TOURIST POTENTIALS AND DEVELOPMENT OF INFRASTRUCTURES WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE OF HILL STATIONS IN TAMILNADU – A STUDY

Synopsis submitted to Kamaraj University for the award of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN HISTORY

Submitted by Ms. AMUDHA Register No: P4029

Under the Guidance of

Dr. S. PUSHPALATHA, M.A., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor & Head (i/c)

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY DIRECTORATE OF DISTANCE EDUCATION MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY (University with Potential for Excellence) MADURAI – 625 021

AUGUST 2019 Tourist Potentials and Development of Infrastructures with Special Reference of Hill Stations in – A Study SYNOPSIS Indians undertake journey to various places of interest either for gratification or for business. Tourism is concerned with temporary travelling of people for a few days to weeks with the intension of bringing a joyful mood. The place be visited in tourism may be relatively undisturbed natural , which is ideal for studying, admiring and enjoying the sceneries of wild plants and animals, or areas well-manipulated with human efforts such as industries, citadels, historical monuments, botanical gardens and zoos. Biosphere reserves, mangroves, coral reefs, deserts, mountains, forests, flora and fauna, seas, lakes, rivers, caves, water-falls, business establishments, temples, wonders of the World, and others are the centres of attraction for tourists who have visited there from faraway regions of the country or abroad. Truly speaking, tourism as a whole is a service industry that does not produce goods of any kind but extends all sorts of services to various classes of tourists and thereby integrating several thousands of people from different nations together under one roof, for the generation of joy in a place far away from their home.

In modern era, tourism has become a huge business when the activities of Europeans could result in industrial revolution and the actual British system of holidays at weekends were announced for people worked in factories and Government for refreshing their frame of mind to vitalize their potential for incessant productive works, whatever it is. It started to grow further when majority of people earned adequate amount of money which enabled them to enjoy opulence, serenity and safekeeping, which were not doable some time ago before the industrial revolution, and it has become the past growing industry when many people have attained higher living standards to allocate some proportion of their income for enjoying the weekends and summer holidays. This pleasant business

1 has attained the pristine height in recent years due to the advent of modern convey vehicles equipped with ultramodern technologies for making the travels more easy and enjoyable by tourists and due to the dawn of sophisticated communication systems that can enable the tourists to contact with a residential home for booking a room and to make communications with anybody wherever in the world, and also due to adequate infrastructures in the place of visit to put out-of-the-way the risks of all kinds while touring in the place.

Indian Tourism - A Historical Background

In the long past, starting from 3rd Century C.E., many people of had undertaken tours to the Himalayas with the intension of worshipping the Lord Kailasanath who is believed to be the God almighty to people who had reverenced Him as per sayings of the scriptures, which is of course for the purpose of pilgrimage that required severe penance to get the blessing of the God, but in the beginning of 8th Century C.E. there began a business tradition among the people that it would be an important duty of merchants to earn money through the sale of commodities to people of other cities or countries, as a consequence of which the purpose of travelling was initially diverted from the pilgrimage to trade reasons and the objective of travelling had been shifted from the God’s blessing to pleasure-seeking sightseeing. The industrial revolution that produced valuable goods using machineries had slightly shifted the sale of natural commodities to sale of quality industrial products while advent of transport vehicles made their transportation very easy and quick through roads or rail or sea. These two events are associated with modernization by the efforts of Europeans in India. While analyzing the tourism, one can look basically at three kinds of tourisms – religion oriented tourism, trade oriented tourism and pleasure oriented tourism.

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Religion Oriented Tourism

Not only in India but also in overseas countries, middle and old-age people undergo some tours to hallowed shrines in far-off localities for the purpose of worshipping the idols of deities to whom they like to render their offerings, and it is realized that such pilgrimages would have strengthened the affinity of people towards the God and revitalized the religious spirits among the devotees as well as ordinary people residing in close proximity. In India also similar things are happening from ancient time to present day. This kind of travel shows their affinity towards religion and their god. This is popularly known as pilgrim tour.

Trade Oriented Tourism

It is hard to conclude at what point of time in the history trade oriented tourism appeared in India because the scholars have different opinions about this, but it is true that most early travels were actually associated with trade and commerce as per the records of what went before in history. Egyptians, Greeks, Arabs and Romans had commercial contacts with the Indian Sub Continent previous to the Indus Valley Civilisation. Later Europeans emerged as great traders in modern era. Hence, trade oriented travel introduced various types of tours. In this type of tourism, pleasure seeking is of secondary importance while money-making is the prime goal of travelling.

