A JOURNAL OF COMPOSITION THEORY ISSN : 0731-6755

A Study of Consumer Awareness on Tourism Products Ms. Arkaja Gupta1 Dr. Jayender Verma2

1. Assistant Professor, Research Scholar, Department of Commerce, FCBS, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Faridabad 2. Associate Professor, Head, Department of Commerce, FCBS, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Faridabad

Abstract Travel has become an integral and important source of revenue to tourism industry. Passengers not only travel with a motive to cover distance but it has become a social status as well as source of rejuvenating oneself. Tourists experience of Indian Rail Trail witnesses earthy liveliness and grounded culture. Indian Railways has shown fastest growth in terms of technology advancement and introducing new initiatives in the market. Indian Railways not only runs passenger or cargo trains, besides that also provide leisure rail trips. Rich in furnished interiors with royal backgrounds, excellent dining option, high tech amenities in the trains, luxurious five-star stay during journey, best of cuisines are served and a comfortable journey. Along with luxurious trains, Indian Railways has also introduced semi- luxurious trains and circuits round the country are available at door step. These circuits and semi- luxuries trains provide various packages to consumers. Moreover, many consumers are not aware about these packages as they are being positioned through railway websites and railway tourism sites. The study aims to determine awareness level towards Indian Railways Tourism Products. It was observed by the study that there is a very little awareness of Indian Railway Tourism Products. There is a need for some innovative methods to create awareness among travelers to avail the tourism services extended by Indian Railways in addition to normal travel and transport services. It is required to have strong promotional schemes, heavy advertising and liberal pricing policies in order to cater more attention and increase the awareness level among people.

Key Words: Indian Railways, Consumer Awareness Level, Consumer Response, Indian Railways Tourism Products

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Introduction Indian Railways one of the ancient mode of transportation in the country. It contributes not only to transportation sector but is a backbone of the country and contributes to overall growth and development of the nation. The entire country is well networked with rail routes. Infrastructural and well connected transportation system of any country is a real image of development that country. It includes rail networks, developed roads, equipped domestic as well as international airports and inland waterways. As per statistical records till date there are 12 international airports in the country and facilitating smooth flow of international travels. The domestic airports are witnessed in all major cities and all capitals of the states constituting 80 airports which are equipped with all facilities, infrastructural and technological support system. In India railways is considered to be backbone of transportation and facilitates hassle free movement of millions of people on daily basis in the country. It is operated under the supervision of Government of India and is one of the largest rail networks of the world surrounded with 115000 km track over a route of 65000 km. The first Indian rail was inaugurated in the year 1853 and hit the route from Mumbai to Thane on 16th April, 1983. Indian Railways provides its services to all sections of the society. Indian Railways has a glorious history and connects social, economic, political and cultural framework. It integrates the country at one platform and is a life line to Indian economy. Indian Railways has been segregated in 16 zones and further sub-categorized in total 68 divisions. Almost around 18000 trains run on daily bases facilitating passenger travel and freight travel. Indian Railways employs more than 1.4 employees directly and many times larger the number in directly through forward and backward linkages (Government of India, 2015). As quoted by Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narender Modi in foreward of Indian Railways Lifeline of Nation (A White Paper) (2015), “Railways, perhaps along with post offices, are the only two institutions in India with a deep network which if tapped judiciously can create substantial improvements in the hinterland. Railways were always considered only as a mode of transport in our country, we want to see Railways as the backbone of India's economic development.”

Indian Railways has technically equipped its system and all services for instance railways website which is set model of e-governance. Online railways services facilitates online ticket booking, tour packages, online hotel stay accommodation, tatkal booking, e-catering, air app, IRCTC e-wallets, tourism app, online bedding bookings and PNR status, query handling, updates, booking and marketing of tourism products.

