Contemporary issues in travel and tourism

Contemporary issues in travel and tourism

Introduction

The concept of travelling has remained an important component of living since the old ages. Human being knew the necessity of moving from one place to the other for timely basis. Travelling has been done for a number of reasons like to conduct business, meet someone, to get knowledge about some place, and even for the sake of leisure.

Tourism is considered as the phenomena in which people move from a place to another for the purpose of business, leisure, or recreation. This definition includes three aspects which are the movement from one place to another, the time span of the movement, and the purpose (Huddman & Jackson, 2003, pp. 23). Historically, people and historians used to travel in order to learn about cultures, languages, and to write travelogues about the places. Tourism was also related to the pilgrimage of sacred places in different religions. Today, tourism is recognized as a flourishing industry and new types of tourism have been identified.

United Nations World Tourism Organization is the agency of the UN that is responsible for the promotion of travel and tourism around the world. The agency focuses on using tourism in order to encourage peace and socio-economic development of different regions (UNWTO, 2011, pp. nd).

Discussion

It has been observed that countries have realized the importance of promoting tourism. Tourism has helped a number of states in bringing economic stability, providing employment opportunities, and creating a positive image. Some of the countries have even made legislations to facilitate the tourism and associated industries. These measures result in the improvement of the GDP of the countries.

Task 1: Based on your investigation of the selected tourist destination, identify and discuss two current issues (refer to the hints above) and the causes, and analyse them to determine to what extent they are driving the change.

India is considered as one of the countries which have significantly improved their promotion of tourism. These efforts have resulted in the increase of Foreign Tourist Arrivals from 2.73 million in the year 2003 to 6.58 million in the year 2012 (MOT, 2013, pp. 2).

Indian Tourism

The location, geography, history, and present development have turned India into a great destination for travelling and tourism. India is located in near the Indian Ocean which is an important area for connecting the Pacific region with Africa, Asia, and Europe (Jayapalan, 2001, pp. 61). Thus, the harbours and shores of India at least become a resting or connecting place for the travellers. The geography of India also promotes tourism. It is located near the equator which makes it relatively warm country. People living in the cold climate regions prefer to spend some time in India. India also states with different climate conditions like the cities and districts in the Himalayan region has a comparatively climate, while the central states have a warm climate. The history of India and subcontinent has also remained a major reason for its importance in terms of ...