Management Dynamics Management Dynamics

Indian tourism offers an array of tourist destinations that attract travelers from all over the world. As the travelers' satisfaction is directly related with the quality of services provided by these industries, they are the prime stakeholders. Travelers' positive satisfaction is the only backbone of the commercial as well as economic development of these industries. This study focuses on the perception of different age and income group travelers about the factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry.


INTRODUCTION
Indian land has always fascinated and captivated the world with its glorious past.It has dominated through most of human history, as a home of compelling and impressive realm, as an influential and commanding trading nation and as a spout of traditions and civilization.Humanity was always very keen to be acquainted with this sacred land and this curiosity gave rise to an intention of enquiring about everything that has happened in the past and is happening continuously.This exclusive way of enquiring this consecrated and blessed land gave rise to Tourism, which has proved a milestone for the world and its economy.At the start of the century, travel and tourism was confined only to a privileged few, namely the affluent, religious-zealots, conquerors and the elites who were stimulated by a strong spirit, urging them to explore new fields.But of late, since about five decades, tourism has suddenly erupted on a maj estic scale and become a global phenomenon and a pertinent branch of knowledge (Singh, 1955).
According to the previous studies, the main aim of traveling and tourism was to proffer something, which was different from daily and routine life activities.According to Fairbum, 1951, a set of factors like safe and secure human mobility and intensive application of mechanization is responsible for the magnificent change ofbasic tourism into an enormous trade.Tourism is greatly affected by the efficient Tourism has been described as the insecure unified mixture of industries that arise from the movement of people and their stay in various destinations outside their home area (Pearce, 1982).It has become a big business and is considered as one of the fastest growing industries in the world.Traditionally tourism was associated with pilgrimages and our country has had a unique tradition of pilgrimage with a motive of divine and sacred journeys.These pilgrimages constitute an important form of cultural tourism having religious bearings and are more important than any other form of tourism for socio-economic reasons.Secular tourism which somewhat forms an anti thesis of religious tourism needs to be scientifically examined.The blending of these two phenomena i.e., cultural tourism and secular tourism is a challenging task that involves the identification and allocation of resources at the gross roots so as to cause the least damage to the environment and culture.The contribution of the resources in the area of travel and tourism deals with aesthetics, visual appeal, behavior that cannot be measured by any measuring scale.
Tourism and transportation has long been recognized as an engine of growth for long-term economic growth and development.This industry is considered as a great source of foreign exchange earner for many developing countries, which consider natural resources as their major assets (Thullen, 1996) was not undertaken for the purpose of pleasure since the motive was not to seek any holiday from the work situation.The primary motive of travel and tourism was related to trade, commerce and activities associated with it.Apart from this, it was also dominated by religious motivations and very little actual pleasure was intended.Today, because of the availability of quick and cheap travel facilities, tourism has become more convenient and has diversified to many more fields besides its religious and trade related implications.
Tourism industry is the only industry with minimum financial involvement by the government with the expectation of large returns by maintaining and developing proper infrastructure.This industry will continue to expand as the number of travelers traveling all over the world is substantial and their contribution in the process of growth and development of tourism industry is continuously increasing.It has been said rightly by Batra and Chawla (1995)  The activity of travel and tour is the exclusive function of urban centers and therefore, the task of establishing supply interaction between tourists and residents has always been a need (Lea, 1988).Benefits of a tourism-based strategy include foreign exchange earnings, improvement in government revenues and regional imbalances for the fiuther development and growth of tourism industries (Dieke, 1993).The effective planning approach for the development of travel and tourism should include physical, social and economic elements as interrelated and interdependent components in the development process.It is certainly a strange paradox that the Indian tourism industry is functioning without necessary research support.The probable reason for this development and information gap has been the over emphasis given to overseas visitors as they bring in hard currency which the country needs so desperately to tide their payment imbalances.Ogilvie (1941) observed in his study that home tourists and their motive of traveling is ignored in

Management Dynamics, Volume 7, Number I (2007)
terms of economy as it best redistributes regional income without bringing in the concept oi New Money.However, in recent years the significance of domestic tourism in hidia has been realized and few tourism organizations and states have made efforts to collect data on visitor statistics.
This study is an attempt to find out the perception of travelers of different age and income groups about the rankings of the factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism.

