Top challenges confront sightseeing are taxation, travel marketing, infrastructure issues, and security and cross border regulations. Too many tourism destinations are not prepared for visitors. Tourists or travelers can at times think travel marketing to be overstated. Another major challenge that the tourism industry faces is the fluctuating rates and cost inflation.
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Challenges to Travel and Tourism
The travel and tourism industry is a good example of the volatile industries. To begin with, this industry is not protected from political, social and economic shifts. Many of these factors are outside the control of travel companies and tourism boards. However, being aware of the factors can enable people who have invested in this industry to be more positive and develop adaptive strategies quickly. Some of the challenges faced by the travel and tourism industry include:
Cost of Vacation & Inflation
One of the major challenges that the tourism industry faces is the fluctuations in money exchange rates. The incapability to know the value of money means that long-range tourism prices are especially hard to imagine and the fallout from this financial instability is already impacting multiple tourism support systems.
Inflation is rising at a shocking and restaurants have had to move up prices or lower their service. Transportation companies have been hard hit. The airline industry is especially helpless. Airlines depend on both the food industry and the fuel industry. Already on the boundary, airlines can do nothing more than cut services and raise prices. The result of such a circumstances keeps the time off travelers stay away from luxurious vacations which further hits the overall tourism sector.
Taxation
The tourism industry is a seriously taxed sector in some countries. Various taxes are levy across the entire industry right from tour operators, transporters, and airline industry to hotels and these include service tax, luxury tax, tax on transportation, tax on aviation fuel, and various taxes on transportation. In addition, these tax rates tend to vary across different states in the country. All these taxes are finally accepted on to the travelers in one or the other way thus hampering it’s growth. Governments should also understand that tourists already provided to local economies through purchases and other expenditures connected with tourism.
Travel Marketing
Tourists or travelers can at times consider travel marketing to be false, insufficient or overstated. Marketing entities can change this observation by working towards creating creative marketing solutions so that they can draw travelers. Travel marketers should also connect creativity and technology. They should also pay attention to local content.
Insufficient promotion and marketing
Great promotion and enough marketing push are extremely indispensable for a nation’s travel industry improvement. At present India needs a massive move from the conventional marketing techniques that are still being followed to a much modern approach.
Globalization
Globalization has created less characteristic locales. Due to global standardization, indistinguishable products are found in every country. If a person is traveling in order to learn or have an opportunity to explore the dissimilar and unique, then the lack of unique products becomes a tourism challenge. An example is that shopping malls all over the world tend to offer matching products. Many travelers also find hotels to be so standardized to the point that they almost forget the country in which the hotel is located. Therefore, travel firms and tourism boards should know how to connect with foreign travelers. They should create multilingual websites and use translation services.
Risk & Security of Tourists
Safety will always be a paramount consideration for the traveler. Security has been a major problem as well for the growth of tourism for a number of years. Improper law and order, terrorist attacks, political conflict adversely affects the sentiments of foreign tourists. Despite the economic growth, tourism is susceptible to natural and man-made crises, unexpected events that affect traveler confidence in a tourist destination, whether the risk is real or perceived.
Already the events of the twenty-first century have tend to focus attention on security risks to travel connected with terrorism and political groups. Tourism is also affect also by natural disasters such as pandemics, tsunami, earthquakes, floods, volcanoes, and avalanches. A crisis can be defined as any unexpected event that affects traveler confidence in a target and interferes with the ability to operate normally.
Although security is a major challenge to the travel and tourism industry, many industry leaders have failed to confront security issues. Many police departments also lack officers who are skilled in tourism oriented policing or protection services. It is essential for industry players to work towards creating better security transportation for travelers.
Regulatory & Border Issues
Regulatory issues like visa events are seen as hindrances. Difficult visa processes keep the tourists away from some destinations. A number of projects in the tourism communications part and in the hotel industry are late due to non-attainment of licenses and approvals on time.
However, in order to capitalize on the profit of the tourism sector, the government should aim at creating proper infrastructure, speedy clearances, and make effective policies to adjust the tourism sector and to gain the self-assurance of foreign tourists.
Technological Drivers of Change
Technology is fast piercing into all aspects of life. Tourism futures will be strong-minded and facilitated by technology. A good website means that small distant destinations can compete equally with the giants of tourism. The combination of information and communication technologies will allow tourism enterprises to become more well- organized and spirited.
Skilled Human Resources
The challenges facing the tourism sector will only be met successfully only by a well-educated, well-trained, bright, energetic, multilingual, and entrepreneurial workforce who understands the nature of tourism and have professional training.
High-quality tourism employees can only be achieved through high standards of modern tourism education and training. Tourism education and training involve the announcement of knowledge, concepts, and techniques that are specific to the field of tourism, but which draw upon the core disciplines and themes of areas such as geography, finance and marketing.
The futures of tourism are thrilling and tourism is a tricky sector to expect. Each of the drivers of the future that we have outlined above is powerful in its own right, but when joint they deliver a powerful force shaping the futures of tourism.
