Only recently tourism has been recognised as a potential growth driver in the country. The country’s vast picturesque locations, rich culture and heritage as well as large and inexpensive manpower availability make it suitable to develop as a tourism hub. The number of tourists both domestic and international is increasing substantially over the years. A steep increase in foreign exchange earning through tourism has also been evident in the past few years.  It has been identified as a sector with immense potential to trigger not only economic growth but also development with equity, which is one of the prime focuses since the beginning of the plan period in the Country.

The tourism perspective in the country has changed substantially over the recent years. To understand the changing focus of the policy formulators in context of the tourism sector, an close look at the tourism policies would be pertinent. The first ever tourism policy was announced by the government in November 1982. It was recognised that tourism brings socio-economic benefits to the community as well as to the state. However, major thrust of the policy was on aggressive marketing to foster international tourism.

It took exactly a decade for the Central government to come out with some possible improvements over the national strategy for the development of tourism. This was through the announcement of the National Action Plan for Tourism in May 1992. The National Action Plan pronounced 7 objectives of the tourism planning as the central concerns of the government:

·        Socio-economic development of the areas

·        Increasing employment opportunities

·        Developing domestic tourism for the budget category

·        Preserving national heritage and environment

·        Development of international tourism

·        Diversification of tourism products

·        Increase in India’s share in world tourism

The latest tourism policy was announced in 2002 and it envisaged new directions and priorities towards tourism sector development. The key elements of the Policy are listed below which clearly depict the changing focus of the tourism planning of the country:

·        Position tourism as a major engine of economic growth

·        Harness the direct and multiplier effects of tourism for employment generation, economic development and providing inpetus to rural tourism.

·        Focus on both international and domestic tourism

·        Position India as a global brand to take advantage of the burgeoning global travel and trade and the vast untapped potential of India as a destination.

·        Acknowledges the critical role of the private sector with government acting as a proactive facilitator and catalyst.

·        Create and develop integrated tourism circuits based on India’s unique heritage in partnership with States, private sector and other agencies.”

·        Ensure that the tourist to India gets physically invigorated, mentally rejuvenated, culturally enriched and spiritually elevated. (Ministry of Tourism 2002)

The major shift in focus of the tourism policy can be identified as employment generation and local economic development. Keeping in pace with the National government’s re-focusing strategy of tourism; the state governments have also paved the paths for developing tourism on priority basis. For instance, the mission statement of the Rajasthan state government reads as:

“A pragmatic policy designed to ensure optimum utilisation of rich tourism resources of the state to generate employment specially in rural areas, to develop a ready market for the rich and varied handicrafts, to preserve and to accelerate contribution of tourism industry in socio-economic development of the state by making tourism a truly People’s Industry in Rajasthan”

 The policy statements of both the central and the state governments reveal that tourism has been envisaged as an important instrument for socio-economic development of the local community, particularly, in the rural areas of the country. The role of the government had been envisaged as a catalyst, promoter, facilitator and provider of infrastructure apart from playing the role of the regulator. A well-directed holistic plan can play a crucial role in achieving a two- pronged goal of the government. Along with the development of the local community and generating employment in remote areas, revival of traditional culture (in art and other forms) can be used an important instrument to attract tourists and in turn generating revenue for the state as well as for the country. 

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Tags: local community development, tourism and local economic development, Tourism planning, Tourism policy

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