METHOD
The study is exploratory in nature and an attempt has been made to investigate how perception of travelers as dependent variables gets affected by two different levels of age and income groups as independent variables.The study was carried out to find out the travelers' perception about the rankings of factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry.

The Sample
A sample of 160 travelers was chosen for the study.These travelers were divided into two categories i.e., on the basis of their age, and on the basis of their income.Age as a demographic variable was sub-divided into two levels i.e., between 22-42years and between 45-65years.40 travelers were chosen for each level of age.The travelers who were in the age bracket of more than 42 years but less than 45 years were not taken into consideration for the purpose of this study.In order to study the perceptual gap between the two levels of age, this gap was maintained.
In the same way income was also sub-divided into two levels i.e., those travelers whose armual income was up-to Rs.2.50 lakhs and those travelers whose aimual income was more than Rs.Nadaf (2002) and Singh (1991) in their studies found out that factors like convenience, complete information, ease of understanding the available information and safety during travel are a must, which motivate the travelers to travel.Appropriate and systematic evaluation of the available resources, with planned and accurate promotional policies will be helpful in the development process ofbasic infrastructure.But sometimes the nature, composition and degree of these activities may bring forth undesirable side effects in the form ofhigh level of competition, which are more often irreversible and severe (Somayajulu, 2002).This leads to the assumption that tourism and transport industries are operating on increasing returns and their average cost is declining with the increase in the

