Tourism Education in India

Indian Tourism Education Scenario

The number of international and domestic flows is growing day by day. University Grants Commission has allotted Travel & Tourism courses at the undergraduate level in various forms like Bachelor of travel & tourism Management (B.T.T.M), Bachelor of Tourism Studies (B.T.S), B.B.A in (Tourism & Hospitality Management) etc. Also, there are a number of universities that provide MBA in Tourism, MTA, MTTM, etc. Some private institutes are also running certificate, diploma & degree courses. Tourism education in India also received encouragement from the National Action Plan for Tourism announced in May 1992.

Apart from the course on tourism management run by the I.T.T.M, there are colleges in the universities of Gwalior, Kurusksetra, Aligarh Muslim University, Jodhpur, Pondicherry, and Indore that provide tourism education for the Master's Degree and PostGraduate Diploma levels. The two important tourism activities are accommodation and hospitality; and travel and trade. Hence, the manpower development for the tourism industry can not be confined to tourism education and training imparted by the national level institutes and universities only. With this objective in mind, the tourism planners in India both in the government and the private sectors have started Hotel Management, Catering, and Nutrition institutes.

Thus, at present, there are 20 Institutes of Hotel Management and 13 Food Craft Institutes of Hotel Management functioning in the country.

Read more- What is Hospitality and Travel?

Training Institutes in Travel & Tourism Management

Around 172 training institutes are engaged in travel and tour management education. Out of them, only 11 are government-sponsored institutes, 78 are affiliated to universities while the rest of them are privately owned. Approximately, 17,500 students are completing IATA/UFTA certified diploma courses, and graduate and postgraduate degree courses.

Spread of Tourism Education in India

To cope up with the growing demand for trained manpower requirements to run tourist offices, hotels, travel agencies, and airlines effectively and efficiently; a carefully drawn tourism education plan has emerged as the primary need of the nation. Here are some of the strategies that can be adopted by educationists, tourist planners, and private and government organizations.

• The study of tourism encompasses studies in the fields of history, culture, economics, psychology, and sociology from the humanities stream, and on the other hand, it includes studies in the fields of bio-science, environment, geography, and statistics of the science stream. Hence, tourism as an important subject should be introduced at the secondary and higher secondary levels in the Indian school curriculums.

• The young tourism bachelor's degree pass-outs must be required to have on-the-job training programme during their course and administrative training phase. This will enable them to have on-the-job exposure.

• The universities in the Eastern and Northeastern parts of the country should be provided required assistance by U.G.C., A.I.C.T.E., and I.I.T.T.M to set up Departments of Tourism Administration

• Exchange program with foreign institutes, both for the students as well as faculty.

• To bring guest faculties from internationally reputed tourism institutes. This would bring global perception to Indian institutes

Thus some of these strategies suggested above will help in the maintenance of socio-cultural and environmental factors of the country along with the economic development of the nation through tourism.

Relevance of Tourism Industry in India

The development of the tourism sector has many socio-economic benefits. This significance cannot be ignored.

• Economic Significance: Tourism increases the foreign exchange earning capability of a nation. It also leads to the infrastructural development of underdeveloped tourist destinations.

• Infrastructural Significance: The business of tourism encourages the development of infrastructural facilities in under-developed tourist destinations. In the case of India, one may cite the cases of Khajuraho, Goa, Kulu, Delhi, etc.

• Employment Significance: Tourism is a business of the people, by the people and for the people. Being a labour intensive industry, it has the second most important employment generating capacity, next to the agriculture sector of Indian economy.

• Youth and nation-building significance: The recent concept of adventure tourism like river rafting, mountaineering, sailing in turbulent seas, paragliding, all these activities encourage the young domestic tourists to imbibe in themselves the spirits of leadership, and group cohesiveness. This measure of tourism development helps in building a strong national character with a complete dedication towards nation building activities among the youths.

• International and inter-state understanding and peace: Respect for the socio-cultural systems of both the hosts and tourists leads to the development of international understanding and peace. This is also true in case of domestic tourists, who visit various tourist destinations of different states within their country.