CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS RESULTS

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS

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 CHAPTER 1:
INTRODUCTION

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 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Madhya Pradesh has a rich past and a number of locations for heritage tourism, the most famous
being Khajuraho and Sanchi. It also has a large forest area and nine wildlife sanctuaries.
However, Panchmarhi is the only hill station. Madhya Pradesh suffers from poor connectivity, no
direct links to many tourist locations and a road network which is in need of urgent
improvement.
The state tourism suffers from the twin problem of low awareness and low publicity as a tourist
destination and poor quality of tourism product. Poor connectivity and poor infrastructure
further aggravate the situation. Although MP State Tourism Development Corporation
(MPSTDC) has set up hotels and facilities at all the important (fourteen) tourist locations and the
state has in place a forward looking tourism policy with Eco-adventure tourism as its USP, the
growth of tourism has been slow.

In the last decade the tourist arrivals have grown at a slow pace of 0.65% p.a, with the domestic
tourists growing at 0.55% and foreign tourists growing at 7%. In 2000-2001, total tourist arrivals
stand at around 11.5 lac. The number of foreign tourists is small at around one lac. Obviously,
this means low economic benefits from tourism, poor hotel occupancies, lack of interest and
demoralization of the tourism related organizations.
The report has outlined a strategy and has suggested a target for tourism department to double
the tourist traffic to about 20 lac in the next decade and treble it to 33 lacs at the end of twenty
year period.

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The marketing strategy concentrates on changing the image of the state to a tourist friendly state,
with aggressive plans for their comfort and entertainment, appointment of a marketing and
advertising agency, building strong relations with the travel and tour related trade, reorientation
of the tourist information offices as marketing offices and a better use of its computerized
reservation facilities.
In terms of improving the tourism product, in the short term quick gains can be made by focusing
the states limited finances on a few locations with high potential, which are already well
connected and have a reasonable infrastructure in place. These places which comprise mainly of
Khajuraho, Gwalior, Bhopal-Sanchi, and the Kanha-Pench wildlife parks can be improved by
sprucing them up, improving the environs, and offering value for money experience to the
tourists, thus quickly improving their utilization. Other locations can be developed in the
medium and long term.
Domestic tourism should be stimulated by aggressive marketing in Calcutta and Gujarat.
Convenience can be offered in terms of marketing package tours of high quality with all
arrangements taken care of. LTC traffic of PSUs and Govt should be targeted. Places like
Khajuraho and Gwalior are also well suited for marketing to corporates for their incentive tours
to the trade and employees etc.
Several suggestions have been made for increasing the duration of a tourists stay in M.P. by
adding side excursions to the main locations such as developing Panna wildlife park and nearby
water falls as side attractions to Khajuraho tourists. Or by adding Gwalior and Orchha as
additional itinerary for tourist en route to Khajuraho. Better quality control, better packaging and
better display of the states exqusite handicrafts and silks can increase spending of tourists.
Exotic forests produce like Safed Musali, a Viagra like product, or oriental perfumes are other
attractive items for tourists. The setting up of Bundelkhandi or Malwa restaurants for ethnic
cuisine and evening entertainment can also increase tourist spend.

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CHAPTER 2:
LITERATURE
REVIEW

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 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

Tourism and its Importance

Tourism has grown from the pursuit of the privileged few to mass movement of people with the urge
to discover the unknown, to explore the new and strange places, to seek changes in environment and
to undergo new experiences. It is a highly competitive business, dependent on many external factors
over which a region or a destination has little or no control. Hence, it is often said that to satisfy
tourist expectation within the constraints of a region or a destination and its environment will require
both physical and human management strategies. The essence of management plans of tourist regions
has to be the wise use of resources and harmonizing these with minimum conflict with the
environment.

Tourism started as a social phenomenon, but within a short span of time, has grown into a significant
economic activity. Of late, the social and economic consequences have raised various environmental
issues affecting the ecology and the social impact of tourism on the host community.

As an economic activity, tourism is a business both for the individual entrepreneur and the
community. It is based on the interrelated system of demand and supply factors. On the demand side
are the international, national and local markets. The supply side involves the tourism product
consisting of attractions, accessibility, facilities and infrastructure. It is an industry with great reliance
on attraction and amenities, along with dependence on the goodwill of the local community.
Therefore, the distribution of economic benefits has to be more wide spread than in the case of the
traditional industry.