CHAPTER IV CHAPTER IV
NATURE OF PRESENT TOURISM
Topic No. Page Number
4.1 Introduction: 120 4.2 Methodology: 120 4.3 Tourism and economic development: 122 4.4 Participation of local people: 123 4.5 Conservation of natural and cultural factors and tourism: 124 4.6 Responsible tourists and tourism: 125 4.7 Method of selecting tourist places: 126 4.8 Perception of local people: 127 4.8.1 Impact of tourism on rural development: 127 4.8.2 Role of government and NGOs: 129 4.8.3 Infrastructure: 130 4.8.4 Environmental pProblems: 132 4.8.5 Cultural problems: 135 4.9 Tourist profile: 137 4.9.0 Age group: 138 4.9.1 Purpose of the tourist: 139 4.9.2 Relation between age and purpose of the Tourist 139 4.9.3 Education: 140 4.9.4 Education and purpose: 141 4.9.4 Occupation: 142 4.9.5 Season: 142 4.9.6 Frequency of repeated visits: 143 4.6.7 Source of information: 144 4.9.8 Transport: 144 4.9.8 Education and norms of tourist: 145 4.9.9 Responsible tourist: 146 4.9.10 Tourist expenditure: 148 4.10.1 Satisfaction index: 150 4.10.2 Problems at tourist places: 154 4.11. Preferences about development of facilities: 158 4.12 Resume: 160 CHAPTERIV
NATURE OF PRESENT TOURISM
4.1 Introduction: It has been observed that the region covering hilly tahsils of Pune districts is facing problems of development on the basis of traditional economy based on mainly agriculture and forestry. Therefore, there is need to vibrate the economy by introducing activities other than agriculture and forestry. After understanding this situation as discussed in the last chapter the present chapter deals with significance of tourism in the given setup of natural landscape and cultural heritage. However, it is necessary to understand to what extent the present tourism can cater the needs of local people on sustainable basis. According to Jacob (1994) sustainable development embraces the contradictory ideas that economic growth is essential and that benefits can be available for all and that economic growth causes
/ environment/ degradation, which is damaging to all. Therefore, attempt has been made to perceive present state of tourism and its impact on the environment and society. For this, following methodology has been adopted.
4.2 Methodology: As explained in the 1st chapter, questionnaire method has been used to generate data regarding the perception of tourism by visitors and local people from the villages in the vicinity of tourist places. The environmental impact assessment has been quantitatively calculated by many workers studying tourism e.g.Goodland and et al (1992), Munro (1986). The present study has adopted a quantitative approach to understand the impact. Therefore the questionnaire has been designed to know qualitative assessment of the impact of tourism and after compilation the qualitative data have been converted in to quantitative data. This kind of approach may be observed in few previous studies like Lopez (1980), Wall andfcnapper (1981), La Page and(cormiers (1977). About 200 samples have been surveyed with the help of questionnaire as given in the (appendix No. II), The questionnaires no. 1 consists of 14 questions related to economic development of the area, participation of local people, conservation of natural resources and cultural
120 heritage, tourist awareness and overall impact of tourism. It has been designed to collect the information for 14 parameters with code number in bracket given below: 1. Economic development. (I) 2. Restoration of local culture and tradition. (II) 3. Participation of local people in tourism activity. (Ill) 4. Participation of local people in tourism planning. (IV) 5. Conservation of flora and fauna through tourism. (V) 6. Responsible tourists. (VI) 7. Conservation of Historical monuments. (VII) 8. Awareness of tourist regarding waste. (VIII) 9. Tourist knowledge about local natural and cultural features. (XI) 10. Participation of tourists in conservation activities. (X) 11. Role of tourism in regional development. (XI) 12. Role of tourism in improving standard of living of local people. (XII) 13. Role of tourism in infrastructural development. (XIII) 14. Security of tourist places. (XIV) The questions related to these parameters have been asked to the set of tourist through field work. In addition to this, exhibition on tourism has also been visited to understand people's perception about these parameters. Each question has been attempted to get the answer in graded like "Disagree, Indifferent, Agree and Not Aware of. While compiling the data, score method has been applied to convert the qualitative information gained from the tourists to convert it into quantitative form. The score values were assigned from 0 to 4 to avoid negative scoring about the perception of tourist as "Disagree" has been score value of T and the '0' score value has been given to the answer to "Not aware of ". The remaining two answers i.e. "Indifferent" and "Agree" have been given score values '2' and '4' respectively. Percentage of the total number of score has been calculated to the maximum possible scores i.e. 4 * number questionnaires. If the score is just 25 % or less the interpretation would be entire set of people disagree for the given statement. It may be assumed that the given statement has been fully correct and effective if some of answers score is 100 %. Thus, the quantitative results after analysing questionnaires have been interpreted to understand the perception for the present status of tourism. The selection of sample has been a major issue in this kind of survey. It is very difficult to obtain randomly selected numbers and use them in the selection procedure.
121 Therefore while sampling the principle of forced dispersion has been followed. This means that no two adjacent tourist places have been selected for the survey. While selecting tourists only one has been selected from one group or from one bus / private vehicle. At the time of completing a questionnaire group discussion was conducted. This may be called as participatory appraisal method. This method avoids any erratic answer and makes the perception nearer to reality. The present study has thus taken utmost care to have understanding of the situation with realistic approach as far as possible. The results of the survey have been compiled and discussed in the following paragraphs. (Table No. 4.1) Table No. 4.1 Nature of Tourism Sr. No. Perceptions code No. Score (%) 1 I 90.75 2 II 80.63 3 III 69 4 IV 53.25 5 V 45 6 VI 56.38 7 VII 42.13 8 VIII 36.5 9 IX 41.63 10 X 54.13 11 XI 82.75 12 XII 82.75 13 XIII 83.13 14 XIV 42.13 (Field Survey, 2005-06)
4.3 Tourism and Economic Development: Any tourism activity ought to influence on local economy. It is quite visible in the study area that villages along the road approaching tourist destination and in the vicinity have shown positive impact of tourism in improving local economy. However, due to low level of human resource development major share of benefits from the tourist activity have not been reached to local people. They have been benefited through generation of seasonal employment in the form of labourers in the hotel, constructional activity, road maintenance etc. The tourism has provided marginal employment for handful number of people in a village but it has been found to be significant mainly because of very low standard of living. It has been reflected in the survey and majority of
122 the people have answered that they have agreed that the local economy is developed with the support of tourism. The percentage score value obtained for the question has been 90.75. This may be interpreted that more than 90 % people feel that tourism supports local economy. This has been corroborated by positive answers stating that tourism has been responsible for improving infrastructure (83.13 %) and thereby development of local people (82.75 %). Consequently, tourism can gear up regional development. This answer has got the weightage of about 82.75 % Thus, it may be remarked here that tourism development provides economic opportunities for the local people and hence development can be possible.
4.4 Participation of local people: The problem posed by the tourism activity in the region is low proportion of local participation. If a case of place like Sinhgarh is studied the tourism activity is entirely based on local people. In such cases, local participation is quite significant. This is mainly because of lack of permanent building of the hotel on the plateaux. The concerned authority has put good restrictions on the number and the size of the hotel. This has restricted the entry of rich businessman to enter into the activity and hence the economy of local hotel owners or hut owners in reality has been protected. On the contrary, die tourism activity at the places wherever big hotels have been established has not given the scope for local participation. Brohman (1996) has put forth the similar thought that proportion of community participation in the tourism development process often ignored the well- known tendency of local elites to appropriate the organs of participation for their own benefit. The participation of local people in such cases has been mainly in the form of creating jobs like watchman and labourers. Further, the local person to be appointed as tourist guide has also been found in limited sense. The percentage score obtained from die survey for participation of local people is 69 and mat for participation in tourism planning is just 53.25. As mentioned in the methodological part 50 % score indicates almost indifference. Therefore, the results of the survey may be interpreted, as there is no perfect agreement either for significant participation of local people or for no role in tourism planning. Thus, it may be accepted that present tourism in the western Pune district is not participatory in nature. This issue must be addressed while designing strategy for ecotourism.