Pleasure Oriented Tourism

In this type of tourism, pleasure seeking is of primary importance while the money-making and worshipping the deity of interest are of secondary importance. This type of was, of course, initiated by Europeans, who had settled in the Madras Presidency at the beginning of the modern era, for invigorating their mood. The Europeans travelled to the chosen hill stations during the weekends and warm summer to tide them over the hot weather; following this,

3 the moneyed native people started to take attempts to spend their leisure times in the hill stations for the sense of satisfaction. The Europeans had broadcasted the touristic values of the hill stations among the foreigners by writing tourist guides and travel reports relating to their biography and in the meantime they would have built up adequate infrastructures such as roads for easy access to these hill stations and staying facilities. In the later phase of tourism development, the Government took control over the tourism industry and developed vital infrastructures to motivate the people for visiting these destinations for sightseeing, and to facilitate trouble-free access to these places. This pleasure seeking tourism essentially involves three basic components, namely transport, location and accommodation. These are all considered as allied industries which are also growing out of tourism industry. Pleasure seeking tourism plays a vital role in this sector.

Tourism in India

While the growth of world tourism depends on the international tourists who travel from country to country, the tourism growth of India depends on the influx of overseas travelers and domestic tourists but away from the tourist location of interests. The migration of international travelers from country to country for sightseeing has been showing a decadal growth since 1951when the travel of people to any country for going to places of interest was legally accepted at international level. This highly expanding industry has been sprawling in all directions from east to west, north to south and vice versa, which seems to be one of the world’s largest industries strengthening the world economy. While encouraging the tourists to enjoy the ethnical beauty of tourist spots and amenities found therein, this business industry generates jobs for about 20.45 million people who directly involve in the tourism activities. Further, millions of native people are indirectly concerned with the tourism business for their employment and others.

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Tourism in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India consisting of 35 districts, is bounded on the East by Bay of Bengal, in the South by , in the West by and in the North by Andhra Pradesh and states. As a broad stretch of land, it covers a total area of 1, 30, 058 sq.km which extends from 8o 5' to 13o 35' Northern Latitude and from 76o 15' to 80o 20' in the Eastern Longitude. This is one of the most fascinating day-tripper destinations known for its exceptional scenic beauty and unique and rich cultural heritage dominated by Tamil people who have followed typical Dravidian culture and traditions for several centuries. Its age old cultural heritage and diverse attract millions of overseas and domestic travelers to visit the destinations, so that tourism has flourished in this region right from the beginning.

Climate and Pleasant Weather

In the climatic viewpoint, Tamil Nadu is a warm humid state receiving the maximum rainfall during the North East Monsoon in the months of October- December and the cool winter is not so intense in most areas, except the Nigiris where the temperature may fall down below the freezing point in some years, as it is located in the tropical belt that supports the maximum habitat diversity as well as the diversity of wild plants and animals, which are actually what the international tourists from cold countries want to look at for their enjoyment during their visits. In summer, owing to intense heating, the high temperature steepens pressure gradient over the state, as a consequence of which low atmospheric pressure develops in the North West region and attracts the cool wind from the Indian Ocean, leading to occasional rainfalls in the summer. In addition, because of its proximity to the equator and oceanic influence, temperature is relatively higher in the interior plains than in the coastlines; the temperature of hill

5 stations are relatively very cool and pleasant during the summer when the weather is too hot in the plains, which is exactly the reason for the visit of more number of domestic travelers to these destinations. The period of spring and autumn is very short and not severe in this state as has been seen in most parts of Peninsular India. The pleasant weather is enjoyable for foreign travelers coming from cold countries.