Indian Railways and Tourism The transportation and tourism sector are positively correlated to each other of any country. Indian Railways has remarkable contribution to tourism industry of nation. As reported in World Travel and Tourism Council report, India 2018, tourism is fastest growing and leading service industry in the world. As per reports total of 9.4% was contributed to the GDP of the country in 2017 by travel and tourism industry. Also in the year 2017, the contribution of total of 8% of employment was generated in the country. India is very rich in heritage and a cultural diversified country. Indian Railways not only is a backbone to transportation but also provide inimitable variety of tourism products to national and

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international consumers. There is certain tour packages formed with the help of special trains with five star amenities and introducing royal heritage and culture of India, It provides wide variety of products which provides a royal experience while traveling to the place i.e. these trains are designed with facilities like lounges, library, dinning car, astonishing interiors, regal ambience, copious gastronomical fare, stringent security arrangements and royal services, well educated crew makes you feel as if you are in heaven and along with these trains provides haults at various cities with sightseeing. The special trains running on Indian rail tracks are: 1. Luxury Toursit Trains 2. Semi-luxurious Tourist 3. Buddist Special Train 4. Bharat darshan Train 5. Astha Circuit Trains 6. State Tirth Trains 7. Flexi-package Tourist Trains 8. Ordinary Tourist Trains 9. Ordinary Tourist Cach 10. Dedicated Tourist Coaches 11. Hill Tourist Train 12. Steam Tourist Train 13. Value added Tour Package 14. Foreign Tourist Train 15. Dessert Circuit and other circuits All these trains provide different tours with different experiences and every tours have packages designed. Luxurious trains are costliest tour packages for international tourists and national tourists covering different parts of India, Semi-luxurious trains are designed with a view to cater national market and are replica to luxurious trains with comparatively less expensive tour packages with flexible durations. Bharat darshan train, Astha circuit train, State tirth trains are running to promote religious tourism in country and are most affordable tour packages. They offer range of Rs. 800- 900 per person per day in sleeper class and Rs. 1100 per person in case of AC compartment along with dormitory stay with breakfast at every stop. Semi luxurious train provides wide range of tour packages and world class services to its consumers. The package starts from Rs. 18000/- per person and varies tier wise and tour wise accordingly in all kinds of semi luxurious trains.

Literature Review

The goods which are being produced by companies have the ultimate goal of being sold to end consumer. The market scenario has changed after liberalization and introduction of marketing and societal concept. Therefore, while selling any products to any type of market it is important for the marketers to study the market in advance, to adopt corrective marketing mix strategies, to give importance to stated and unstated needs of consumer, satisfaction and integrated marketing. In this research, the researcher has identified the low satisfaction level among bus service users vis-à-vis Indian Railways consumers. The researcher has concluded that irrespective of industry, today consumer satisfaction and positive attitude towards the products is at high priority. Further to improve the quality of any product total quality control needs to be studied to provide class facilities. (Shiralashetti and Hugar, 2008). Keeping in mind about

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quality services, Indian Railways has witnessed lavish tourism product rage to its national and international consumers which is quite expensive. Primarily, Indian Railways introduced luxurious trains which gradually has shown dwindling demands and had to cancel their trips in 34 years. These trains shifted their strategies to revenue-share model but it has failed. Officials have stated that there is need of strong marketing efforts in case of special trains (Narayanan and Das, 2017) As stated by Kumar and Komaraiah (2014), tourism is becoming one of the important booming sector and foreign tourists are visiting not only developed countries but also developing countries. Tourism affects the socio-economic culture of any country. Moreover, as per the study, the travel packages are easily sold and are easily available to the tourists at their door step. In India, government is selling tourism to foreign tourist by promoting “Incredible India”. The study focuses on promotional strategies for Indian Railways to cater foreign tourists (Kumar and Komaraiah, 2014). The study conducted by Kaur and Mehra (2015) has stated that to identify the sources for inefficiency in Indian Railways, technical efficiency has been decomposed into pure technical and scale efficiency. Further, the researcher stated that the technical inefficiencies may arise out inefficient implementation of production plan, or promotional plan. The researcher studied the factors relating to operating expenses, tractive efforts, equated track records, number of passenger carriage, number of wagons, pricing. (Kaur and Mehra, 2015) As per the official websites of Indian Railways relating to various semi-luxurious trains, circuits, depicts the pricing of the product in the form of various packages starting from Rs. 33,000 onwards and also shows the rigid return policy according to which it is difficult get back the money in case of cancellation of tickets. The cancellation policy has been defined as if in case of emergency if a passenger wants to cancel before 7 days of the trip the entire amount (100%) will be deducted. Furthermore, it clearly defines that any kind of injury, death, loss, damage, expense railways will not be responsible towards consumers. As stated by Feiz, Maleki, and Zargar, (2010), service quality plays an important role and it can help organizations to themselves from other organizations and gain a lasting competitive advantages (Ghobadian et al., 1994). Implementation of qualified services can yield to desirable competitive position in market. This study further states that if the services are qualified and customers expectations depends upon their needs, desire, what is being offered to them. (Davood Feiz, Morteza Maleki, and Syed Mojtaba Zargar, SCSM, 2010) As reported by Smriti Jain (August 2018) in Financial Express, that there would new which will run from Delhi to Chandigarh track and will cover the distance in just three hours. This tour enables aircraft like luxury and comforts. Facilities and Services rendered by Special Trains in India : Luxury trains in India are very luxurious in nature and they not only facilitate the travel to some distant but they take their passenger with lavish and revitalizing experience. Presenting flawless blend of romance of an ancient era with modern finesse, luxury rail journeys in India tenders unmatched ways to discover the true quintessence of Indian culture. As soon as one step in the Luxury trains of India, the overwhelming journey starts with lavish and rich experience. It takes you back to ancient time of Indian heritage of Maharajas with opulence hospitality and comfort. India’s rendezvous with luxurious and mesmerizing rail journey started in 1982 with and it has never

