Discuss about the Global Destination Competitiveness.
Tourism is considered as the fastest growing industry in the world. In the year of 2013, the largest number (52%) tourists arrived in Europe (Leung & Baloglu, 2013). Asia and Pacific captured the second largest position on the same year. The World Travel and Tourism department has considered India and China as the fastest growing tourism industry in next 10 to 15 years. In the travel and tourism report, published on 2007, it was implied that India is a famous tourist destination due to the uniqueness (Morrison 2013). The culture, diversity, climate, and hospitality of India are the major factors that have established the competitive position in the tourism market. The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Incredible India campaign to attract more tourists towards the destination (Tyagi, Dhar & Sharma, 2016). It has presented the grim picture of the effective competitiveness in the travel and tourism field. The study will discuss the in-depth analysis of destination management in India. The documentation of the relevant strategies and policy reviews will be clarifying the proper destination management process.
The hospitality industry in India is the major significant part of facilitating growth in the economic structure. In last few years, the growth in the tourism sector has become much remarkable. Bhatia (2013) implied that Ministry of Tourism is highlighting that the Foreign Tourist Arrival (FTA’s) in India has increased from 5.11 million to 5.58 million within the year of 2009 to 2010. If calculated the Compounded Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of the tourism sector in India, it is seen that the ratio has reached up to 8% from the year of 2001 to 2010 (Bhatia, 2013). There are five major metro cities are considered as the major ports for entry. The foreigners arrive to India through these major ports. Hence, it can be stated that these major cities are playing the most significant roles in drawing the attention of the foreigners to visit India. However, there are several developed nations are the biggest competitors of India in the travel and tourism management. Moreover, few of the developed economies are also quite significant in ensuring more competitiveness in Tourism Industry (Ivanov & Webster, 2013). The Ministry of Tourism in India has been focusing on continuous improvement in the tourism sector in India. The initiative is taken into consideration for making the country as a prime destination for tourists. Therefore, the literature study will be providing the insightful ideas about the different procedures that are effective enough to make the country more attractive to the foreigners. The theoretical analysis of the destination management will also be described in a significant manner. Based on such analysis, the focus will lead towards the associated policies applied to the tourism industry in India.
India is a country to be experienced with much intensity. The interaction with the ancient compelling culture and excitement of the fastest developing nations are the major significances of India in this recent time. The diversity for conferences, special events, and excellent destinations are needed to be explored (Pike, 2015). The natural scenery and the cultural destinations provide the tourists an eye-opening and rewarding experience. The dinner at Raja’s Palace, the moonlight desert safaris, the happening and joyful life at the film cities and amazing food experiences are all the significant attractions for the tourists. Considering such benefits, it is also necessary to identify the particular marketing assessment that can improvise the tourism sector in India. The competitiveness of Indian Tourism Industry is depended on few factors, which are described below:
In spite of being one of the most attractive and developed tourist destination, India is highly lacking on these attributes of competitiveness. The internal community riots and the terrorist attacks on time to time basis have been affecting the safety and security aspects in India. Moreover, the politically instable scenario sometimes is much threatening for the country’s environment. The country is still lagging behind in terms of providing the proper security to the females. If concentrated on the TTCI Index in the year of 2011, it can be seen that India ranked 78th out of 139 economies in terms of poor security environment (Tourism.gov.in, 2016).
The concentration on the general view, it is noted that the sanitation and cleanliness level of India is also much poor and need more improvement to attract more tourists. Ludhiana has captured 5th position and Kanpur has captured the 10th position as the most polluted cities out of 10 cities in India (Unni, Gunasekar & Gupta, 2016). The Ministry of Tourism is thus focusing on improving the sanitisation process for making the country free from pollutions.
Figure 1: Destination Marketing Model
(Source: Bhatia, 2013)
The official languages in republic of India are Hindi and English. However, the government has provided 22 languages of the 8th schedule as the status of official language. It is noted that the diversification of the languages are much difficult for the foreigners to communicate with the local people. In addition to this, it is also noticed that the information added to the official websites of Incredible India campaign arranged by the Ministry of Tourism is also not sufficient (Semetko & Wadhwa, 2013). The maintenance of such informative websites could have resolved the difficulties faced due to the language barriers. However, in spite of such difficulties, there are several factors in India, which are still in the verge of improvisation (Sharma, 2013). For example, the improvement of the mobile phone networking system is much appreciable. If calculated, it can be seen that India has launched 15 mobile network operators like Vodafone, Idea, and Reliance Communications. These three mobile network operator companies have captured the leading position in the country.