123 4.5 Conservation of natural and cultural factors and tourism: The observations made at time of the field study have revealed that neither tourist nor tour operator, hotel owner are concerned about conservation of flora and fauna. Indiscriminate destruction of forest for construction of roads and building and nuisances created by tourists have been responsible for deteriorating biodiversity. This has also been pointed out by many studies such as Singh Somorjit (1988), Holden (1999). The western part of Pune district has not the exception to this in any sense. The survey has revealed that the tourism activity has not been responsible for conservation of flora and fauna. The related question has gained the weightage of about 45 %. Similarly, the present tourism activities are not in position to conserve historical places. The score has been just 42.13 %. It is quite visible that many historical building are maintained properly as observed at Shivneri, Sinhgarh, Purndhar etc. (photo plate). It is expected that tourism activities can be increased if such monuments are restored and preserved properly. It may also be expected that the tourism activity can generate required fund for conservation. However, the present system of tourism is not in positing to take care of such building and hence ecotourism can be welcomed. The present tourism lacks in creating security and safety in the areas of tourist destinations in the study area. This has been rightly perceived by tourist and local people and hence score value for this question is less than 50 % (42.13 %). The three issues mentioned here have been important mainly because they are closely associated with the resource base of tourism. According to the concept of sustainability this resource base should be protected. It may be worth mentioning that tourist have opined that the present tourism practices have been responsible for rejuvenation of local cultural. The score value for which has been 80.63 %. This means that more than 80 % people have the perception that local culture can be highlighted due to tourism. This is mainly related to the local food, handicrafts, locally used kitchenware baskets etc. The local people can earn by way of selling such crafts to tourist. This kind of activity should be promoted while designing ecotourism plan for the region. Thus it may be remarked that present tourism fails to promote conservation of flora, fauna and historical monuments and creating security and safety. However, it has been responsible to some extend for rejuvenation of local culture, which may be a point of attraction for sizeable number of tourists.
124 4.6 Responsible tourists and tourism: The responsible tourists are those who have knowledge of local natural and cultural environment and awareness regarding conservation of nature and cultural heritage and reducing pollution and proactive for the same. One of the objectives of ecotourism is to improve proportion of responsible tourists. Therefore attempt has been made to understand the present state of tourism in this regard. There were four questions related to responsible tourism in the questionnaire. It has been observed that awareness regarding issues related to garbage management is very low i.e. 36 .5 %, this means that majority of the tourist are either do not agree to take the responsibility or to be indifferent regarding this issue. A very few proportion of tourist have shown agreement regarding this issue. This kind of attitude has led to spoiling the tourist places with waste and that to of aluminium foils, tins, fast food packages, rappers etc. create nuisance to flora and fauna and ultimately deteriorate living conditions of villagers and tourist as well. This kind of problem has become severe in the areas of mass tourism, especially Bhimashankar, Panshet, Sinhgarh etc. However some hopes have been observed in the fieldwork showing awareness regarding this issue by conducting awareness campaign, displaying boards, organising visits of active social workers, efforts of NGOs etc. . > "., This been responsible for increasing the score for question weather tourism can create responsible tourist (56.38 %), similarly score value obtained for tourist role in conservation (54.13 %). Both these values are slightly more than 50 % indicating positive response. However, this cannot be considered as a good responsible tourism because the low score values regarding garbage issue. One question regarding knowledge of specialties of local environment has been asked to the tourist as a part of understanding of responsible tourism. The survey has shown that this aspect has got negative response, as the score value is 41.63 %. It is necessary to any tourist to have this kind of knowledge to become a good tourist. Thus, it may be stated here that the present tourism has much scope for improvement on the lines of responsible tourism. For this, it is necessary that each and every tourist should shoulder the responsibility of conservation, waste management, spreading knowledge about the environment and improving awareness among the stakeholders. The interpretation of the result of the survey regarding the four major aspects given in the paragraph 4.2 and 4.5 are interlinked with each other. It has been observed that the present tourism achieved successes interims of economic development and improvement of infrastructure. However the benefits of development have reached in a feeble way. This
125 is mainly because of low level of awareness and sense responsibility of among the stakeholders. It may be assumed here that the ecotourism practices may resolve such practices.
4.7 Method of selecting tourist places: Main purpose of the study is to understand the intensity of problems at various destination sites. The main question posed for the study is how to sites tourist places for this. This can be considered as purposive sampling. The details 'of the method are discussed below. To carry out the studies regarding present tourism scenario, role and nature of stakeholders, some places for case studies and sample collection have been selected on the basis that they are famous and visited by maximum number of tourists on weekends and other holidays in the study region. The places which are famous and visited by large number but urban in nature have been excluded because understanding of ecotourism could be better realised in rural scenario. Such places have been selected on the basis of information from books, reference books, experts and tour operators, news papers etc. Similarly, efforts have been taken to verify the information on the basis questionnaire method. The questionnaire has been filled in by the people who are directly or indirectly related to tourism activity to get right perspective about selection of the most visited and highly vulnerable to places. There are 14 places identified which have all kinds of importance and identity from tourism point of view. The questionnaire circulated amongst the stakeholder to understand their response as "high, medium, low and not aware" regarding intensity of pollution and mass tourism. The score is assigned 3, 2,1 and 0 respectively to such answers. The processing of data has been carried out according to the two steps. First, sum of score value for each place has been computed. Second, the percentage has been calculated by dividing maximum expected score to sum of each place. After sorting the results, in descending order ranking has been given to the tourist places. The highest rank indicates high intensity of mass tourism and pollution. The result of the calculation has shown that Sinhgarh stood first (92.30 %) and the next are Lonawala (92.2%), Bhimashankar (78.5 %), Tamhini (70.2 %) and Panshet (69.2 %). Other subsequent places are shown the lowest rank Kelad, Ahupe, Nane Ghat and Varandh Ghat represent less famous naturally least affected by the tourism activity.
126 On the basis of the result, Sinhgarh and Bhimashankar have been selected for understanding of tourist scenario and perception. Sinhgarh, Bhimshanker Tamini and Panshet have been selected for the analysis of hotel working and also tourist villages in the vicinity, selected for understanding of percent tourism and perception of local people. Similarly, the places have been shown least score could be considered potential places. These places and places of similar characteristics have been selected for the preparing plan of diversification of tourist through travel- circuit approach and study of potential villages, which are located in the vicinity to these places.
4.8 Perception of local people: In the preceding paragraph it has been noted that some tourist places in the study region are facing problem of mass tourism and they are vulnerable to pollution due to it. The understandings of present tourism activity with perception of the local people of villages, which are vicinity to the famous tourist places, have been essential for development of ecotourism in the study region. The overall experiences of the tourist places may be helpful for designing strategy for development of the potential tourist places and corrective measures for development of the famous tourist places. Therefore, three villages have been selected from the vicinity to famous tourist places, such as Sinhgarh, Panshet and Bhimashankar. The villages are Golewadi near Sinhgarh, Panshet near Panshet Dam and locals residing near Bhimashankar. All these places have variation in their image as a tourist place, such as Sinhgarh has heritage value, Panshet has natural scenic value and Bhimashankar has religious value.
4.8.1 Impact of Tourism on Rural Development: Perception of the local people about the present tourism activity has been understood about the impact of tourism on local household by conducting the survey. Alger (1988) has mentioned that at the household level, a key issue is the survival of the family unit, both economically and socially. Accordingly, the seven questions have been asked in the questionnaire, which are related to the perception about the impact of the present tourism. The five questions are related to economic development and participation in the tourism activity and two question related to promotion of environment and culture.