Inadequate airline capacity, mainly during the peak tourist season, bad conditions of our airports, delays in getting the bookings, flight cancellations and delays render air travel in India frightening for foreign tourists.
Challenges Faced by Tourism Industry in India
The prior analysis of the growth of tourism in India shows that even though the industry has registered an all round large development in the country during the last two-three decades, most of the potential, for its growth has not yet been broken and much more is left to be preferred.
The important factors, which have limited the growth of tourism in India, are mentioned below:
- Due to terrible conditions of traveling by trains, in India tourists prefer to avoid if unavoidable.
- Lack of hygienic and comfortable accommodation for the tourists, in general, but logical good accommodation for low expenses middle class tourists.
- In particular, render tourism unattractive. Absence of motel hampers the smoothness, of long distance travels.
- There is absence of an up to date information systems with quick recovery facilities causestrouble to tourists.
- Another major factor inhibiting the growth of tourism is the seasonality of the manufacturing with the busy season being restricted to six months from October to March and heavy rush in November and December.
- Lack of an integrated tourism promotion programmed during the five-year plan periods has hindered the growth of tourism.
- Indifference of many states and union territories to tourism, which has not yet been accorded industry status by themis another factor limiting its growth.
- Next factor is the failure of the mandarins of tourism to quickly adapt to the changing environment, for example the impermanent closure of Jammu and Kashmir to tourists and socio-political and religious agitations in other northern states of the country rendering them unattractive to tourists, by developing and promoting alternative tourists destinations in South India.
- A lukewarm approach towards the domestic tourism due to the stress placed by the authorities on foreign tourism has been another limiting factor.
Measures Taken for Promotion of Tourism
- The Central and the State governments and their worried agencies or departments for the development of tourism in India have taken a number of measures. Some important steps taken lately in this regard are as under:
- To promote India as a destination of 1990s, 18 addition Circuits have been recognized for development. These circuits specifically relate to adventure, wildlife, winter and water sports and beaches. In order to give self-assurance water sports and to bring professionalism in the field, a National Institute of Water Sports has been set up in Goa for developing pilgrimage tourism 21 places have been selected in the country.
- To help the ITDC to attract more foreign tourists it has been decided to allow it to have marketing and management development collaborations with M/sRadisson Hotel Corporation of U. S. A.
- With a view to bring in foreign exchange and generate funds for transformation of ITDC run hotels, the union civil aviation and tourism ministry has determined to privatize these hotels. The first basket of hotels proposed to be privatized were those in Delhi, Udaipur, Jaipur, and Aurangabad. The proposal was to disinvest 40 per cent of the equity to the international hotel chains, 20 per cent to the hotel employees and financial institutions and retain the remaining 40 per cent with the government. This has annoyed the Indian hoteliers who have been sidetracked.
- The Central government has assisted State government to set up inexpensive accommodation at important tourist centers for the Yatri Niwases.
- In 1988, 50 per cent of foreign exchange earnings of hotels and travel agencies were made tax-free straightaway. The Government of India has allowed up to 51 per cent foreign participation in hotel industry. Further, a tax rebate of 25 per cent of proceeds up to a period of eight years for approved hotel, which commenced operations between March 31, 1981 and April 1, 1990, has also been announced. Under the “Equity Scheme”, which became operative from April 1992, the Central Department of Tourism and the State government will contribute to the equity capital of tourism ventures.
- The budget of 1992-93 has raised the inferior limit of single room tariff from Rs.400 per night to Rs.1200 for levying of 20 per cent Hotel Expenditure Tax. However, the tourism and civil aviation ministry has recommended to the finance ministry withdrawal of this tax. Partial convertibility of the rupee, abolition of duty on cars used as taxi from 230 per cent to 175 per cent, is some other steps included in the budget in this route.
- On July 6, 1992, India and Israel signed a protocol on promote tourism between the two countries by facilitate travel and cooperate in joint promotion of tourism from third countries, wherever possible. With a view to attracting more foreign tourists during the lean season, Air India, Indian Airlines and ITDC and some other hotel chains have joined hands and evolved a summer package called “ Super-Saver Package “ consisting of 11 itineraries of seven days stay India whit an option for four days addition and based on good-looking rates.
- In order to routinely inform the passengers on telephone the revised departure timings of considerably delayed flights, known two hours or more in advance, a computerized facility called “Real time Automatic Passenger Information Dissemination System (RAPID)” has already been introduced in Delhi and was opened in Chennai at the Indian Airlines Offices, on April 13, 1992.
- In addition to the “ Palace on Wheels “, a special tourists train comprising meter gauge “ Vintage Saloons “ which started taking the tourist through Rajasthan from January 26, 1982, it has been decided to flag off tourist train.
- Appointment of a committee by the Ministry of Environment under the chairmanship of Mr. B. B. Vohra, in March 1992, to propose modifications in coastal regulations for setting up of hotels and other tourism facilities near beaches is another important step for boosting up tourism.
- Opening of Ladakh for foreign tourists, exciting of the restrictions on the operation of chartered flights to India and decrease in visa fees are some other steps taken recently to attract tourists to India.