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looked back and has enjoyed milestones after milestones. These trains are one facet of incredible India which provides range five star like services along with travel to various areas of the country. Luxurious trains in India includes Wheels of Palace, Maharaja Express, Deccan Odeyssey, , Royal on Wheels which have amazing fusion if tradition with modern technology. Following are some services and amenities one can enjoy during the entire stays:  .Wraithlike ambience on board  Technologically equipped with T.V., Wi-fi, home theaters  Guest cabins with bathrooms attached  Dinning cars  World wide cuisine  Bars  Observation lounges All inclusive trip, flawless service and elegantly crafted pre-packaged itineraries combine together to make these affluent rides very special experience of a lifetime. These trains were introduced with a view to increase inflow of foreign tourist and to cater international tourism.

Objective of the Study To analyze the awareness level among consumers towards Indian Railways Tourism Products.

Research Methodology To analyze the objective, the study comprised both primary data and secondary data and information to offer its results, findings, inferences, and implications. To facilitate the research study, the primary data has been collected from selected consumers with the help of a self developed structured questionnaire using random convenient quota sampling technique and well defined sample of 50 respondents in the region of Delhi-NCR. The available resources of secondary data consists of selected journals, websites, books, magazines, newspapers, research reports, and other relevant publications were taken into consideration.

Limitations of the Study The study was conducted using only dichotomous scaling which shows whether respondents are aware or not aware towards the Indian Railway Tourism Products. The study has been conducted on a very small number of respondents.

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Analysis

1. Factors considered while deciding upon travel trips.

It was observed that leisure trips have become important aspect for passengers because of easy availability of traveling options nationally and internationally, easy ticketing, approachability, discount schemes during off season, increase in awareness level, changing trends in lifestyle and change in consumer behavior and perception towards tours and travel. While planning for any trip respondents give main attention to the availability of tickets (99%) and their trips are highly price sensitive (96%) in order to book their travel plans. Other factor which depicts its importance is of travel route, mode and duration which accounts for almost (98%), as consumer’s buying behavior states that they are highly concerned about when they are planning to go, the medium of travel mostly consider the shortest route with economical affordability of ticketing for travel and boarding. Other factors also play role in deciding upon the travel plan of consumers that is season and itinerary of destination.

2. Consumers knowing about luxurious trains offered by Indian Railway Tourism Products.

It has been observed that Palace on Wheels is quite popular among respondents as they are well aware with the presence of Palace on Wheels (98%). Amongst all luxurious trains after Palace on Wheels, Royal Rajasthan (97%) is popular and respondents are well aware of the train. Respondents are aware about Maharaja’s Express (95%) as well and all these three trains run in the northern part of India. Respondents are less aware about luxurious trains running on the tracks of southern part of the country. There are only 30% respondents who are aware of Train.

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3. Respondents know about the primary services and royal treatment offered by luxurious trains to their consumers.

It has been observed that almost 99% respondents are aware of wi-fi services provided by all luxurious trains to their passengers. Residents also know about availability of Multi-cuisine restaurants services (92%) for the travelers.( 90%) residents are aware about the luxury cabins are replica of royal palaces. The data depicts that only (51%) respondents know about spa services on board for travelers.

