The Development Of Tourism In Kerala

The ontogenesis Of tourism In KeralaIn the book KERALAS economic Development Performance and Problems in the Post-Liberalization Period by B. A. Prakash, there is an article on touristry Development in Kerala by Nalini Netto which says that Kerala has emerged as an undisputed touristry hotspot of India with its catchy promotional logo Gods Own Country. National Geographic failer, in a landmark issue in 2000, rated Kerala in Paradise lay down category. Ever since the govt. of India decl bed tourism as an industry in 1986 and Kerala was the first state to decl ar so, Kerala is doing aggressive marketing of tourism produce by establishing Tourism Mart in Kochi which has its links with national and global tourism bodies like South Asia Travel and Tourism Exchange, Travel Agent Association of India (TAAI), Pacific Asia Tourism Association (PATA) etc.Government of Kerala is also playing role of facilitator and regulator for the prosperity and growth of the tourism sector by encoura ging private participations in the sector. Government is providing tribute of 10 percent on capital investment in the sector subject to maximum 10 Lakh with additional subsidy of 15 percent on the investment in pollution control facilities and equipment.Kerala with 600 Km coast line offers one of the best beaches in India. Western Ghats admit few finest hill stations for summer resort. Rich ecological forest, wild life reserves and backwaters provide a full eye soothing subjective beauty to the state. Ayurveda, the health tourism product is a nonher USP of Kerala Tourism due to abundance of herbs and medicinal plants.The net income from tourism in the state in 2001 were evaluated to be Rs. 535 crore. This book also emphasizes that this sector still has un utilize potential difference which if utilized in an environment whollyy conscious way can generate more revenue enhancement for the state and the country.2In the book on Tourism Marketing by Devahish Dasgupta in the chapter of Destination Branding Building Brand Equity a cocktail dress study is presented on Measuring Brand Performance -A Kerala Survey in which analysis of the survey on the mug performance of Kerala is given which was conducted in India and abroad, featuring countries such as Spain, France, Denmark, Italy, Belgium and other(a) countries. People, who have not visited Kerala before, responded that they came to know slightly the state by word of mouth and wanted to visit. People, who had already visited Kerala expressed that they had a memorable experience in Kerala. This case study talked about effective marketing strategies to undertake market re appear to indentify and assemble a highly threadive product should be substantial to differentiate from competing tourist destinations. More emphasis is given to Tourist-centric products and issues relating to price, security, health, safety and quality should be studied. It says that failure to build and sustain destination brand equity or the value of brand in the minds of potential visitors and investor, can lead to economic decline.3Article by E T N, Global Travel Industry News Tourism is contributor to The issue of The Economy The Tourism Minister Kumari Selja has said that development of bag holds the key to the growth of tourism and that is why the Government is investing heavily for integrated development of the Infrastructure Sector. She said that Tourism Sector, with 9.24% share of employment, accords a perfect opportunity to translate our vision of inclusive growth to reality.4In an essay written on Medical Tourism in India Progress or Predicament? by Sunita Reddy and Imrana Qadeer, it is estimated that the size of the medical tourism market in the country will be Rs 1, 95,000 crore in 2012. The essay also examines the implications of medical tourism for general medical care and how such form _or_ system of government shifts distort health systems. This analysis raises questions of accessibility, affo rdability, and ethics in medical care, and asks if it is sensible to promote medical tourism in a democratic wel farther well-nighe state, with pathetic public healthcare facilities for the masses.5Contentious and contradictions of tourism as development option a case of Kerala, Indiaby T T Sreekumar, Govindan ParayilThe projected picture of an rising vitality in the tourism sector in Kerala stands in stark contrast to the general scenario of the poor performance of the tourism industry in India, as well as in South Asia in general. This paper takes a closer look at this scenario by placing Keralas performance against the larger backdrop of tourism dynamics as experienced in Third World countries in general and South Asia in busy. It shows that no effort has been made so far to assess the environmental sustain-ability of keeping tourism as a high-growth option, given the fragile nature of Keralas environment and the carrying capacity of the major tourist destinations.It further reveals that the change magnitude comparative