Tourist Destinations in Tamil Nadu

In 2002, the Department of Tourism and Culture, (), has announced 29 major tourist destinations having high touristic potentials in the State and several minor tourist spots that are underexploited because arrival of tourists is somewhat very low. The major tourist destinations of Tamil Nadu are- (1) Chennai, (2) Madurai, (3) Thiruvannamalai, (4) alias Udhagamandalam, (5) , (6) Rameswaram, (7) Thiruchirapalli, (8) Thiruchendur, (9) , (10) , (11) Kancheepuram, (12) , (13) , (14) Tiruttani, (15) Kumbakonam, (16) Salem, (17) Coutrallam, (18) , (19) , (20) , (21) , (22) , (23) , (24) Hogenakal, (25) Elagiri, (26) Mudumalai, (27) Poompuhar, (28) Panchalankurichi, and (29) Pitchavaram. Of these,

Hill Station Tourism

Also known as Mountain tourism is one of the fast growing tourism industries wherein people make visits to the destinations for enjoying the panorama of fine-looking landscapes in the hill tracts, foggy clouds at higher elevations of hills, topography of mountain ranges, wealthy flora and fauna, beauty of waterfalls from high mountain peaks, and for worshipping the deity in the hill tops. Some illustrious temples that are the abodes to the Gods are located at higher elevations of hills, so that devotees attempt to visit the destinations mainly for the purpose of pilgrimage every year; in this attempt, they also enjoy

6 the sceneries of the natural habitats of the hill stations as a supplementary option. This is what we call as pilgrimage tourism that has been followed from the Vedic era to the present day. People most often undergo educational tourism to hill stations with the intension of exploring the flora and fauna of the hill stations as well as with the intension of enjoying scenic beauty of the diverse habitats which are distinctive only to the hill stations; to its credit, the famous Gamble had explored the complete flora of Madras Presidency after conducting series of travels to various hill stations in 1915-38 and P. F. Fyson had explored the flora of South Indian Hill Stations only after conducting series studies on the wild plants in 1932. Even before that our ancient sages had travelled through dense forests in the mountains to meet wise people for the purpose of getting knowledge about the philosophy of God, folk medicines and so on. Even now the botanical gardens, biosphere reserves and wildlife sanctuaries seem to be wonderful sources of information in the pursuit of knowledge about environmental studies. Sauntering or travelling across the habitats where wildlife is abundant is popularly called wild tourism; the wildlife viewing is a rather awe-inspiring, tightfisted and attention- grabbing experience to many people who have keen interest on wildlife and nature’s scenic value. Unlike most coastline and plain destinations seen near human settlements which have large crowds of people, the hill stations are inaccessible from the towns, so that the number of visitors is relatively low compared to the other tourism destinations in Tamil Nadu. Nevertheless, their worth as tourist destination could not be left out-of-the-way because of the inimitability of the sceneries that cannot be seen are anywhere in the plains and coastal belts in the state. For instance, seeing the sights of the scenic beauty of waterfall cannot be given by anything in the coastal belts, even if the latter is abundant with water all the sides and plethora of opportunities everywhere for enjoyment. Therefore, a destination in the coastal belt is not at all a substitute for a in whatever way and wherever in the World, because swimming or diving in the coastal water is not comparable to bathing in natural spring or

7 waterfalls in a hill station. In addition, hill stations at higher elevation like Nilgiris are suitable for gliding and other sorts of adventure tourism and at the same time foothills are so enjoyable for horse riding and cycling. Therefore, hill stations appear to be enjoyable in somewhat different way from the enjoyment of a seashore destination. For this study Ooty, Kodaianal, Coonoor, , , Meghamalai, Yercaud, and Kollihills of Tamil Nadu hill stations which are having salubrious weather condition are taken.

Review of Literatures

Arputha Moorthy (1994), while studying the tourism factors of Kodaikanal, has realized the demands of tourists and supply of hotel accommodation both season wise and tourist-wise to overcome the problems encountered by hoteliers and tourists. In 1998, Brahmankar had analyzed the major factors that attract the international tourists to visit the destinations in India and concluded that beautiful natural scenery, traditional way of life and customs, diverse habitats with rich wildlife, gorgeous mountain peaks covered with dense growth of forest flora, traditional medicines, traditional arts and dance forms, cultural carnivals, ancient historical monuments and wise people have been absorbing the tourists to choose India for sightseeing. Braun et al. (1999) have stressed that a tourists’ option for a destination is in fact influenced by landscapes, the culture of interest to which they are much absorbed, available facilities such as accommodation and unproblematic access to the destination, and pleasant weather at the time of visit.

While analyzing the multistage tourist choice, Nicolau and Mas (2005) have shown that satisfactory income of households, family size and occupation type are the most essential factors determining the choice of travel around and the destination to be selected for the excursion. Dimblebey (2005), who is a writer from Holland, narrates in his tourist report that there is no country in the world where visitors can experience this amazing diversity of food, culture, festivals and

8 the people, and that it is the natural warmth and immense hospitality of the Indian people that makes all the difference and agreeable. Ramalingam (2005) concludes that tourism promotes the national integration, international understanding, creating concept opportunities, augments the foreign exchange earnings, supports to local handicrafts and helps the cultural activities for enhancing the social status of a country. Likewise, Rathi Vinay Jah (2005) concludes that tourism has been a powerful employer that provides jobs for poverty eradication.