127 The understanding of perception has been identified by giving choices such as "Agree, Indifferent, and Disagree and Not known" and the score has been assigned to them 3, 2, 1 and 0 respectively. The percentage of each aspect showing impact of tourism has been calculated by dividing the total score of the aspect by maximum possible score. The results have been arranged according to the intensity of impact of tourism activity in descending order. (Table No. 4.2). Table No. 4.2 Impact of Tourism on Rural Development Sr. No. Impact of tourism on Perspective (%) 1 Business 88.9 2 Standard of living 76.6 3 Infrastructure 74.4 4 Service 57.8 5 Environmental prosperity 51.1 6 Cultural prosperity 47.8 7 Participation in planning and management. 40.0 (Field survey 2005-06)
Figure No.4.1 Impact of Tourism on Development
I Business. IV. Service. II Standard of living. V. Environmental prosperity. III. Infrastructure. VI. Cultural Prosperity. VI Participation in planning and management.
The values have been given in the table shows that villagers get opportunities for economic development due to tourism activity. It has been observed by higher rank to the factors such as business, standard of living, infrastructure and service sector in the figure no.4.1. The higher rank may be due to
128 increase in business like hotels, fast food shops, variety of retail shops, lodging etc. The business activity helps to increase in income and it leads to improvement in standard of living. Regarding infrastructural development, tourism gives impetus to its development in the form of metalled road, transport, supply of drinking water; electricity etc. Its quality and sustainability may be doubtful but government has to take some cognizance of the movement of tourists as a part of their responsibility. Environmental and cultural prosperity and participation of local people in planning and management are important factors with respect to ecotourism. It may be worth noticing that tourism activities have shown meagre impact on environmental and cultural prosperity. The participation of local people has shown lowest score indicating that views of local villagers have not taken in to account for designing and managing tourist activities. This has also been surfaced in the survey of tourist as mentioned earlier.
4.8.2 Role of Government and NGOs: The role of the government and NGOs influencing on tourism activities have been identified through discussion with villagers. Therefore opinions of villagers have been asked about the role of government and NGOs. For this, the questions about government schemes for supporting business and promoting tourism activity and activities of NGOs in the village promoting tourism have been included in the questionnaire. Villagers' views have been given below. In government publications various programme are mentioned for the people of rural area. It has been always mentioned about their efforts related to the development activities and publicised in various media sources. In this regard, it is necessary to understand the role of the government and NGO in the development process through perception of local people have been taken into account. This has been rated from 1 to 4 with value 1 for excellent, 2 for good, 3 for fair and 4 for poor performance. Role of Government has been rated poor or unsatisfactory, as almost all the villagers from the surveyed villages have rated it as 4. The role of NGOs has been recognised in Bhimashankar area. The two NGOs mainly 'Maharashtra Aryoga Mandal' and 'Sashwat' in Bhimashankar area are active. Their activities have been rated 3 means fair. Both these perception revealed that there is need for enhancing the role of government and NGOs in the integrated rural development of which ecotourism can be a component.
129 4.8.3 Infrastructure: Development of infrastructure is very necessary for the development of tourism. There are two categories of infrastructure i.e. basic infrastructure and tourism infrastructure. Tourism infrastructure includes in the form of restaurant, hotel accommodation, entertainment etc. as services provided to the tourists and basic infrastructure includes basic facilities like accessibility, communication, medical aid and supply of water as a base of livelihood of the local people. Basic infrastructure is necessary for tourism development at the stage of take off. However, infrastructure has been discussed with locals of the three selected villages for understanding of its present condition rated from excellent, good, fair and unsatisfactory by giving score 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively. On the basis of score it has been grouped into four categories by calculating percentage from their total of assigned score of each factor such as excellent (1 to 25 %), good (25 to 50 %), fair (50 to 75 %) and unsatisfactory (75% to 100%). Table No. 4.3
Condition of Infrastructure
Sr. No. Factor INFRASTRACTURE I POWER 53.30% II TRANSPORT 65% III PHONE 67.50% IV WATER SOURCE 75.00% V MEDICAL 79.10% VI ROAD 80% VII TAP WATER 80% (Field survey 2005-06)
In fair class (50 to 75 %), factors like electricity power (53.3), transport (65%), Phone (67.50) have been observed. The condition of electricity power has been rated near by good. In the unsatisfactory class (75% to 100%), medical facilities, road condition and availability of natural water source and tap water facility have been observed. None of the facilities observed in good or excellent category. It shows that government may not be aware about potential of tourism as a tool of economic and regional development. It has been already discussed in the preceding Paragraph.
130 Table No. 4. 4
Infrastructure Condition of the Tourism Villages Sr. No. Factor Panshet Golewadi Bhimashankar I Road 62.5 87.5 90 II Electricity power 47.5 62.5 50 m Tap water 85 55 100 IV Water source 82.5 60 82.5 V Transport 67.5 62.5 65 VI Phone 77.5 47.5 77.5 vn Medical 85 60 92.5 (Field survey 2005-06) Figure No.4.2
Infrastructure Condition of the Tourism Villages
-Panshet Golewadi Bhimashankar I Road 11 Electricity power in Tap water IV. Water Source v. Transport VI. Phone VII Medical
The plight of the infrastructure facilities at the surveyed villages has been discussed below. The observations of the infrastructural facilities as depicted by the graph (Fig.No.4.2) indicate that road condition is the major problem of Golewadi and Bhimashankar (75 %). Similarly, availability of natural water source, supplies of tap water and medical facilities have been shown to unsatisfactory class (> 80 %) at Bhimashankar and Panshet. Supply of electric has been observed to be in better condition in comparison with the other factors in all the three villages. The transport condition has similar plight of fair condition (between 60 to 70 %).
131 The average infrastructural conditions of these villages have been understood here by studying all the factors in totality. The result has been calculated in percentage. It shows that road conditions and availability of tap water and medical facility has been in the very poor condition (around 80%). The condition of permanent water source has also been nearly unsatisfactory. Only power condition has been noticed as the good (53.3%). The transport and phone have been shown as fair condition. The analysis presented in the table no. 4.4 shows that none of the basic component of infrastructure has attained a status like excellent or good, even the villages located near the famous tourist places. The reason about the condition has been discussed with local people. According to them indifferent attitude of the government officers, lack of commitment of the local politician and their bribery practices are the reasons for the situation. Figure No. 4.3
General Infrastructure Condition of the Tourism Villages
100 79.6 80 72.5 62.1 60 40 20 0 Bhimashankar Pans net Golewadi Tourist Places D Infrastructure Situation
Thus, the infrastructure of the three villages may be considered as below the expectation. The detail for each tourist place has been calculated. The total score of the each village have been observed that Golewadi (62 %), Panshet (72.5 %) and Bhimashankar (76.6 %). The result shows that infrastructure of the villages have been almost in the fair condition. Golewadi has comparatively better situation as compared to the other two places. The reason may be that it is nearer to the Pune city and numbers of farmhouses of VIP's have been developed in nearby areas. Probably it may have encouraged the development of basic infrastructure to some extent.
