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Hotel Management & Tourism industry
Hotel Management is closely linked to the tourism industry as such the latter gives a big boost to the former. If tourism industry grows the hotel industry cannot lag behind. Let us have look at this sun rise industry.
World Tourism Scenario
Tourism is the world's largest export industry. According to the World Tourism Organisation, about 567.4 million tourists travelled internationally in 1995 and spent about US$ 372.6 billion. It is estimated that tourism accounts for about eight per cent of the total world exports and more than 30 per cent of international trade in services. In 1995, travel and tourism was expected to provide direct and indirect employment for 212 million people and account for 10.7 per cent of the global work force, according to World Travel and Tourism Council.
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International tourist traffic is expected to grow at a compound rate of growth of about 3.1 per cent from 1995 to 2000 and reach 661 million tourist arrivals by 2000 AD. The regions which are likely to experience the maximum growth in tourist traffic in the coming years are East Asia/Pacific (6.8 per cent) and South Asia (6.1 per cent).
The total tourist arrivals in the South Asia region consisting of Bangladesh, India, Iran, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were 4.4 million during 1995. This is expected to become about 6.0 million by the turn of the century by a conservative estimate. The factors which are favourable to the South Asia region include the economic liberalisation programme in India and the consequent foreign investment opportunities, development of tourist facilities including expansion of airline services, etc.
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The Indian Scenario
The international tourist traffic to the country during 1951 was just 16,829. Over a period of 44 years, the arrivals increased to 2.12 million in 1995 and registered a compounded annual rate of growth of about 17.6 per cent.
However, the mainstay of Indian tourism is domestic tourism. According to the figures available from the state Governments, about 100 million domestic tourists stayed in the accommodation units during 1994. In addition, it is expected that there would be about 150 million pilgrim tourists who did not use paid accommodation.
Tourism is presently India's third largest export industry after ready made garments and gem and jewellery. (In the case of gem and jewellery, the import content is very high). The foreign exchange earnings from tourism during 1995-96 is estimated to be about Rs. 9,186 crore (US$ 3,928 million).
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The most significant feature of the tourism industry is its capacity to generate large scale employment opportunities particularly in remote and backward areas. It offers enormous potential for economically utilising the natural attractions like landscapes, mountains, beaches, rivers etc., which would otherwise remain either idle or under utilised. It also applies to a multitude of man made attractions like monuments, palaces, forts and unique rural and city environments.
A desirable feature of the tourism industry is that it employs a large number of women, both educated and uneducated. It has a natural affinity to the nature of the women, as hospitality is an industry in which women have been participating for centuries. In fact, women are in large numbers in hotels, airline services, travel agencies, handicraft making,. cultural activities, and other tourism related activities.
Direct employment
The direct employment in the sector during 1994-95 was about 7.8 million persons accounting for about 2.4 percent of the total labour force. The labour capital ratio per million rupee of investment at 1985-86 prices in the hotel and restaurant sector is 89 jobs as against 44.7 jobs in the case of agriculture and 12.6 jobs in the case of manufacturing industries. In the case of the tourism industry, taking all individual segments together, the ratio is 47.5 jobs and is still higher than other industries.
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Another important feature of the tourism industry, which is of particular significance to India, is its contribution to national integration and environment of social and cultural lives of people. Over 100 million domestic tourists visiting different parts of the country every year return with a better understanding of the people living in the different regions of the country and the cultural diversity of India. Tourism also encourages preservation of monuments and heritage properties and helps the survival of art forms, crafts and culture.
It is also important to note that tourism has become an instrument for sustainable human development including:
Poverty elimination
Environment regeneration
Job creation
Advancement of women and other disadvantaged groups
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Future Prospects
According to the forecasts made by the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), the international tourist traffic to the country by 2000 AD will be about three million. This is based on the input given by us and the assumption that the arrivals will follow the historical growth pattern. However, the National Action Plan for Tourism stipulated a target of five million tourists within five years from 1992. The total number of rooms available in India at present is about 58,000.
The economic liberalisation process initiated by the Government since 1991 has also accelerated the growth of business travel in India. It is, therefore, expected that domestic tourist traffic would grow at an annual growth rate of about 7.5 per cent, from 100 million' to around 170 million, by the turn of the century.
Our education and training
We are leaders in hospitality education and training in South Asia, with the largest network of government and private institutions. Indian hospitality skill is now globally sought after. In fact the world's best hotel managers of the future could be from India.
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