According to the Tourism Report, 2006, the hill station tourism accounts for only 22.2% of the total tourism industry in Tamil Nadu. The relative share of hill tourism to the tourism industry is low due to lack of adequate infrastructures and safety point of view. Vijayan (2007) concluded that tourism officials have not succeeded in bringing awareness of benefit of tourism to the local people and hence, the locale people most often clash with the tourists. Bhaskar Rao (2007) is of the opinion that tourism is on the whole a service industry. Ravichandran (2008) analyzed the effects of advent of internet in journey and tourism industry, and finalized that this new outlook for travel industry is welcomed by thousands of overseas and domestic travelers to recognize the authentic circumstances of destinations before one makes attempts to visit there. He, further, competition is also increased in this industry. Reddy (2008) makes out a point that properly planned tourism would be positive for national development, creating challenging employment and distributing the wealth to all sectors of people. Rajasulochana (2008) stressed that the Government almost has most often proposed schemes concentrating only on religious sites for reinforcing temple tourism rather than hill tourism, so that infrastructures should be developed to popularize the hill tourism.

Anilkumar (2009), who studied the impacts of negative factors on the choice of destination, concludes that over-pricing for goods and service, theft and poor safety are the three foremost reasons for the travelers to cut down the

9 duration of stay in some destinations in Kerala, and that tourists will avoid their further visits to such destinations.

Akash (2008) has studied the end-user satisfaction of hotels in the tourism industry and concluded that in the competitive world the success or failure of hotel business depends on the consumers’ satisfaction and services provided to the tourists. Anbalagan and Gunasekaran (2008), while describing medical tourism in the hill stations of district, state that this destination is endowed with an amazing cultural heritage, pilgrim centres, wildlife sanctuaries and hill station, but owing to lack of publicity, the medical tourists are unaware of good-looking sights in the district. According to Ganesan (2005), with the intention of attracting tourists from India and abroad, the Tamilnadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) has provided transport facilities to tourists that make their travel better and comfortable and has established guesthouses for the benefit of tourists.

Babu (2010), in his studies on Mudhumalai Wildlife Sanctuary as tourist destination, has concluded that there is an urgent need for the improvement of basic infrastructures to attract tourists and advertizing the inimitable features of the destination. Mohinder (2010) has analyzed the service qualities of South Indian Hotels at hill stations and stated that services for food items and communications are poor in almost all the hotels except those in Ooty and Kodaikanal where inflow of foreign and domestic tourists is relatively high. Therefore, service qualities in the hill stations should be improved. Nagar (2010) explored the influence of destination personality as well as magnetizing images of the destination in the preference of foreign travelers and concludes that hill stations in North India are preferred by international travelers only for destination personality.

Shobha (2012), while studying the infrastructure gaps in Ooty Hill Station, makes known that the tourism has attained a niche for itself in terms of

10 employment generation, revenue, foreign exchange, and preservation of qualities of nature and people’s culture which are the determinants of overall developments in the destination. In the view of Vasanthi (2012), it was the natural beauty of Nilgiris that attract millions of people from abroad and other districts to choose the as tourist destination. On the other hand, Elangovan and Govindan (2012), by their studies on South Indian hill stations, demonstrate that availability of suitable infrastructures, road connectivity, medical facilities, shopping facilities, parking facilities and drinking water facilities attract many tourists and bring them to these hill station destinations. At the same time, Jacob and Chakraborty (2015) have shown that most tourists prefer peaceful cool places with plenty of beautiful sceneries. Kunal (2016), however, states that Indians take a trip for thousands of miles during pilgrimage due to their faith on God even if their financial conditions are not good. Devi (2017) showed the higher predilection for locations in developing countries as tourist destinations by foreign travelers but people of developing countries also have developed the habit of relaxing their body and mind by undertaking some sorts of simple tours to nearby destinations in recent years. Anbuoli (2018) has worked out the preference and satisfaction levels of tourists while visiting hill stations of Tamil Nadu and concluded that about 41% of people are attracted for sightseeing, 21% are attracted for pilgrimage, 18.5% are attracted by pleasant climate during the hot weather and 18.5% of people visit for leisure activities. Over 70% of the people like to have different kinds of tasty food items as their chief mode of entertainment and 20% of people feel happy while travelling across the dense woods.