advantage of developing countries has not yet resulted in any significant rise in their share in global tourism arrivals and utility and the regions which are able to grab the lions share of tourism arrivals and receipts are the economically advanced ones. In Indias case, the fact that tourism contributes to 6.9% of its total export earnings is not an insignificant point and Kerala tourism sectors share in the State Domestic Product (SDP) remains at less than 1 % even by and by a decade of concerted efforts to boost the tourism industry. The belief that tourism has become an engine of growth in Kerala is hence unfounded. Tourism is making just now a marginal contribution to the local economy, its harmful impacts on the ecology of the region are becoming increas-ingly visible6Kerala Exploring Future Frontiers in Tourism Development by Dept. of tourism, KeralaThis book talks about the possibilities and problems for tourism in Kerala. A fully literate population and astonishing geographical diversity full of beaches, backwaters, wildlife sanctuaries and semi-evergreen forests in the smallest area possible, are factors that helps Kerala transform into an Important tourist state in India.On the other hand, high density of population, consequent non availability of land, wishing of professional training and distance from the important cities of India are all negative factors which constraint its overall growth as a tourism destination.7Reinventing Kerala A advantage story by R. KrishnakumarThis article discusses about a series of innovative concepts and projects developed by the state to reinvigorate the States tourism sector without diluting its commitment to economize nature. It is multi-destination tourism at its best, offering a multitude of variegated experiences and attractions within a relatively small area, luring tourists into staying longer and spending more. In station to attract foreign tourists ba re-ass tourism concepts such as monsoon tourism, medical tourism, adventure tourism, heritage tourism, pilgr visit tourism, eco tourism, and farm tourism are being developed and popularized. In order to encourage more private sector investment and to conserve nature, a estimate of Special Tourism Zones are to be identified and developed under the purview of the Kerala Tourism (Conservation and Preservation of Areas) Act, 2005, which envisages the conservation, preservation and integrated development of such areas. Unexplored or lesser-known areas, especially in the Malabar region, traditional skills, handicrafts, art forms, and new tourism products are to be developed and marketed to sustain tourist interest. With new initiatives in providing better infrastructure and trained human resource, Kerala tourism is putting all its efforts with the slogan of vision 2025 Conserve Nature and Culture and Promote Tourism in order to achieve sustainable growth.8Tourist arrivals in India how im portant are domestic disorders? by Dhariwal, RichaIndia, with its rich natural beauty, is unquestionably a destination that should promote tourism and it has taken various measures to do this, but the tourism potential of the country has still not been maximized. In the past few eld, Indian tourism industry is significantly contributing to the nations gross domestic product, foreign throw earnings and employment. This paper analyses the determinants of transnational tourist arrivals in India utilize annual data from 1966 to 2000 and the results show that sociopolitical factors communalism, terrorism and tensions with Pakistan constitute serious threats to the tourism industry, limiting the gains that could otherwise have been realized.MethodologyQuantitative MethodsTo address the research question we will try to answer some related issues and objective lenss using quantitative methods as illustrated at a lower place aim 1 To determine whether there is any change in the volu me of inbound tourists over the years and what can be the expected projections in the arrival and the growth rate.We will collect data from Kerala Tourism department and will conduct a reversion analysis in order to estimate the volume of tourism in the future. This would let us know the importance of the need to boost tourism both domestic and international through promotions.Objective 2 Is there any trend of decline in no. of International tourists arriving to the state.Our hypothesis would be as followsNull Hypothesis Number of tourists to Kerala does not decreaseAlternate Hypothesis Number of tourists to Kerala decreasesFrom the simple linear atavism we will find out if the prediction for tourists for the forthcoming years or increases with a certain percentage (95%) of confidence level.Objective 3 What is currently the volume of domestic tourists to the state, and what are the projections one can expect without any additional focused marketing efforts. (maintaining the curre nt level of activity)We will obtain the information about the month wise domestic tourists arrival from the Kerala state