4. Respondents know about add on services provided by luxurious trains.

Indian Rail Tourism Products provide range of services for customer delight. It was observed that respondents are aware about private attendant facility (67%) provided. Only (60%) respondents know about library facilities available in luxurious trains. (57%) respondents know about laundry services provided to customers during the journey. Very few respondents know about saloons and spacious bath, mini gym and ayurveda spa, conference car facilities in these luxurious trains. It is also observed that the level awareness relating to extra or ad on services is comparatively low as compared to that of primary services available to customers during the journey.

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5. Respondents know about semi luxurious trains introduced by Indian Railways Tourism Products.

It was observed that large numbers of customers are not aware about the semi luxurious trains running on the tracks of railways are replica of luxurious trains. As per the data maximum awareness is towards Tejas Train (45%) whereas the data reveals that majority of respondents does not know the newly introduced semi luxurious trains.

6. Respondents respond on services provided by semi luxurious trains and circuit trains introduced by Indian Railways Tourism Products.

The data reveals the fact that the respondents are less aware about semi luxurious trains but they are well introduced to the primary services provided by these trains. (95%) Respondents know about AC first class services provided. More than (60%) respondents are well acquaintance with the fact of availability of Dinning Restaurant serving Indian multi-cuisine delicacies to the customers. Moreover, (65%) respondents think that the semi-luxurious train offers affordable tour packages.

7. Respondents know about special economic trains introduced by Indian Railways Tourism Products.

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It was observed that maximum respondents did not know about the special trains running on Indian Rail tracks. Almost (62%) respondents know about Bharat Darshan tourism train. (49%) respondents were aware with the name of Gangtok Darjeeling holiday special trains. Only (20%) respondents have heard of State Tirth Train. Very few respondents (9%) know about Astha Circuit Train. These special trains offer economic rates to travel pilgrimages with hotel and lodging facilities, then also only few respondents have shown some extent of awareness towards these trains which depicts that some efforts need to be taken to make such trains popular among consumers.

8. Respondents know about services provided by economic special trains to consumers.

The facts shows that there is less awareness regarding the names and availability of special trains, but the respondents are aware with the basic facilities provided by these trains. Almost (80%) respondents know that these trains are providing economic packages to the consumers. They (80%) also aware with the fact of meals are provided in the packages. (70%) respondents know that in case of any emergency the tickets booked by them can be easily cancelled. (55%) respondents know about housekeeping facilities available during the journey. Majorly respondents are not aware with the newly introduced services i.e. unreserved ticketing system and dedicated tour managers are also available to the passengers.

The study reveals that percentage wise there are more number of people who are aware about some popular luxurious, semi-luxurious and circuit trains such as Palace on Wheels, Maharaja Express, Royal Rajasthan on Wheels and only Bharat Darshan

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is a popular circuit and people have heard about it. Whereas, the data analysis revealed that majority of people have shown awareness towards semi luxurious trains such as Pilgrimage train, Heritage Circuit Tourism Train, Tejas Train and First Class AC services rendered by these trains.

Majority of respondents are not aware about various trains running on tracks in order to cater the domestic and international tourism which could be a concern for Indian Railways. Indian Railways spent huge amount in maintenance, planning and organizing trips. There is wide range of services being rendered to the tourists. These trains usually run twice a year during season. These trains not only provide in and fro facility but do take care of sightseeing and accommodation facilities to the people.

This depicts that still there is large number of people who are not aware or have not heard about the names of tourist trains operated by Indian Railways which might result in not planning of trips of such trains. This could be lack of advertising, promotional schemes, marketing strategies and even trains could be over priced.

Conclusion

Indian Railways is the heart of Indian transport system and contributes significantl y to Indian GDP rate. Indian Railways along with IRCTC and select State Tourism Development Corporation offers variety of tourist specialized trains to cater international and domestic tourism. The tourism websites are very well designed and navigated and easy reservation facilities are also available. The trains are properly equipped with all facilities and provide wide range of services to the tourists. Besides all these arrangements, last few years have witnessed barring of some luxurious trains and cancellation of their trips. There are challenges in formulating of trips. There are lots of people who are not even aware about all types of trains running and they get better deals from other sources and modes of transport. Therefore, it is required to have strong promotional schemes, heavy advertising and liberal pricing policies in order to cater more attention and increase the awareness level among people.

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