Faculty
and all other infrastructures.The geographical aspect and efficacy of tourism as a sub-discipline has drawn the attention of all those who can benefit from the activities of travel and tourism.Gearing et al. (1974) observed that the most significant and important factor for the growth and development of tourism industry is the desire of travelers and tourists to witness the attractions, uniqueness of various places and to explore natural resources there.The work done by Clawson and Kentsch paved way towards a more meaningful methodology as their approach was based on the assumption that contribution statistics of the travelers are directly linked and are proportionate to the attractiveness of the tourism products.The efficiency of tourism products decides the success of any tourist place as well as the volume of revenue generation.
. Today, tourism has assumed huge proportions and diverse forms.With the advent of science and technology in the form of impressive growth of tourism and transportation, tourism has become the fad and fashion of the neo-rich.Travel in the distant past Management Dynamics, Volume 7, Number 1 (2007) in their study that traveling stimulates an increased interest in tourism.Murphy (1985) agreed and added that industrialization and urbanization, which is the outcome of desire and preferences of travelers, includes safety and other psychological aspects also.The travelers now have more mechanical and technical attitude that results in commercialization and hence gives rise to their living standards, which results in the formation of disposable income.This has created a desire of utilizing the leisure hours in traveling.Urbanization has created a new leisure society compelling people to adopt tourism and recreation as an inevitable lifestyle.The relevance of tourism can be seen in the development of the whole economy.
2.50 lakhs.Here also 40 travelers were chosen in each individual level.Hence, it gave rise to four combinations: a) Those travelers who were in the age group of22-42 years and earned an annual income of up to Rs.2the most preferred factor and 6 for the least preferred factor responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry.The respondents were categorized on the basis of age and income.Data Analysis Weighted Average Method was applied on the responses of 160 respondents collectively and separately on the basis of two levels of age and two levels of income.The results were derived on the basis of the following hypotheses-Travelers belonging to the age group of22-42 years and having an annual income of up to Rs.2.50 lakhs perceive the same factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry as perceived by those who have an annual income of more than Rs.2.50 lakhs.HQJ-Travelers belonging to the age group of45-65 years and annually earning up to Rs.2.50 lakhs perceive the same factors responsible for the growth Management Dynamics, Volume 7, Number I (2007) and development of tourism industry as perceived by those who annually earn more than Rs.2.50 lakhs.Hgj-Travelers belonging to the age group of22-42 years with an annual income ofuptoRs.2.50 lakhs perceive the same factors responsible for the grov^h and development of tourism industry as perceived by those who are in the age group of45-65 years with the same annual income.HQ^-Travelers belonging to the age group of22-42 years and with an armual income of more than Rs.2.50 lakhs perceive the same factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry as perceived by those who are in the age group of45-65 years with the same annual income.Hgj-Travelers belonging to the age group of22-42 years perceive the same factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry as perceived by those who are in the age group of45-65 years irrespective of their aimual income.Hgg-Travelers with an annual income of up to Rs.2.50 lakhs perceive the same factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry as perceived by those who earn an annual income of more than Rs 2.50 lakhs irrespective of their age group RESULTS The perception of travelers was evaluated by using weighted average method.For clarity in presentation following categories of travelers were made: A1 -Travelers who are in the age group of22 -42 years and have an annual income of up to Rs.2.50 lakhs.A2 -Travelers who are in the age group of22 -42 years and have an annual income of more than Rs.2the perception of travelers in the form of their preferences and rankings given to the individual factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry.The results revealed that all the initial hypotheses have been rejected.The first and the fourth category of travelers (A1 & A2 and D1 & D2) perceive the same on four factors i.e., basic information and availability of mode of transportation, safe mobility from one place to another, adequate promotional activities, level of competition as both the categories have ranked these factors as P', 2"^, 5"", and 6"'.They have different perception on only two factors i.e., accessibility which has been ranked as the by A1 and D1 while A2 and D2 have ranked it 4"' and socioeconomic development ofplace and people which A1 and D1 have ranked 4* while A2 and D2 have ranked it as .The second category of travelers (B1 and B2) perceive the same on three factors i.e., basic information and availability of mode of transportation, adequate promotional activities, and level of competition as both the categories have put these factors on V\ S"*, and 6"' rank.They have different perceptions for rest of the three factors i.e., B1 has put socio-economic development of place and people on rank while B2 has ranked it on 3"^ rank, accessibility on the 3"^ rank while B2 has put it on 4®" rank.Safe mobility from one place to another has been ranked 4"^ by B1 and by B2.The third category of travelers (CI and C2) perceive same on four factors i.e., basic information and availability of mode of transportation, accessibility, adequate promotional activities, and level of competition as both the categories have placed these factors on P', 5'^ and 6"" rank.They have different perceptions for rest of the factors i.e., CI has ranked safe mobility from one place to another as 2"'' while C2 ranked it 3"^.C1 has ranked socioeconomic development ofplace and people as 3"* while C2 has ranked it Management Dynamics, Volume 7, Number I (2007) DISCUSSION The study has revealed that basic information and availabihty of mode of transportation are the most prominent and decisive factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry.In the activity of touring, destination can be selected on the basis of attractiveness of various places, which surround that destination.Travelers are more interested in making a proper discrimination among diflFerent places.Basic information and proper availability (Turgurt and Hoftus, 1977) of all necessary facilities and amenities are the minimum requirements for the growth and development of transportation and tourism (Ferrario, 1970).Safety and security along with mental satisfaction in travelling is a prerequisite for the success of tourism (Fairbum, 1951).The principle modes of passenger transport viz.air, rail and road have undergone significant developments in the last few years and competition has provided travelers with better choices.It has been found that economically and culturally rich areas are more susceptible to tourism and hence, utmost care should be taken in the development of such recreational resources.Travel and tourism is the best way of developing social and economic aspect of place and people (Selvam, 1993).Better ways and modes of transportation and facilities are an important index of social, cultural and economic development of any society.It is the means by which citizens get together and develop social relations with each other (Jairaj, 2002).Doxe (1975) supported the findings and explained in his study that tourism is the only way to promote the scarce and vulnerable resource of culture.It has already been revealed by some previous researchers that the overall development of tourism gives rise to the social, cultural and economic development of people and place.
Management Dynamics, Volume 7, Number 1 (2007) level of production.According to Singh (2002) unhealthy competition should be immediately controlled; otherwise it will lead to unfair competition.CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS The present study has focused on the travelers' perception about the factors responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry.It has done so in light of the literature on increased volume and flexibility of travelling activities due to one or the other reason.The competitive environment in the current scenario is increasing the need to travel.It is clear from the work carried out here that focus is on the age and income differences of travelers in detecting their perception.As consumer satisfaction is directly related with the quality of services of service industries, they are the prime stakeholders.Indian tourism industry is functioning well, according to academicians.Tourism has become a global phenomenon and a pertinent branch of knowledge.If the factors, which are responsible for the growth and development of tourism industry are taken care of, then this industry can become the maximum revenue generating industry among all other service industries.