Tourism Development In India – Challenges In The New Millennium

Tourism from being regarded as a pastime activity for the leisured few in society has grown into a multi-billion industry and a multi faceted activity. Worthily on account of its phenomenal socio-economic magnitudes and prospects tourism has also become the subject of scholarly interest. Hence our present research in the area of tourism in general and Indian tourism, in particular. The objective of the present paper is to understand the prospects of tourism industry in India in the era of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG). Indian tourism industry today is on the threshold of a big change for large economic gains. However, tourism is much more than an economic activity; it has become a way of life. Without ignoring the problems of tourism industry and its implications on the future development of tourism industry in India, we make an attempt to identify the potentials of tourism industry in the present liberal environment. The paper analyses the key changes and challenges in the path of revolutionising the tourism industry in the new millennium. By making use of appropriate secondary data, the authors try to understand the interactivity between tourism enterprise and its stakeholders, including consumers. The quest for alternative tourism or newer forms of tourism like health tourism, rural tourism and e-tourism is also examined, albeit briefly. The essentiality of promoting sustainable tourism is underscored.