department personals and website. We will dapple the seasonal pattern seen in the inflow of tourists for any twain years. After doing a fixing on the obtained statistics, we can originate the results for domestic tourists inflow per year data CollectionQuestionnairesA questionnaire was designed to target tourists in and around major tourist spots in Kozhikode like Kappad Beach. Specific questions were asked in order to get the true picture of the situation and help to segment the data. For segmentation, we will use Cluster analysis on the set of data collected by the questionnaire. The questionnaire will try to focus on the interest of the tourists regarding the purpose of their visits, transportation mode convenient to them and their future plans to revisit the tourist destinations. Questionnaire we will be using is attached in the Appendix A.Focus Group Dis cussionWe will conduct a focus group discussion of about 10 people. These are students of IIM Kozhikode with keen interest in touring. These people want their vacations to be fun-filled, relaxing and rejuvenating, especially an escape from the hectic schedules and work stress. Demographically also they are similar with well-nigh same age group and similar incomes. Moderator will ask them the questions about on what parameters they judge a tourist spot and regarding their opinions about the service and infrastructure facilities in the tourist spots they visited. Focus Group Discussion details are included in the Appendix BQualitative MethodsSince it is difficult to go far off places in kerala, we will be using the observation method in the qualitative method to be congruent with the research question. Data will be collected from the major tourist agencies, national tourism sites and state tourism centre which would help us analyse qualitatively the number of tourist that are visiting Kerala year after year. In case of survey regarding the tourist, the type of measurement home base used will depend on individual questions in the questionnaire. For example, to determine the major tourism places in kerala.Scaling is a method of changing attributes (a series of qualitative facts) into variables (a quantitative series). Ordinal scale will fit better for the purpose. For collecting data on the tourist preference, we will be using Likert scale to measure the responses. It will be used to determine the attitude of the tourist coming to India.AnalysisObjective 1 To determine whether there is any change in the volume of inbound international tourists and what can be the expected projections in arrivals and growth rateUsing the foreign tourist inflow data from Kerala Tourism department, we carried out a regression analysis in order to estimate the volume of international tourism in the near future. This would let us know the importance of the need to subjoining domestic tourists with international tourists. The figures of the number of foreign tourists and the variance as compared to the previous year are shown in the table below-YEARForeign TouristsGrowth20002099333.82001208830-0.5200223256411.3200329462126.7200434554617.320053464990.27200642853423.7200751580820.37200859892916.112009549756-8.2From SPSS analysis for the above collected data.From Above SPSS Model, Eqn. will beY= 46110*X + 119502Here Y= no(prenominal)of Foreign Tourists in a particular yearX=Year (we have taken value of x for year 2000 as 1 and subsequently for next year.)Using the above regression model we can predict the international tourists for the next five years as shown in following table.YEAREXPECTED FOREIGN TOURISTSEXPECTED branch (%)201062671213.9982120116728227.357446520127189326.853224220137650426.413680320148111526.0271201Objective 2 Is there any trend of decline in no. of International tourists arriving to the state.In order to find out the above objective we use hyp othesis testingNull Hypothesis Number of international tourists to Kerala is not decreasing.Alternate Hypothesis Number of international tourists to Kerala is decreasing.From the simple linear regression we can see that the prediction for international tourists for the forthcoming years seem to decrease with 95% confidence and hence we accept the null hypothesis i.e. No. of international tourists to Kerala is not decreasing.Objective 3 What is currently the volume of domestic tourists to the state, and what are the projections one can expect without any additional focused marketing efforts. (maintaining the current level of activity)We obtained the information about the domestic tourists from the Kerala state department. The figures are as followsYearDomestic TouristsGrowth200050132212.6200153296924.5200255682566.3200358712285.4200459721821.720055946423-0.43200662717245.47200766429415.912008759125014.27200977890562.6From Above SPSS Model, Eqn. will beY= 287046*X + 4621000Here Y= No of Domestic Tourists in a particular yearX=Year (we have taken value of x for year 2000 as 1 and subsequently for next year.)Using the above regression model we can predict the international