The information received from TTCI rankings of 2011, it is noted that the India’s Air transport infrastructure has bagged 39th position whereas ground transport infrastructure bagged 43rd position out of 139 countries (Bhatia, 2013). The ratio or the position ranking is quite remarkable. With the help of enormous efforts of Government of India the Terminal 3 at the IGI airport Delhi was established. This airport has the capability of handling 34 million passengers by providing ultra modern facilities. In the year of 2007, the airport could not establish the position among 100 airports in the world. However, in the year of 2011, it captured the 6th position in the world, which is much commendable (Chugh & Parsheera, 2016). The true dedication of Indian Government is foreseen in the development of the significant infrastructures. The mobile Tele-density has reached up to 74.15% only in India. This ratio is similar to 86% in the world graph. The Universal Service Obligation Fund has provided enormous supports by introducing different schemes to the tourism management of India. This supports is facilitating the effective telecom services to people in remote and rural areas. The efforts provided by the Ministry of Communication for the betterment of the telecom services are thus highly appreciated.
If discussed about the prices of airfare, general commodities, foods, tourism spots, and accommodations, it can be stated that India is highly competitive. Among the most reasonable tourism destinations, India has captured the 4th position. However, the policies applied by the Indian government of earning foreign revenue through charging more entry fees from the tourists are much criticised (Webster & Ivanov, 2014). However, the government is also concentrating on such economic structure for the betterment of tourism management in the country.
It is to be indicated that India is renowned for the most effective and sound banking system among all other countries in the world. In the year of 2011, few of the banks in India have captured the remarkable position in the list of top banks in the world (Avraham & Ketter, 2016). The examples are given below:
Apart from such effective banking system, the medical facilities in India are also quite commendable. Fortis Hospital in Bangalore has captured the 1st position. Therefore, it can be stated that the facilities received from the Indian government is quite significant for ensuring growth in the tourism industry.
The diversity in weather and climatic conditions is the major feature of India. It is to be indicated that the geology and geography of India are climatically fundamental. The bulk of the country can be considered as climatically tropical even though the Tropic of Cancer passes through the middle of India. The different types of seasons are also signified well for ensuring the tourism management. However, in spite of such favourable seasons, the environmental hazards in India are also needed to be taken into consideration. It is reported that India accounts for 5.83% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions and such ratio has been affecting the competitiveness in a significant manner (Gössling, Scott & Hall, 2015). Apart from this, the ancient cultural heritage and historical monuments are the special uniqueness that has been attracting the tourists more specifically. Many of the foreign students visit India for their research studies about such historic monuments, cultural heritage, and pilgrimage spots. India is still lagging behind if concentrated on the establishment of more amusement parks and adventure sports.
The behaviour of the Indian residents in welcoming the tourists is much appreciable. They accept the guests as their god and provide them the commendable hospitality services to make them more satisfied. However, in spite of such significant hospitality, India is still lagging behind in such grounds. Especially, due to the lack of education, few of the drivers in the country are not so much well-behaved with the tourists (Gupta, 2014). Many of the foreigners are ill-treated and the amount of sexual harassment is also foreseen. However, the Indian Government is still providing the efforts to bring more improvement on this ground. The major focus of the government is to turn the country into a safer place for the locals and the foreigners.
Even though India is blessed with the natural resources, it is yet to contribute more on the grounds of establishing more strengthened infrastructure. It is reported that the natural resources are not properly used, which is a biggest disadvantage of achieving the competitive position in the tourism industry.
The above discussion is signifying that the Indian Government needs to pay the focus on the implementation of tourism policies, which will be helpful enough in improvising such ineffective factors. Concentrating on such factors that are affecting the competitiveness, some of the useful policies are needed to be implemented. The review of those strategic policies is discussed further:
The destination management organisation is considered as the considered as the co-ordinated management of the different elements that are facilitating the effective destination management programmes. The association of the strategic approaches is necessary in such cases. There are many of the renowned DMOs located in India that have been undertaking the principles of effective tourism facilities (Varghese and Paul, 2014). This section of the study will discuss the destination management principles undertaken by Ministry of Tourism, which is a leading DMO in India. The development of the tourism services is based on few principles, which are needed to be considered by the government as well. Royal Tours India is also concentrating on such strategic implementation to bring more significance in the tourism industry.
The Ministry of Tourism has considered the responsibility of promoting India as the International Tourist Destination (Prayag & Das, 2016). The development of the infrastructure development and facilities are the major focus in such regards. The Ministry of Tourism has suggested a model associated with three different missions. The principle mission consists-
The development mission is associated with the motto of increasing competitiveness of India. In such regards, the competitiveness model is focusing on the tourism development through enhancing the global ranking. Several hindrances and obstacles are preventing India to become a favoured international destination. In order to prevent such obstacles, the Ministry of Tourism has decided to undergo the revolutionary changes and enter to an era of favourable circumstances. Ministry of Tourism has been following such strategy to attract more tourists. Moreover, the increasing rate of the foreign exchange amount is also beneficial for Royal Tours India to gather more revenues.