4.8.4 Environmental Problems: It has been noted from various studies that tourism activity creates issues about the sustainability of environment (Honey, 1999). As mentioned earlier, the present study has mainly focused on understanding of environmental problems as
132 perceived by the local people rather than by carrying out regular Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). Therefore major problems studied here are plastic waste, deforestation, air pollution, noise pollution, water pollution and sprawling of farmhouses. The quantitative data regarding environmental pollution and degradation have not been available for the selected villages. Intensity of each problem has been surveyed qualitatively. The qualitative data have been converted into numeric form by assigning the score in increasing order according to the severity of problem. The score method has already been explained. It has been attempted to understand environmental and cultural problems as sensed by the villagers by asking the question about villagers with respect to these problems. Samples taken from Golewadi near Sinhagarh fort, Panshet a village near beautiful dam site and third is Bhimashankar, rich in biodiversity and famous as the religious place. Table No. 4.5 Environmental Problems of the Tourism Villages Sr. No. Environmental Problems Panshet Golewadi Bhimashankar I Plastic Garbage 53.3 83.3 66.7 n Deforestation 76.7 40.0 36.7 in Air Pollution 23.3 46.7 23.3 IV Noise Pollution 26.7 53.3 23.3 V Water Pollution 16.7 26.7 63.3 VI Farm Houses 96.7 83.3 10.0 (Field survey 2005-06)
Figure No.4.4 Environmental Problems of the Tourism Villages 100.0
I
I. Plastic Garbage II. Deforestation III. Air Pollution IV. Noise Pollution V. Water Pollution VI. Farmhouses
133 V
Plastic Garbage at Bhimashankar
In general, environmental problems have been considered for all the three places. The following environmental problems have been noted on the basis of intensity. The problem of plastic accumulation to due waste from tourist and local business has been observed as high intensity problem in the surveyed villages. Second problem is sprawling of farm houses in or around the tourist places has been replacing wood forest to concrete forest at Panshet (96.7%) and Golewadi (83.3%). The problem of deforestation are mainly related to excessive use of fuel wood, illegal cutting of forest and sprawling of farms houses has been marked out significantly at Panshet (76.7%) and problem of water Pollution noted at Bhimashankar (63.3%). The reason for the problem has been that large number of tourists and local businessmen throwaway garbage recklessly in the water bodies. In addition to that there is problem of water scarcity except in rainy season. The other problems like noise and air pollution have been noticed comparatively with lower intensity. ; Observations from graph and tables have been clearly shown that most of the problems may be related to careless behaviour of tourists and greed of people to have property in pleasant environment. 4.8.5 Cultural Problems: In the tourism activity, interaction with tourists and development of economy creates issues related to identity of local culture. The problems of local culture due to tourism have been studied by number of scholars Choegyal (1991), Bandy (1996). Table no.4.6 Cultural Problems of the Tourism Villages Sr.No. Cultural problems Panshet (%) Golewadi (%) Bhimashankar (%) I Shout 80.0 53.3 16.7 II Exotic behaviour of tourist 96.7 70.0 16.7 in Threat/ Beat 63.3 46.7 30.0 IV Misbehaviour of tourist 60.0 50.0 16.7 V Damage to heritage 50.0 70.0 13.3 VI Misbehaviour of people 50.0 26.7 26.7 QFiel d survey 2005-06)
Figure No. 4.5 Cultural Problems of the Tourism Villages
100.0 90.0 80.0 70.0 -Panshet 60.0 Golewadi 50.0 40.0 -j Bhimashankar 30.0 20.0 10.0 0.0 II III IV VI Factors
I. Shout II. Exotic behaviour of tourist III. Threat/ Beat IV. Misbehaviour of tourist V. Damage to heritage VI. Misbehaviour of people
The problems related to culture are closely associated with perception of tourist about the tourist place. The graph (Fig No.4.5) clearly indicates that in the Sinhgarh and Panshet area main problem due to tourism is exotic behaviour of tourists (96.7% and 70%) and nuisance due to shouting (80% and 53.3%). The problems may be aggravated due to visits of majority of college students to these places because of disturbing privacy
135 and pleasant environment. According to villagers, such behaviour has been creating wrong influence on new generation. Damage to heritage means careless attitude of tourists towards rich historical monuments. It has been noticed significantly at Golewadi (70%) i. e. Sinhgarh fort area. It has been marked that the bad practices are writing visitors' name, running on the walls, throwing stones on the monuments etc. Therefore it is urgent need to handle by maintaining purity and ambience of the tourist places, for which policy of prevention is better than cure. The problem of threat and beat has been ranked 3rd after exotic behaviour of the tourists, shouting or making noise has been observed at Panshet (63.3%). It has been shown highest (30%) as compare to other problems at Bhimashankar. The incidences of threat and beat have been noted causing embarrassment to the couples or lovers, who are sitting isolated. They have been threaten or beaten to get some money. This kind of antisocial element must be checked. Misbehaviour of tourist has been observed higher at Panshet (60%) and comparatively lower at the other villages. Misbehaviour of people has been shown comparatively lower intensity at the villages. The environmental and cultural problems in all the three surveyed villages have been understood here in totality. The table no.4.8 and fig. No.4.6 show that environmental problems have been observed on the basis intensity in descending order at Golewadi (55.6%), Panshet (48.9%) and Bhimashankar (37.2%).
Table No. 4.7
General Situation of the Problems of the Tourism Villages
Villages Environmental Problems % Cultural Problems %
Panshet 48.9 66.7
Golewadi 55.6 52.8
Bhimashankar 37.2 20.0
(Field survey 2005-06)
136 Figure No.4.6
Problems of Villages
fw.v - 60.0 • 50.0 £40.0 lEnv. Problems 1 30.0 I Cult. Problems S. 20.0 10.0 -I 0.0 - Panshet Golewadi Bhimashankar Villages
Regarding cultural problems, highest intensity of the problems has been observed at Panshet (66.7%), next are Golewadi (52.8%) and Bhimashankar (20.0%). On the basis of the data, comparitively low intensity at Bhimashankar may be due to religious place and its location away from the major urban centre e.g. Pune, Mumbai. On the contrary, Panshet and Golewadi (Sinhgarh) are close to the Pune city and have beautiful scenery and salubrious climate. Thus, it is famous tourist place among the tourists and large number of tourists (especially college youth) visit the place for picnic purpose. This may be the reason behind higher intensity of the problems as compared to Bhimashankar.
4.9 Tourist Profile: It has been already noted that places like Sinhgarh, Lonawala, Bhimashankar, Panshet and Tamahani are most vulnerable. Lonawala has urban status and Panshet area and Tamahani Ghat have not the specific tourist places. Therefore to get rational perception about tourism activity in the study region Sinhgarh and Bhimashankar have been selected for the survey of tourists. In addition to that both the places not only have scenic view and salubrious climate but also Sinhgarh has heritage value and Bhimashankar has religious value. The general information about the tourists as an important stakeholder is essential for designing development of ecotourism at the present and potential tourist places in the study area. Each of the tourist places has its own characteristics such as heritage monument, biodiversity, scenic beauty, healthy climate, religious importance and renowned architecture etc. Tourists choose the destination according to their purpose and
137 geographical factors. Kretchmann and Eagles (1990) have proposed psychological approaches to classify people into groups according to their life styles and accordingly people's behaviour that are identified and categorised to distinguish different types of respondent. Roberts (1996) also mentioned that factors like demographic, attitudes and personality traits have been considered and shown to exert varying degrees of influence over final consumption patterns. Thus, the factors like age, group, frequency, season, education, etc, which are related to tourist profile have been studied to understand the behavioural aspects of the tourist. This may be useful in designing the planning strategy.
4.9.0 Age Group: Table No.4.8 Age Group of the Tourist
Group Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage
10--20 9 19 28 14
20-30 60 29 89 44.5
30-40 13 16 29 14.5
40-50 9 24 33 16.5
50-60 9 6 15 7.5
60-70 0 6 6 3
(Field survey 2005-06)
In the study (Table No. 4.8) has been noticed that about 70% of the tourists have age blow 40 years and among them the majority of the tourists belong to the age group 20 to 30 years. It shows that young generation are more interested in tourism activity. The difference about age composition has been observed between the two selected places. At Bhimashankar, visitors have been from almost all the age groups without any domination of any single age group. On the contrary at Sinhgarh 60% of the tourists have been observed from the 20-30 yrs. age groups. The reason for the difference may be the purpose of the tourism.
138 4.9.1 Purpose of the Tourist: Table No.4.9 Purpose of the Tourist
Group Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Adventure 2 0 2 Picnic 60 13 73 Trek 4 5 9 Nature 5 5 10 Heritage 20 1 21 Relaxation 9 0 9 Darshan 0 76 76 (Field survey 2005-06)
The purpose of the tourism is important aspect for the development of ecotourism. The data presented in the table no. 4.9 has shown the clear difference about the purposes of tourist towards both the places. At Sinhgarh, majority of tourists visit for purpose of picnic (60%) and next to see the heritage monuments (20%). The main purpose of the tourists at Bhimashankar has darshan ofjyotirlinga (76%) and subsequently picnic.