Need for the Study Perusal of literatures on hand makes out a clear point that most research works in the tourism discipline are concerned with the ethnical good looks of tourist spots to attract the visitors and their importance in education, enjoyment, adventures, eco-managements, photography, medicine and recreation, but the

11 history of the infrastructure expansions in the Hill Stations of Tamil Nadu and their impacts on tourism potential had hardly been searched out so far. It is therefore obligatory to analyze the hill tourism of Tamil Nadu with the historical insights to fill up the gap in the Historical research. The present dissertation entitled with “Tourist Potentials and Infrastructure Facilities of Hill Stations in Tamil Nadu” is the outcome of continuous study for a period of four consecutive years (2016-2018).

Objectives of the Study Since the domestic and international tourists inflow is increasing, the researcher is aimed to trace the history of hill station tourism and its infrastructures. The following are the objectives of the study.

 To highlight the hill stations which are suitable for tourism in Tamil Nadu.

 To show the difference between major and minor hill stations of Tamil Nadu.

 To trace the historical development of various infrastructures relating to the hill station tourism of Tamil Nadu.

 To analyze the touristic potentials of the hill stations of Tamil Nadu based on the tourists arrival at different months of a year.

 To estimate the arrival of domestic tourists and international tourists to different hill stations of Tamil Nadu.

 To assess the impact of climate on the arrival of domestic and foreign tourists to the hill stations.

 To find out the necessities of the Hill Stations in education tourism, sports tourism, pilgrimage tourism, heritage tourism, adventure tourism and so on.

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 To determine the suitable infrastructures required for maintaining eco- tourism in the Hill Stations.

 To identify suitable infrastructures to be developed and upgraded for increasing the touristic value of minor hill stations in Tamil Nadu.

 To analyze the relative contribution of hill station tourism to the state.

Hypothesis

Ethnical beauty of hill stations attracts so many people, both the domestic and international visitors, for sightseeing and enjoyment but many people make visits to the Hill Stations only when there are adequate infrastructure facilities for trouble-free access, staying, servicing, shopping and enjoyment. Further, the influx of tourists increases with raise in the usefulness of the habitat of hill stations either directly or indirectly, safety of the visitors and trouble-free access to the hill stations. Eco-tourism should be given more attention to promote hill station tourism. Adequate infrastructure facilities would increase the hope of the tourists to visit the hill stations.

Methodology

Historical, narrative, descriptive and analytical methods were used to trace the hill station tourism in Tamil Nadu. Historical methods are highly useful to determine the actual status of hill stations and people in the present and past. Narrative methods are of much in the critical examination of the events of the past and present in the light of historical findings. Descriptive methods help to reanalyze the historical events related the tourism development in Tamil Nadu from the writings of popular authors. Analytical methods include statistical methods to determine the actual touristic potentials of 9 hill stations in Tamil Nadu. International and domestic Tourists’ arrival to each location was surveyed

13 directly in each hill station by direct counting with the help of 20 assistants per day, thrice in every month and it was done for three consecutive years. Random samples of 100 visitors were taken in a day, thrice in every month, by asking them to fill up the questionnaire and the quantitative data was analyzed statistically using Windows Excel Software. Statistical methods of sampling, data analysis and processing were strictly followed according to Zar (1984). From this data, information about the arrivals of foreign and domestic tourists was collected, tabulated and interpreted to present the touristic potentials of the hill stations. As this study is more relevant to history, much importance is given to chronology of events.

Sources of the Study

Both primary and secondary sources are consulted for this study. Primary sources in the form of unpublished Government records and secondary sources such as printed books, research journals, census reports and District Gazettes are very much helpful in this study. Data directly collected from the 9 main hill stations of Tamil Nadu during 2016-2018 is the inevitable primary source that can be critically examined to know the exact status of tourist potentials of these hill stations today and the visitors’ opinions about the hill station tourism in the State. The main primary sources are the records preserved in the District Headquarters of , district, Didingul district, Nigiris district, , , , district and Namakal district as they provide details of management of the hill stations. The Tamil Nadu State Archives, Egmore (Chennai) provide valuable references useful for critical examination of the research oriented problems to take accurate assessments. Government documents such as the Transport Department Government Orders, Financial Department Government Orders, Board of Revenue Proceedings, Madras Administration Reports, Public Works Department Administrative Report, Reports of the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Board, Budget Memoranda,

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Madras Information Reports and Census Reports were useful primary data to analyze the development in the hill tourism. Final Reports of Tourism Survey for the various States of India by the Ministry of Tourism are also valuable primary sources for this study.