In this current time, the modern principles of demand creation are applied to the tourism industry. It is generally considered as a leisure activity. Ministry of Tourism perceives that the Government of India needs to concentrate on the adequate marketing strategies that are beneficial enough in developing the tourism facilities in the country. Ministry of Tourism is thus following a separate department, which is renowned as Marketing of Inbound Tourism (Abhyankar & Dalvie, 2013). However, it is also necessary to carry out the extensive marketing research. Making the tourists aware of the destinations and facilities through effective promotional strategy is also quite significant strategy. The Incredible India marketing campaign is thus quite significant in such regards. The campaign is one of the most effective and attractive promotional advertisement that makes the foreigner attracted towards the destinations in India.
The sustainable tourism is used for describing the different approaches towards the improvisation of tourism management. The maintenance of sustainability is focusing on an attempt to merge economy and ecology together into one major system. It simply depicts the idea that the renewal of the resource rate is greater than the consumption rate. It generally helps in creating a flourishing and prosperous world (Nair & Ramachandran, 2016). However, the sustainability model is also specifying development of the industry along with the development of the social and economic structure. Economic Sustainability determines the implementation of the strategic policies that are effective enough in developing the tourism sector. Hence, Ministry of Tourism needs to utilise the natural resources for providing better facilities to the tourists and earn a profitable amount. The supports received from the formal and informal tourism process is much helpful for the establishing a developed future for the destination management. This contextualised idea brings out the aspects of social sustainability. Finally, Ministry of Tourism needs to pay attention towards undertaking the pollution free vehicles for the tourism purposes that can help in reducing the environmental hazards (Mody et al., 2014). The national regulatory authority needs to take the active participation in such regards.
Conclusion
The study is focusing on the destination management process of India. The cultural diversification and the historical heritage are effectively attracting the tourists towards Indian cities. However, the destination marketing of India is signifying several flaws, which are needed to be improvised by the Indian Government. The initiatives are thus focusing on the development of social, economic, and ecological sustainability. Development of these major missions will be effective enough in facilitating the competitiveness of Indian tourism industry. Moreover, attracting more foreign tourists would contribute more amounts to the economic structure of the country.
References
Abhyankar, A., & Dalvie, S. (2013). Growth potential of the domestic and international tourism in India. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 2(1), 566.
Avraham, E., & Ketter, E. (2016). Destination marketing during and following crises: combating negative images in Asia. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 1-10.
Bhatia, A., 2013. Model for boosting destination competitiveness of Indian tourism industry. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Management Studies _, 3(7), pp.1-11.
Chugh, S. R., & Parsheera, C. M. (2016). Tourism Destination Competitiveness of India and China: International Tourists’ Perspectives. Opportunities and Challenges for Tourism and Hospitality in the BRIC Nations, 191.
Gössling, S., Scott, D., & Hall, C. M. (2015). Inter-market variability in CO 2 emission-intensities in tourism: Implications for destination marketing and carbon management. Tourism Management, 46, 203-212.
Gupta, A. (2014). Destination marketing-opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Marketing and Technology, 4(11), 77.
Ivanov, S. H., & Webster, C. (2013). Globalisation as a driver of destination competitiveness. Annals of Tourism Research, 43, 628-633.
Leung, X. Y., & Baloglu, S. (2013). Tourism competitiveness of Asia Pacific destinations. Tourism Analysis, 18(4), 371-384.
Mody, M., Day, J., Sydnor, S., Jaffe, W., & Lehto, X. (2014). The different shades of responsibility: Examining domestic and international travelers’ motivations for responsible tourism in India. Tourism Management Perspectives, 12, 113-124.
Morrison, A. M. (2013). Marketing and managing tourism destinations. Routledge.
Nair, R. B., & Ramachandran, J. (2016). Determinants of Domestic Tourism Growth in India. SDMIMD Journal of Management, 7(1), 49-55.
Pike, S. (2015). Destination Marketing: Essentials. Routledge.
Prayag, G., & Das, S. (2016). Tourism in India. The Routledge Handbook of Tourism in Asia.
Semetko, H. A., & Wadhwa, T. (2013). Incredible India and government communication. Government Communication: Cases and Challenges, 207.
Sharma, A. (2013). Destination Marketing: Hamper of Opportunities for Tourism Industry. International Journal of Management Sciences and Business Research, 2(5).
Tourism.gov.in, 2016. [online] Available at: <https://tourism.gov.in/sites/default/files/Other/IndiaTourismGlobal%20.pdf> [Accessed 31 Dec. 2016].
Tyagi, A., Dhar, R. L., & Sharma, J. (2016). Police culture, tourists and destinations: A study of Uttarakhand, India. Tourism Management, 52, 563-573.
Unni, S., Gunasekar, S., & Gupta, D. (2016, November). Impact of self concepts & person concepts on the travel frequency of an Indian tourist. In Communication and Signal Processing (ICCSP), 2016 International Conference on (pp. 2047-2050). IEEE.
Varghese, B. and Paul, N., 2014. A literature review on destination management organization (DMO). International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 4(12), pp.1-7.
Webster, C., & Ivanov, S. (2014). Transforming competitiveness into economic benefits: Does tourism stimulate economic growth in more competitive destinations?. Tourism Management, 40, 137-140.
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