4.9.2 Relation between age and purpose of the Tourist Table No.4.10 Relation Between of Age and Purpose of the Tourist (Bhimashankar) Purpose 10-20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 Total Darshan 15 16 14 22 5 4 76 Picnic 1 8 2 1 0 1 13 Nature 1 3 0 1 0 0 5 Heritage 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 Trek 2 2 0 0 0 1 5 Total 19 29 16 24 6 6 100 (Field survey 2005-06)
Table No.4.11 Relation between Age and Purpose of the Tourist (Sinhgarh) Purpose 10--20 20-30 30-40 40-50 50-60 60-70 Total Picnic 7 32 10 4 7 0 60 Heritage 0 15 3 2 0 0 20 Relax 0 7 0 2 0 0 9 Nature 0 2 0 1 2 0 5 Trek 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 Adventure 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 Total 9 60 13 9 9 0 100 (Field survey 2005-06)
139 The relations between age groups and purpose to visit at these places have been understood here. The table no. 4.10 and 4.11 depict that the main purpose of young generation (<30 age) at Sinhgarh is picnic. On the contrary at Bhimashankar, tourists of all the age groups have shown darshan as the main purpose. The tourists visit Bhimashankar for picnic purposes have been mainly youth. The encouraging aspect for promotion of ecotourism is that the young tourists visit Sinhgarh has concern for heritage monuments also. It is clear that there is close relationship between purpose to visit the tourist places and age groups. The study may helps in formulation planning for awareness drive for ecotourism.
4.9.3 Education: Education as a factor has been studied here with assumption that educated tourists may be more responsible. Initially, general education status of the tourists has been identified as shown in the table (Table no.4.12). Table no.4.12
Classification of Tourist by Educational Status
Group Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage G 55 44 99 49.5 UG 17 5 22 11 HSC 1 13 13 6.5 PG 17 19 36 18 SCH 6 19 25 12.5 VOC 1 0 2 1 NONED 3 0 3 1.5 \ (Field survey 2005-06) The study of educational status of majority of the tourists have marked that graduate tourists dominate (49.5%) and followed by postgraduates (18%). At Sinhgarh and Bhimashankar, maximum tourists are comprises graduates i.e. 55% and 44% and fallowed by postgraduate 17% and 19% respectively. In the study, it has been observed that education is dominant factor among the tourists. It means that educated people are willing for tourism activity for relaxation and pleasure.
140 4.9.4Education and Purpose:
Table No. 4.13 Relation between the Tourists Education and Purpose (Bhimashankar) Group Darshan Picnic Nature Heritage Trek Total G 36 4 2 1 1 44 UG 4 0 1 0 0 5 HSC 10 1 1 0 1 13 PG 10 5 1 0 2 19 SCH 16 3 0 0 0 19 Total 76 13 7 1 3 100 (Field survey 2005-06)
Table no. 4.14 Relation between the Tourists Education and Purpose(Sinhgarh) Group Picnic Heritage Relaxation Nature Trek/ Adventure Total G 35 7 6 3 4 55 UG 13 2 1 1 2 19 PG 8 9 0 0 0 17 SCH 3 2 0 1 0 6 NO ED 1 0 2 0 0 3 Total 60 20 9 5 6 100 (Field survey 2005-06)
Relations between education and purpose or aim of the tourism at various tourist places have been studied on the basis of sample survey at Sinhgarh and Bhimashankar. It has been already noticed in previous paragraph that tourists are normally visit to the Bhimashankar for Darshan of Joytirlinga and at Sinhgarh for picnic. The compiled data in the table (Table No. 4.13) have shown that out of 100 tourists 36 graduate and 10 postgraduate visitors have visited Bhimashankar for Darshan-purpose. Even at Sinhgarh (Table No. 4.14) also majority of the tourists belong to graduate and under graduate group have preferred to visit mainly for picnic. Some exception has been observed about postgraduate group, who gives little higher importance to visit for heritage purpose. Bhimashankar has rich biodiversity and Sinhgarh has rich historical heritage value. These major features of both the places have been unnoticed by the groups according to educational status.
141 The general assumption is that educated persons have greater sensibility towards natural and cultural environment. However, the study reveals that there is no significant relation between education and purpose of the tourists.
4.9.4 Occupation: Table no.4.15 Classification of Tourist According to Occupation
Group Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage Service 47 30 77 38.5 Business 22 42 64 32 House wife 5 6 11 5.5 Agriculture 2 3 5 2.5 Student 19 18 37 18.5 Other 5 1 6 3 Total 100 100 200 100 Source: Fielc survey 2 D06. General occupational pattern of the tourist have been perceived in the field study (Table No.4.15). The result state that among the surveyed tourists majority of tourists have occupation as service (38.5%) and the next has business (32%). About 70% or more tourists belong to both the groups. In the previous literature it has been mention that there is stress in services and business due to intense competition in modern globally competitive world. Similarly, exposer to the western world creates need for relaxation and hence it encourages such people to visit the tourist places to get rid of daily routine stressful life. The present study has endorsed this kind of view.
4.9.5 Season: Table no.4.16
Seasonal Variation in Tourists Visits
Season Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage ALL 4 7 11 5.5 Winter 28 49 77 38.5 Summer 13 15 28 14 Rainy 55 29 84 42 (Field survey 2005-06)
142 The survey also included the enquiry about the season in which tourist prefers to visit the places under study. According to the compiled information (table no. 4.16) majority of the tourists visit the tourist places in the rainy season and the next preference is winter season. Very low proportion of tourists visit in the summer as these places are not providing cool environment in the season. In the rainy season, bath in heavy down powering rain, viewing waterfalls and green valleys are the main attractions and winter is famous for trekking. None of the places have been flooded all the year in the study region. This kind of information may be useful for promotion and diversification of tourists.
4.9.6 Frequency of repeated visits: The attempt has been made to collect the information regarding how many times tourists have visited a tourist place. It has been understood with the help of data given in the table no.4.17. Table no.4.17 Frequency of Repeated Visits of the Tourists Frequency Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage 1 52 54 106 53 2 24 20 44 22 3 6 7 13 6.5 4 5 3 8 4 >4 13 16 29 14.5 (Field survey 2005-06)
The table shows that majority of tourists visit the place once. About the 48% tourists visit second or more times at Sinhgarh and about 46% at Bhimashankar. The places visited twice or more than it called as high frequency places. Therefore, tourist places have some characteristic like the high frequency tourist places are necessary to be searched and promoted through proper publicity for diversification of tourists to reduce stress of mass tourism on the certain them. Another aspect has also been noticed in the questionnaire that >90% of the tourists wishes to visit the place again. These aspects may also help to promote the tourist places of similar characteristic but underutilised.
143 4.6.7 Source of Information: Table no.4.18 Classification of Tourists According to Source of Information
Source Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage Magazine 3 3 6 3 Books 14 10 24 12 Family 23 63 86 43 Friends 48 20 68 34 TV 5 3 8 4 Other 7 1 8 4
(Field survey 2005-06)
Promotion of the tourist places significantly depends upon the source of information. This has been understood in the field survey. It has been observed that the information about Sinhgarh and Bhimashankar has been surprisingly received by majority of the tourists (77%) from informal sources like family and friends. The sources of publicity like magazine, television, internet, information centre, hotel, tour operators have been useful for only 23% tourists. It may be remarked that such sources have been underutilised in the study area. The promotion of potential tourist places may be acts opportunities through the media sources.
4.9.8 Transport: Table no.4.19 Mode of Transport of the Tourist Group Sinhgarh Bhimashankar Total Percentage Bus 25 37 62 31 Car 29 30 59 29.5 Jeep 6 24 30 15 Two Wheeler 33 9 42 21 Three Wheeler 4 0 4 2 Other 3 0 3 1.5 (Field survey 2005-06)
144 In the table no. 4.19 shows that public transport system has been averagely used. The data shows that about one third of the tourists prefer public transport system and the rest used private vehicles. It has been observed that most of the tourists prefer to use of four-wheeler at Bhimashankar and two wheeler at Sinhgarh. The reason may be the distance between the tourist destination and the areas from which tourist come. There is scope for effective public transport to easy accessibility for the tourist by introducing environment friendly transport system from the foot hill to the fort at Sinhgarh. Such system may be developed at other destinations also with the basic aim to avoid traffic conjunction and pollution near the place.
