Tourism Kashmir.

Sample Size

A sample of 60 tourists was selected through the simple random sampling and they were administered the questionnaire personally.

Limitation of the study

The limitation of the study was the time to do this survey, researcher had only three weeks to conduct the survey. Further many tourists were not very well verse with English so the questionnaire had to be explained them in the language with which both the researcher and the respondent was conversant.

Introduction

Jammu and Kashmir has won the Conde Nast Traveller award for "Excellence in Regenerating Tourism", this was the second award after CNBC Awaaz Travel Awards adjudged the Ladakh region in the state as the best "Adventure Tourism Destination" for 2012. Tourism plays an important role in the economies of a number of countries and can have a significant contribution to the economy of the state. A large number of tourists from all over the world come to Kashmr every year.

Tourist Arrivals in Kashmir for the year 2012

Indian

1274674

Foreigner

37166

Total

1311840

Source: Department of Tourism Kashmir

Pattern of Travel of Foreigner tourists for the year 2012

Road

3533

Foreigner

33633

Total

37166

Source: Department of Tourism Kashmir

Tourism being a service product has to adopt the principles of Service Marketing. According to Lovelock, service marketing has four characteristics. They are (a) Intangibility i.e. Cannot be touched or viewed, (b) Inseparability of Production and Consumption, (c) Pershibility, i.e. unused capacity cannot be stored, (d) Heterogeneity (Variability)

Source: Lovelock et al, Service Marketing

Components of Tourism

Tourism has several components which include

1. Travel experience

2. Accommodations

3. Food

4. Beverage services

5. Shops

6. Entertainment

7. Aesthetics and

8. Special events

Marketing Mix for tourism

The marketing mix for any service industry is discussed as 8Ps. They are

Product Elements

Product in tourism is fundamentally the experience and hospitality provided by the service provider. The experience should be expressed in such a way that the tourists see a value in it.

Process

The process in tourism includes, (a) trip planning and expectation, (b) travel to the site/area, (c) recollection, (d) trip planning packages. The trip planning packages include, maps, attractions en route and on site, information regarding lodging, food quality, souvenirs and mementoes.

3. Place and Time – Location and Accessibility

The place and time in tourism is providing directions and maps, providing estimates of travel time and distances from different market areas, recommending direct and scenic travel routes, identifying attractions and support facilities along different travel routes, and informing potential customers of alternative travel methods to the area such as airlines and roads.

4. Productivity and Quality

This is similar to other service industries. The quality is assessed by time taken for a service, the swiftness of the service, reliability and so on.

5. Promotion and Education

Like other services, the promotion should address the accurate and timely information helping to decide whether to visit target audience, the image to be created for the organization, objectives, budget, timing of campaign, media to be selected, and evaluation methods.

6. People

People are the centre for Tourism. It is more a human intensive sector. For hospitality and guest relations it is very important to focus on people. It also plays a vital role in quality control, personal selling, and employee morale.

7. Price and other user costs

The price of the tourism services depend on business and target market objectives, cost of

producing, delivering and promoting the product, willingness of the target, prices charged by competitors offering similar product/service to the same target markets, availability and prices of substitute products/services, and economic climate.

8. Physical Evidence

In Tourism the physical evidence is basically depends on travel experience, stay, and comfort. Here, the core product is bed in case of stay.