Pradeep Kumar Johri’s “Encyclopedia of Tourism in 21st Century”, B. N. Singh’s “”, Ranjit Taheja’s “Tourism Planning” (2009), N. Balaji’s “A Trail Along the Nilgiri’s Past” (2004), Dharmalingan Venugopal’s “Nilgiris: An Action Plan to Save the Hills” (2005), Sunetra Roday’s “Tourism and Managements” (2009), Yogesh Singh’s “A Culinary Tour of India” (2015), M. R. Dileep’s “Tourism: Concepts, Theory and Practice” (2019), J. K. Singh’s “Fundamentals of Tourism and Travel” (2008), Anurag Mathur’s “Indian Tourism: Tourist Places of India” (2016), Kevin Hannam and Anya Deikmann’s “Tourism and India: A Critical Introduction” (2010), M. P. Bezbaruah’s “Indian Tourism: Beyond the Millennium” (1999), Ratandeep Singh’s “Infrastructure of Tourism in India” (1994), Vinod Kumar’s “Historical and Cultural Tourism in India” (2008), Jacob’s “Indian Tourism Products” (2007), P. S. Gill’s “Dynamics of Tourism: Perspectives on Indian Tourism” (1996), B.S. Badan’s “Impact of Tourism in ” (1997), S. K. Mishra’s “Promoting Tourism in India: A Case Study” (2010) and Suhita Chopra’s “Tourism and Development in India” (1991) are valuable secondary sources of this study.

Chapterization

This study is divided into six chapters excluding Introduction and Conclusion. Introduction gives a detailed picture about tourism, history of Indian tourism, growth of tourism in India, hill station tourism, hill station tourism in Tamil Nadu, need for this study, scope of the study, objectives of the study, hypothesis, research methodology, limitations of the study and chapterization.

First chapter “Kodai and Sirumalai Hill Stations of ” describes the location, geography, people and administration of tourist locations

15 such as Kodai hills and Sirumalai hills. It also reveals the tourists’ attraction sites and development of infrastructure facilities that help the tourists for easy and convenient sightseeing in these two tourist destinations.

Second chapter entitled “Ooty and Coonoor Hill Stations of the Nilgiris District” explains the location, geography, people and administration of tourist locations such as Ooty hills and Coonoor hills. It also deals with the tourists’ attraction sites and development of infrastructure facilities available therein.

Third chapter “Other Hill Stations of Touristic Importance in Tamil Nadu” examines the touristic value of Valparai (Coimbatore district), Meghamalai (), Yelagiri (Vellore district), Yercaud (Salem district), and () which are also popular sites for hill tourism in Tamil Nadu. Location, geography, people, tourists’ attraction sites and development of infrastructures are dealt with in this chapter.

Fourth chapter “Touristic Potentials of Hill Stations in Tamil Nadu” gives a detailed survey of the arrival of tourists to each Hill Station, tourist arrivals at different months of year, sex ratio of tourists, age groups of tourists, levels of education of tourists, employment categories of tourists, income levels of tourists, purposes of their tours, satisfaction levels in the tour, foreign tourists arrival, arrival of tourist vehicles and environmental degradation.

Fifth chapter “Contribution of Hill Station Tourism to the State Economy” deals with the generation of income from the tourists in the form of fees, lodging rents, restaurant service charges, transportation charges, amusement charges and trade of things. It also explains the secondary economic impacts such as employment generation for local people and income through the sale of goods,

16 which are indirectly helping to improve the state economy. Finally, it calculates the relative share of hill station tourism in the total tourism income of Tamil Nadu.

Sixth chapter “Planning for the Promotion of Hill Station Tourism in Tamil Nadu” explains the environmental degradations, impacts of hill station tourism on climate, population and livestock, activities of the government for the promotion of eco-tourism, and promotion of tourism in minor hill stations of Tamil Nadu.

Finally Conclusion sums up all the research findings and suggestions and on the basis of which planning for R/D activities could be made in the future tourism.

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