4.9.8 Education and norms of tourist: Table no.4.20 Education and Awareness of Tourists Group G PG SCH UG HSC NO 4 1 5.5 4 0 0 0 3 8 5.5 12 12.5 0 0 2 17 19.5 24 25 15.4 0 1 48.5 47.3 36 54.2 38.5 100 0 25.5 22.2 24 8.3 46.1 0 (Field surv ey 2005-C 6)
The relationship has been understood on the basis of percentage of tourists in each class. It may assume that education may inculcate environmental bias in tourism. The present study has attempted to find out relationship between educational status of tourists and responsible tourism. For this, questionnaire asking the tourists their educational level and some questions regarding their practices responsible tourism has been circulated amongst the randomly selected tourists. About seven questions regarding awareness have been asked to tourists to understand their attitude. Each positive answer adds the score of awareness by one. Thus, lower the value of score less is the awareness. The classification of tourists according to the score indicating awareness (GO to G4) has been carried out. Further each class is divided according to educational level. Thus, the two way classification has been presented in the table (Table No. 4.20).
145 present studysuggestsohavesuchplanfo r thetouristswithparticipationof prior informationaboutnatura l andculturasetupofthetourisdestinatio n andawareness for ecotourism.Hencethproportionofresponsibl e tourististhimportanparameterof 4.9.9 Responsibletourist: sustainable development ofecotourism.Theresponsibltouristmeans , apersonhaving stakeholders. help tosensitisethstudenregardingsurroundinenvironment,culturandheritage.Th emphasis onproperunderstandingfculturalethicandenvironmentaawareness.Itmay tourists. playing anyroleregardincultivationofenvironmentaldculturaethicswithith and responsiblenaturofthtouristsItclearlyindicatethapreseneducationino may beremarkedthattherisnoansignificanrelationshipbetweeeducationalstatu has beenobservedforthetouristwitheducatiobelowgraduatio(Figurno.4.7)It graduate isconsideredabout70%ofthemcomundergroup0an1.Almossampattern groups, 25.5%and22.2arenotfollowingynorms.Abou48.5PGtourists 47.3% graduatetouristsfollowonlyonnorm.Ifthsumoandpost following anynormsorfollowonetwonly.Thgraduatdpostgraduat According toTheEcotourismSociety,responsibl e travelisimportantprerequisit It maybesuggestedherthacurriculumofthschoolsancollegeshoulgiv The datainthtablhavindicatedthatmajorityoftourisareitherno (Field survey2005-06)
Percentage 100% Relation betweeEducatioandTouristNorms 20% 30%- 40%- 60%- 70%- 90% - 10% 50% - 80% 0% A A A • {-- G PGSCHUHSCNO L8.J !5.E 17 ,. ; 47.: 9.J y — • Figu Education R re No. .... - 24 36 I = 4.7 ;4.;i 25 _ - -0-' 18.! i 16." 5.i. < ...- 10C *• • GR-4 BGR-3 oGR-2 DGR-1 DGR-0 146 about it with the perspective of conservation. For understanding the responsible nature of tourists, six basic criteria have been used in the questionnaire. It includes questions on prior information of natural and cultural setting, use of plastic and its disposal, purchasing from local persons or outsider and awareness about rules and norms related to the tourist behaviour. The answers of the questions are expected in YES or NO, which assigned the score value of 1 and 0 respectively. Finally percentage is calculated for them and class wise distribution has been shown graphically ( Fig. 4.8). The responsible tourist has been understood by calculating percentage of norms followed by a tourist to the total expected norms in each classified groups. Each group has been classified on the basis of norms (in percentage) followed by the tourists, such as 0-10, 10-20 to 60-80. The figuresi n bracket indicate number of norms observed by the tourists. Figure No.4.8
Responsible Tourist
50 47.5
f 30 23:5" lTourist% 520 £•• 19 •c g 10 H-FfF 0-20 20-40 40-60 60-80 Score Group
(Field survey 2005-06) The figure no.4.8 depict that none of the surveyed tourists follows all the norms of responsible tourist. The followers of maximum number norms from the best groups have just 2% (4) tourists. On the contrary 23.5% tourists don't follow a single norm and they don't bother about it. Maximum tourists 47.5% (1) comes under poor category and only 19% (2) comes under fair category and remaining 8% (3) follow the 50% of the total norms and hence classified as good quality tourists. The graph clearly indicates that almost 70% of the tourists are classified as worst and poor. Only 10% tourists follow 50% or more norms. Thus, it may be remarked that the tourists in the study area are very poorly responsible. Therefore it is necessary to take steps at all the levels and to undertake awareness drive for responsible tourism.
147 Further, the norm wise classification of data have been attempted to understand the number of norms followed by tourists. The graph (Fig. No.4.9) clearly observed that not a single norm is followed by even 40% tourists. Figure No.4.9
Norms of Tourist Q % of tourist A0-, 35 ~ 38 30 25.5
§• 25 • 21 « 20 15.5 S. 15 10.5 10 - 7 f | 5
I . 1 1 , 1 ENawar. cul. Awar. Plastic Disposal toe/out Rule Factors
If the norms are to be arranged in descending order according to the response of the tourists they can be listed as 1) Disposable & non-biodegradable 38%, 2) awareness about no use of plastic 25.5%, 3) priority to local in purchasing 21%, 4) environmental awareness 5.5%, 5) cultural awareness 10.5%, 6) awareness about rules of tourism,7%. On the basis of the information, it may be summarised that most of the tourists do not have awareness about local culture and environment and basic rules as a responsible tourist. It may be a major cause of adverse impact due to mass tourism. This may be the root cause for the environmentalists and social workers to be against initiating tourism in environmentally sensitive areas with the present form.
4.9.10 Tourist Expenditure- Tourism is considered as an instrument of socio-economic development. The development mainly depends upon expenditure of tourists and development of infrastructure. Here focus has been kept on expenditure of tourist at the tourist place to have an idea about the present revenue from the tourists.
148 Figure 4.10
Expenditure of Tourist
50 r I & 40 I 30 n ' 20
10 n — 0 - 1.. J* & f & • /
Factors •Tourist %
The expenditure made by the tourists has been classified in six groups viz. transport, food, accommodation, purchase, guide and other. The result of sample survey has been shown with the help of chart (Fig. 4.10). It is quite visible fromth e graph that the major share of expenditure is on transport. It is around 50% of the total expenditure. As discussed previously the majority of the tourists visit the places by travelling by own vehicle. This leads to increase up to 50% of the total. Expenditure on food (28.5%) is next to transport. Thus it is observed that the tourists spent maximum on travel and food. The subsequent next items of expenditure are on accommodation (8.2%), purchases (7.1%), others (4.4%), and guide (0.9%). Most of the tourists are day trippers and that very few tourists prefer to stay at Sinhgarh (13%) and Bhimashankar (24%). The expenditure on purchasing at the tourist places is mainly on the kid plays and religious articles. On the basis of the study, it may be proposed that there is tremendous scope to get maximum economic benefit by providing services like various types of local food, handicraft, local cultural programme, guide, local travel, providing good accommodation at tourist location with good sight scene etc. This may be the additional income source to the locals as compare to present tourism business. The revenue may be generated at the local level through taxation on local economic activities, parking and entry fee according to polluters pay principle (PPP).
