DARE - Because Entrepreneurs Do

Tourism in India has been on rise and is expected to emerge as the most important revenue earner for India by 2010. Heritage tourism has emerged as one of the niche segments of tourism in India and worldwide. It is often offered in combination with other elements like religion, wildlife, ecotourism, and even adventure.

Cultural heritage tourism or heritage tourism is a niche element of the overall tourism spectrum. It is meant to gain an appreciation of the past or something we have got in legacy. It is one of the oldest forms of travel, and involves heritages of all kinds – colonial heritage, urban renewal, religious tourism, genealogy, industrial heritage, and ethnicity. Thus a visit to Cellular Jail in Port Blair,
or to Haldighati and Ellora Caves constitute heritage tourism in the Indian context.

Services offered by most of heritage hotels are substandard. Properties are good, but management standards have to improve. Staff need to be trained. Eva Steigler MD, One Vision, Oslo, Norway

Heritage tourism is difficult to segregate from other elements of tourism. Tourists interested in other areas, like adventure, religion and leisure also visit different Indian heritage sites; with monuments like Taj Mahal, Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort, Sarnath, Kaziranja, Tirupati, Varanasi, Rameshwaram, and Ajanta being quite popular. UNESCO has identified 27 heritage sites in
India as world heritage, and has collaborated with state government authorities to develop several themed itineraries, like linking Buddhist holy places, legends of Shiva, yoga, and ayurvedic healing.

More than five million foreigners visited India in 2007, and out of these, at least, three million visited heritage sites in India. Number of domestic tourists outnumbered foreign travelers by more than 60 times in 2007. The share of cultural heritage tourism in the overall tourism figures in India, be it domestic or foreign travelers, is over 60 percent, according to various estimates.

India needs quite a lot of effort and professional touch to keep its heritage sites intact. While government authorities have been mainly responsible for this, heritage management in India has started seeing the participation of big players like Tata, Oberoi, Indian Oil Corporation, and others, on the lines of European countries and the US. Heritage hotels, another color in the spectrum of heritage tourism, are quite popular among tourists, with celebrities like Amitabh Bachchhan and Richard Gere also voicing their preference for them. Barring most of major hotel players like Taj, Oberoi, and ITC, there are several heritage hotels owned by the descendants of former rulers and aristocrats.

Not everything is, however, honky dory in the field of heritage tourism. Services at heritage sites are nowhere compared to those at similar sites in countries like Italy, UK, China and Spain. Foreign tourists often feel cheated as they pay several times more entrance fees compared to Indians. They often feel disappointed by the shabby treatment they receive at the hands of the vendors, whose only agenda seems to be to extract the maximum possible money from the tourists. Tourists are also miffed at the lower levels of services offered by several heritage hotels, tour operators, transporters and others.

Travel Industry – Important Statistics

- According to the World Tour and Travel Council, India ranks number one in long term growth.

- Ministry of Tourism expects 10 million foreign tourists and 500 million domestic tourists in 2010

- This will create 15 million additional jobs by 2010. The contribution of the Travel & Tourism economy to employment is expected to rise from 30.5 million jobs in 2008, 6.4% of total employment or one in every 15.6 jobs to 39,6 million jobs, 7.2% of total employment or one in every 13.8 jobs by 2018.

- Real GDP growth for Travel & Tourism economy is expected to average 7.6 percent per annum over the next ten years

- Export earnings from international visitors and tourism goods will grow (nominal terms) to Rs 2,750.2 bn or US$51.6 bn (4.4% of total) in 2018

- The contribution of Travel & Tourism to Gross Domestic Product is expected to stay the same at 6.1% (INR 2,859.9 bn or US$73.6 bn) in 2008 to 6.1% (Rs 9,141.1 bn or US$171.5 bn) by 2018.

source: Ministry of Tourism, Newspaper reports

Rajasthan looked at heritage tourism as an opportunity to shed its BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and UP) tag. Better marketing strategy backed by focus on infrastructure development and creating safe environment for tourists in the state have proved the differentiator. Aditya Nath MD, Apass India Leisure Solutions

Heritage sites
Be it the exquisite marble inlay work of the Taj Mahal or the titillating sculptures of the Khajuraho temples or the excellent fusion of science and art in Konark Sun Temple, Indian heritage sites manifest their richness everywhere. Taj Mahal, the most popular heritage of India, alone attracts some 2.5 million tourists every year.

According to various estimates, heritage tourism contributes well over 60 percent to the overall share of tourists in India, both domestic and foreigners. An interesting aspect of this, however, is that almost 80 percent of foreign tourists visiting India restrict themselves to the Golden Triangle (Delhi-Jaipur-Agra) and Rajasthan, areas quite rich in heritage monuments. This comes as a surprise considering places like Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh have so many beautiful heritage monuments. This, however, also spells huge untapped opportunities heritage tourism presents. Even if a fraction of the potential of these states is tapped, it can do wonders.

Aditya Nath, managing director, Apass India Leisure Solutions, a Delhi-based tour operator, says, “A package for the Golden Triangle can easily be sold. Everyone wants to make easy money. Convincing tourists to visit other places will require more efforts.”

Nath says, “Rajasthan looked at heritage tourism as an opportunity to shed its BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and UP) tag. Better marketing strategy backed by focus on infrastructure development and creating safe environment for tourists in the state have proved the differentiator.”

Rajasthan has been systematic in promoting its heritage sites. It has been flexible with time as well. While till a few years ago the state was busy promoting better known places like Jaipur, Udaipur and Jaisalmer, now attempts are successfully being made to market lesser known places, often in hinterlands, like Sawai Madhopur, Kumbhalgarh, Kota, Sariska, Alwar, Bundi, Barmer, and Dungarpur.

Nath says, “Entrepreneurs do not hesitate to move to lesser explored areas, provided business opportunities are there. The Rajasthan government has really been supportive on this front, something other states have failed to emulate.”

Indian Tourism Fact Sheet
Annual Foreign Tourist Arrivals (All India data for 2007)	53 lakh
Real GDP growth for Travel & Tourism economy expected in 2008	7.90%
Annual forex Inflow in 2007	$11.96 billion
Growth in forex inflow	18.00%
Domestic tourists in 2006	462 million
Export earnings from international visitors and tourism goods as expected in 2008	$18.5 billion (6.7% of total exports earnings)
Assuming 50% of tourists visit some heritage sites, there would have been three million foreign visitors and nearly 250 million domestic tourists in 2008.
source: Ministry of Tourism, Newspaper reports

With greater awareness among entrepreneurs and tourists, demand for heritage monuments from under-explored areas is rising. Sujit Kumar, a guide registered with the Ministry of Tourism, says, “I have hosted a few groups of British tourists who went to visit World War II memorials in Kohima.”

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