tourists for the next five years as shown in following table.YEAREXPECTED DOMESTIC TOURISTSEXPECTED GROWTH(%)20107778506-0.1201180655523.7201283525983.6201386396443.4201489266903.3Secondary data CollectionIn order to obtain data, we took the help of online search for tourism data. We found that the number of tourists has been increasing. But the growth rate could have been more. The characteristics of the tourists have been seen to be urban based. They are young and employed.Primary Data hookupA questionnaire was designed to target specific groups of people in 4 Metros (Bangalore, Bombay, Delhi and Chennai) who are in job and also students of IIM Kozhikode. Specific questions were asked in order to get the true picture of the situation and help us to segment the data. Around 36 responses were o btained without missing values. The rest were separated out.Initially, we looked at 10 different attributes i.e. Shopping, diachronic Importance, Weather, Hospitality, Relaxation, Connectivity, Events, Adventure, Proximity and Value for money. Respondents to the questionnaire were asked about their opinion regarding the attribute importance for any destination. Then we went on to do a Factor analysis to identify the most significant factors and their correlations. Using principle component analysis, we came down to following four significant factors.Factor 1-Characteristic culture Hospitality, connectivity and adventureFactor 2-Costliness Value for money (positive correlation), Events, law of proximityFactor 3-Climatic conditions Weather, relaxationFactor 4-Historical significance Historical Importance, Negatively related with Value for moneyComponent Score Coefficient MatrxCompoent1234Shopping0.2120.246-0.0390.241Historical_Importance0.015-0.002-0.0330.656Weather-0.208-0.0240.578 0.267Hospitality0.3430.0330.145-0.022Relaxation0.079-0.1280.582-0.18Connectivity0.3350.053-0.081-0.086Events0.0980.406-0.1660.021Adventure-0.3890.2310.184-0.187Proximity-0.1740.354-0.1080.143Value_for_money0.0110.3230.163-0.351For further segmentation, we used Cluster analysis on the set of data collected by the online questionnaire. The cluster variables were based on the demographics like income, age, employment status.Using Hierarchical clustering and between group linkage procedure, we looked at the coefficients in the agglomeration schedule and the dendogram to take a crap a cluster of size 2 and 3. Next we also looked at the frequency distributions in order to decide if the clusters are large enough. Finally, we arrived at 2 clusters.Cluster 1ValuesImplication blotto employment2.583Post graduate and employee peopleMean geographical location1.655North and South IndiansMean Marital status1singleAge group1.17218-25 yearsIncome2.414between 5-10 lacsCluster 2ValuesImplicationMean employment2.571No differentiationMean geographical location3.428West and East IndiansMean Marital status1.428married and singleAge group1.57118-25 yearsIncome2.143between 5-10 lacsAnalysis of the competition with other statesWe considered the major tourist hotspots in India like Goa, Andaman Nicobar, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and the atomic number 10 to form an idea about the attributes that differentiate them. Using Multidimensional measure we obtained the perceptual mapping of the states in terms of 4 different dimensions in two plots.As we can see from the above plot, Kerala has a decided imageIf we look at crowd, Kerala and Goa are pretty similar. They pull decent number of similar kind of crowds to their destinations.Other attributes Cost and connectivity, Andaman Nicobar and Lakhswadeep are different from Kerala in these two aspects.The plot below shows the Euclidean distance as observed from the dissimilarity matrix.The second MDS process was run to compare on other att ributes like beaches, hillstations, and other location characteristics.The chart is shown in the following plot.Results- It was found that Kerala differs in historical significance from Rajasthan In terms of scenic beauty Kerala is high up against Goa and the North-EastConclusion-Most people view Kerala to be a place of scenic beauty constituted by the Backwaters, beaches and Hills.From the above analysis, we can say that Kerala has a distinct competitive edge over other states and should capitalize on it by promoting its strengths. Kerala should look into the specific segments and target the young and fresh in jobs people.Media for KeralaThe awareness about Kerala was high and Internet and friends were the highest contributors. The plot below shows the results of the research (questionnaire). Internet and word-of-mouth spread of news constitute over half of the publicity Kerala receives.RecommendationsBased on the findings we suggest the following communication strategy More Media campaign should be there to highlight Keralas distinct image. Internet should be used a herculean Communication channels More focus should be on the North and South urban centers. Leverage on existing customers to get new ones