149 4.10.1 Satisfaction Index: The index of satisfaction due to tourism may be a significant factor influencing size of business at any destination. Navale, Desmukh and Pardeshi (2000) have assessed the level of satisfaction of pilgrims with view that, it is necessary to know the view of pilgrims about various facilities provided to them at the destination and the attempt has made here to asses the level of satisfaction of pilgrim tourists to find out causes of dissatisfaction and to identify the area requiring special attention. With this view in mind present tourism activity has been evaluated according to this parameter. For this two destinations viz. Sinhgarh fort and Bhimashankar have been selected. The understanding of tourists' views about the various facilities available to them at the places has been attempted by conducting the survey. The study has been helpful to identify the areas, which need special attention. The enquiry about 14 aspects have been made to assign score values according degree satisfaction as per their experience or feeling. These are mainly concerned with tourism activity. Tourists opinions on the each aspect have been expected as excellent, good, fair and unsatisfactory, which have been given scores as by assigning score 4,3,2,1 respectively. In addition to this the option of 'No aware' has been given and score value for it has been considered as 0. This is based on the assumption that if a certain facility is not available or not known to the tourist it may be logically be considered as zero. Thus, each aspect has been evaluated and qualified from 0 to 4 according to increasing degree of satisfaction. Further, frequency of each score for variable has been calculated. The respective score has multiplied by the sum. The percentage of sum of multiplication has been calculated to the maximum score and satisfaction index have been given by assigning ranks to each variable at the two destinations. The technique may be understood with the help of simple mathematical formula given below. It may worth to explain the computer technique here with the help of following four steps. Step 1: Calculate the frequency of each variable for each score i.e. 0,1,2,3 and 4 as shown in the coloum 2 to 6. Step 2: sum of product of frequency and score value has been computed for each aspect as shown in the coloum 7. It is calculated with the following formula.
150 4 Sum of product for variable 1= hf\i*i i=0 Step 3:it may assumed that the maximum possible satisfaction would be 4* number of sample poits i.e.4* 100=400. Therefore sum of product is divided by 400 to calculate percentage degree of satisfaction for each variable as shown in the coloum 8 in the table. Thus the satisfaction index is calculated as:
4 £/lf*i i=0 Satisfaction index for variable 1 = * 100 /max * 2/ where: / = score value ranging from 0 to 4. J\ = frequancy for variable 1. Similarly frequancy for 1 to 14 variables can be/1,/2, f\ 4. S/= number of questionnaire circulated in the survey. Here this is 100. imax =maximum possible score for degree of satisfaction for each variable. Here it is 4.. Step 4: Ranking of all the aspects under consideration for quantifying degree of satisfaction may be based on the index given in the coloum 8. Table no. 4.21 Frequency of tourist for each score ( Bhimashankar)
f *sv/ max. Variables 0 1 2 3 4 f *sv score*100 Accommodation 25 23 41 5 6 144 36.0 Transport facility 6 18 45 27 6 213 53.3 Food 5 15 56 15 9 208 52.0 Road condition 0 44 33 21 2 181 45.3 Parking 4 18 38 30 10 224 56.0 Public toilet 17 73 7 2 1 97 24.3 Information centre 31 38 23 6 2 110 27.5 Cleanliness 3 51 36 6 4 157 39.3 Businessmen behaviour 9 5 37 42 7 233 58.3 Tourist behaviour 8 2 32 48 10 250 62.5 Local People behaviour 6 3 29 52 10 257 64.3 Tourist security 13 14 37 33 3 199 49.8 Heritage conservation 18 33 19 22 8 169 42.3 Waste disposal 23 45 19 8 5 127 31.8 (Field survey 2005-06) Table no. 4.22 Ranking of Facilities According to Satisfaction Index at Bhimashankar Rank Bhimashankar Index 1 Local people behaviour 64.3 2 Tourist behaviour 62.5 3 Businessmen behaviour 58.3 4 Parking 56.0 5 Transport facility 53.3 6 Food 52.0 7 Tourist security 49.8 8 Road condition 45.3 9 Heritage conservation 42.3 10 Cleanliness 39.3 11 Accommodations 36.0 12 Waste disposal 31.8 13 Information centre 27.5 14 Public toilet 24.3 (Field survey 2005-06)
The ranking of the satisfaction index at Bhimashankar has been highest for the behaviour of local people, tourists and Businessmen. Tourists are the source of income for locals and businessmen. It may be the reason of higher score. It is religious place; therefore tourists also remain conscious about their behaviour. Factors related to transport have been ranked 4th and 5th for parking and transport facility. This may be due to ample space available in the surrounding area. The frequency of public and private vehicle has been observed to be good. The condition of road stands 8th rank and it is quite visible along the reach from Dhimbhe to Bhimashankar. Food and tourist security are not up to the expectations therefore it stands at 6th and 7th ranks. It may be due to the fact that hotels are not clean and food is of average quality. As a religious place, on some auspicious days of weeks or on some festival day's pilgrimage gathered in unmanaged number. This leads to embracement to the tourists. This has also affected on practices related to conservation and EM such as heritage conservation, cleanliness and waste disposal etc. Consequently these aspects have shown 9th and 10th and 12th rank respectively. The lowest rank of facilities like accommodation, information centre and public toilet have been observed either due to unavailability or their worst condition. Table no. 4.23 Frequency of tourist for each score (Sinhgarh)
Variables 0 1 2 3 4 f *sv f *sv/ max. Score* 100 Accommodation 47 21 17 9 6 106 26.5 Transport facility 10 33 37 18 2 169 42.3 Food 3 9 38 33 17 252 63.0 Road condition 4 63 21 9 3 144 36.0 Parking 8 22 48 22 0 184 46.0 Public toilet 25 59 10 4 2 99 24.8 Information centre 45 42 6 6 1 76 19.0 Cleanliness 5 35 40 15 5 180 45.0 Businessmen behaviour 8 8 39 38 7 228 57.0 Tourist behaviour 8 9 34 41 8 232 58.0 Local people behaviour 8 8 35 40 9 234 58.5 Tourist security 20 32 28 19 1 149 37.3 Heritage conservation 18 51 15 14 2 131 32.8 Waste disposal 19 47 25 8 1 125 31.3 (Field survey 2005-06)
Table no. 4.24 Ranking of facilities according to satisfaction index at Sinhgarh
Rank Sinhgarh Index 1 Food 63.0 2 Local people behaviour 58.5 3 Tourist behaviour 58.0 4 Businessmen behaviour 57.0 5 Parking 46.0 6 Cleanliness 45.0 7 Transport facility 42.3 8 Tourist security 37.3 9 Jload condition 36.0 10 Heritage conservation 32.8 11 Waste disposal 31.3 12 Accommodation 26.5 13 Public toilet 24.8 14 Information centre 19.0 (Field survey 2005-06)
At the Sinhgarh, food quality stands 1st due to availability of local dishes like famous Zunka- bhakar, onion chatni, onion pakoda, curd and buttermilk and special maharashtrian meals. Behaviour of local people, tourists and businessmen has shown good
153 satisfaction index (above50%) and ranked 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively. The subsequent descending ranking from 5th to 14th have been noticed as parking condition, cleanliness, transport facility, tourist security, road condition, heritage conservation, waste disposal, accommodation, public toilet and information centre. It shows that at Sinhgarh condition of the basic infrastructure is not up to the mark and there is urgent need to take cognisance it. Similarly, condition about conservation of environment and heritage monument is also necessary to focus at the time of development planning by involving all the stakeholders.
4.10.2 Problems at tourist places: It has been noticed from the survey that Sinhgarh, Lonawala and Bhimashankar are the most affected places due to mass tourism. Such places are facing various environmental and cultural problems because of the mass tourism. Lonawala, a hill station on the way to Mumbai is now considered as urban place and has become too much crowded and pace of development is very fast. Hence it is very difficult to develop Lonawala on the lines of the eco tourism. Therefore it has been excluded from the case study. The tourist places viz. Sinhgarh and Bhimashankar have been selected for the case studies to understand the detail information about the tourists' perception about problems due to the present tourism activity. The attempt has made to find out the problems of the tourist places by questionnaire method. It is very difficult to procure data on problems of mass tourism from secondary source due to non-availability. Therefore selection of the problems has been based on the news and discussion with the few experts. The data have been generated from tourists who actually feel the problems at the tourist site. The questionnaire (Appendix II ) has been designed to enquire about the intensity of various problems. The answer has been rated as high, medium, low and 'No'. The score value has been assigned as 3, 2, 1 and 0 respectively. Initially, the sum has been calculated for each factor. The percentage has been calculated for the sum value of the each problem by dividing the maximum expected total score like previous technique. The result is arranged on in the descending manner. The result of the higher percentage shows high intensity of problem and next descending values of the problems denotes decreasing intensity subsequently.
154 4.10.2 (a) Environmental and cultural Problems: The environmental problems for the selected places have been studied with collective and comparative approach. This exercise has been useful to understand the intensity of site specific problems. The degree of intensity of each problem has been calculated using the technique explained in the paragraph no. 4.7. The final results have been tabulated (Table No. 4.25).
Table no. 4.25 Intensity of Environmental Problems Sr. No. Environmental Problems Total/600* 100 1 Plastic 72.3 2 Deforestation 55.0 3 Farm house 42.3 4 Water pollution 33.0 5 Air pollution 31.0 6 Noise Pollution 26.5 Field su rvev 2005-06) The table indicate that the problem of spread of plastic waste has highest intensity (72.3%). The next problem felt by the tourists has been deforestation (55%). This indicates that the tourist has shown concern to some extent for degradation of environment. It is interesting to observe that the farmhouses have posed significant problem with 42.3% intensity for the tourists. The tourists have opined that significant erosion of vegetation n cover has taken place due to construction of farm houses. The tourists also have felt the problem like water pollution (33%), air pollution (31%) and noise pollution (26.5%) with similar degree of intensity. Table No. 4.26 Intensity of Cultural Problems Sr. No. Cultural Problems Total/600* 100 1 Exotic Behaviour of Tourist 43.2 2 Damage to heritage 41.8 3 Shout of tourists 36.2 4 Misbehaviour of Tourist 27.5 5 Misbehaviour of People 19.5 6 Threat/ Beat 17.0 (Field survey 2005-06) The cultural problems as mentioned in the table (Table No. 4.26) have been ranked according to their intensity as felt by tourists. The exotic behaviour has been
155 intensively felt problems (43.2%). The other problems are damage to heritage (41.8 %), shouting of tourists (36.2%), misbehaviour of tourist (27.5 %), and misbehaviour of people (19.5%), threat or beat to tourists (17.0%). These results have been obtained by analysing the data for all the destinations surveyed. For understanding specific problems at a particular site, the data have also been analysed according to the sites viz. Sinhgarh fort and Bhimashankar.
4.10.2(b) Site specific environmental and cultural problems: The environmental and cultural problems have shown different trend for different sites as depicted in the charts (Fig. No.4.11 and 4.12). Figure No.4.11
Environmental problems -Bhimashankar
- Sinhgarh
III IV Problems
I Plastic problem II Deforestation III Water pollution IV Farmhouse V Air pollution VI Noise pollutions The results have been calculated by the same methodology as discussed in previous paragraph. The chart reveals that environmental problem have been observed with lower intensity at Bhimashankar as compared to Sinhgarh. The problem of air pollution has been observed with similar intensity at both places and
156 other factors have shown higher intensity at Sinhgarh. The problems of plastic waste and deforestation have been felt with higher intensity at both the places. The problem of noise pollution has been noticed with higher intensity at Sinhgarh. Intensity of water pollution and sprawling of farmhouses have been marked lower at Bhimashankar. The intensity of cultural problems for the two sites has also been calculated with the help of two separate data sets The chart (Fig. 4.12) is useful to understand the comparison. Figure No.4.12
Cultural problems 80.0
70.0
60.0 ( 50.0 2 a. 40.0 o 30.0 in 20.0
10.0
0.0 III IV VI Factors -Bhimashankar Sinhgarh
I Shout II Damage to heritage III Misbehaviour of Tourist IV Misbehaviour of People V Exotic Behaviour of Tourist VI Threat and Beat
It reveals that cultural problems have been observed with lower intensity at Bhimashankar as compared with that at to Sinhgarh. The problem of damage to heritage has been observed highest at the Sinhgarh and very insignificant at Bhimashankar. The problem of shouting by tourists has been felt with similar intensity at both places. The problems of exotic behaviour of tourist and threat and beat have been observed significantly at Sinhgarh. The problems of misbehaviour of tourist and people have been observed comparatively lower intensity at both the places.
157 The graph clearly shows that cultural problems are more severe at Sinhgarh as compared to those at Bhimashankar. Majority of the tourists visit at Sinhgarh for picnic purposes and they include sizable number of college students. According to some local people, numbers of lodges and farmhouses have been misused by day- tripper due to which immoral business has been observed. Their behaviour embraces not only to the other tourists but also to the local people. Another reason is that Sinhgarh is close to the urban areas like Pune city. At Bhimashankar the main purpose of the visitor is darshan of Jyotirling and located away from the urban places. This might be the reason why the place has shown intensity of cultural problems on lower side. Thus, the comparative study depict that the problems are different at different destinations. They are dependent upon the factors like vicinity to urban areas, type of tourism and the class of tourists.
4.11. Preferences about development of facilities: In the questionnaire, twelve factors have been asked to the tourist about their perception on facilities required for the development of tourism. The preferences have been given by the tourists to their perception in serial number 1, 2, 3 to 12, as per the need of the tourist place. The preferences have been calculated by division of the total of assigned person to the sum of the all preferences. This may be expressed with the help of following formula. n IFI/ i=l Preference for a factor I = n Fii = Preference given by tourist for factor I n = number of questionnaire in which the preference for that factor has been given. .-. Lower the value, higher is the preference. The division shows averages of the each factor and standard deviation has been carried out to verify the sampling. The resultant lower value for a factor means that the factor has higher priority, which needed to be considering urgently for the tourism development.
158 Table No.4.27 Preferences about development of facilities
Sr. No. Factors Preferences St. dv. 1 Road repairing 3.5 2.9 2 Public toilet 4.1 2.8 3 Dustbin 5.0 2.6 4 Other 5.3 3.5 5 Map 5.4 2.5 6 Transport facility 5.7 2.8 7 Parking 6.6 3.3 8 Observation tower 6.8 2.6 9 Museum 7.0 2.6 10 Restaurant 7.5 3.4 11 Camp site 7.8 2.9 12 Permit bar 10.3 2.3 (Field survey 2005-06) As shown in the table no. 4.9 road repairing (3.5) is the preliminary requirement for tourism development of the tourist place. Next fallowed by public toilet (4.1), dustbins (5). The other includes the preference suggested by the tourist such as railing at the valley view (5.3). The map showing details of the place with proper direction (5.4), transport facility (5.7), availability of parking (6.6), observation tower wherever required (6.8), museum about the local features and history (7), restaurant (7.5), development campsite (7.8) and lastly permit bar (10.3) have been the requirement of tourists as understood in the survey. The perceptions of the tourists have revealed that preference is given mainly to the development of the basic infrastructure. Similarly, cleanliness, security of the area and availability of proper information have been important for the development of tourist places. Most of the tourists have noted their opinion against the present the state restaurants and permit bars. The last preference to the permit bar facility has indicated the positive sign for ecotourism development. The study has been found quite encouraging to
159 understand the requirement at the tourist place according to the views of the tourist. It may help in proper planning for tourism development with sustainability.
4.12 Resume: The study presented in the chapter has been useful for critical assessment of the nature of tourism. The technique used to analyse data generated in the field study have been proved to be apt for understanding the nature of present tourism with help of aspect like age, educational status of tourist, purpose of tourist, relation between purpose and age and education, tourist expenditure pattern, source of information, tourist perception about problems due to tourism and preferences for development of facilities and services at the tourist places, responsible tourist, role of tourism in economic development, condition of infrastructure etc. through the perception of tourist and local people. The nature of tourism can also be understood with the help of knowledge of attitude and way of functioning of the stakeholders the part of the study has been presented in the next chapter.
160 Opportunities created by tourism
Plate No.4.3 Restaurant (Tamahni) Plate No.4.4 Mobile shopkeeper-Sinhgarh
Plate No.4.5 Palkhi at Lenaydri (Junnar) | Plate No.4.6 Shahir (Sinhgarh)
161 Problem of Heritage Conservation
Plate No. 4.7 Ignorance towards heritage Plate No.4.8 Plants on fortification
Plate No.4.9 No information (Sinhgarh) Plate No.4.10 Damage to heritage (Sinhgarh)
Plate No.4.11 Negligence towards heritage - Plate No.4.12 Ignorance about heritage Kukdeshwar
162 Problems of Mass tourism
163