TOURISM TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT IN IN POST INDEPENDENCE PERIOD

Dr. Saurabh Dixit1, Mr. Sajal Dixit2

ABSTRACT

Present paper is a descriptive study of the development in tourism transport in post independence era in India. Tourism was conceptualized as hotel industry in the beginning. Later, it was appended with more emphasis on human resources and IITTM, IHM‟s and various other institutions were started in this sector. Tourism sector got boost up due to many factors and indirectly due to development of tourism transport also. It‟s a very common understanding that tourism develops and extends more when there are better transportation modes. In fact in many parts of the globe, tourism had been underperforming than its real potential in spite of the fact that the country has a rich natural heritage. It is very important for all the stake holders directly and indirectly connected with tourism industry to take part in the transport development network in their regions and this in turn will surely benefit all the stake holders.

Keywords – Tourism, Transport, Stakeholders, Natural heritage.

INTRODUCTION is mainly being taken care by private sector. In India the railway transport is owned by Tourism is a multifaceted activity. the government. It‟s a very common Transportation is an integral part of tourism understanding that tourism develops and industry. Tourism cannot be developed extends more when there are better without a sound transport network. Almost, transportation modes. In fact in many parts all tourism centric countries in the world of the globe tourism has been have good transport facilities. Transportation underperforming than its real potential in is an important ingredient of International spite of the fact that the country has a rich Tourism System (ITS). Tourism has natural heritage. The main reason of this significantly developed in last 69 years in underperformance is underdeveloped India (after independence). After transportation system. For the development independence, government of India of tourism and its promotion a strong constituted Sir Sarjent commission and transportation system has to be developed resultantly IITTM and Indian Tourism that includes railway network, road Development Corporation (ITDC) came into transportation system, sea transport and air existence. ITDC established good hotels in transport. It is very important for all the prime locations to develop tourism sector. Its stake holders directly and indirectly main objective is to develop connected with tourism industry to take part accommodations. IITTM is striving towards in the transport development network in the creation of human resources in travel and their regions and this in turn will surely tourism industry in the country. These benefit all the stake holders. Tourism institutions serve as main resources for industry is also one of the important tourism, travel and hospitality industry industries that contribute towards the development. One of the important factors in economy of the country. In fact the economy the development of tourism industry is of many countries depends mainly on the tourist transport. Tourist transport like road tourism industry of the country. The transport, Air transport and water transport development of infrastructure & 1 Nodal Officer, Indian Institute of Tourism transportation vehicles with the use of and Travel Management, Gwalior innovation and technology contributes to the 2 Pursuing B.E. in Automobile Engineering, success of tourism industry. As per the MITS, Gwalior

18

statistics of world tourism organization, the tourism has increased multifold from 2005 to During the last two decades (after 1990), 2015. The main reason of the success of private players joined the manufacturing tourism industry is the development of activities and competitive atmosphere was transportation infrastructure by the created. Suzuki, Hyundai, Audi, application of new technology that has Volkswagen, Nisan also introduced vehicle enabled the tourists of the world to reach in India. There are a good number of tourist various remote destinations of the world. vehicles available in India after 1990s. Maruti Different modes of transportation contribute came out with Maruti 800 in small segment. in enriching the travel experience of the There are a number of Cars, Taxi, and tourist tourist. Transportations like house boats, Coaches available for group of tourists. cruise, toy trains, choppers, air taxies etc also can turn out to be a unique travel experience MODES OF TRANSPORT for a tourist. The effective factors in choosing There are many modes of transport for the transportation mode in tourism are given tourists. below: 1. Road Transport  Distance of the tourist destination 2. Rail Transport  Time limit/time required to reach the 3. Aviation destination comfortably 4. Water Transport  Status  Comfort of the Journey ROADS AND HIGHWAYS  Security of the tourist Development of tourist transport also  Geographical location/position depends on conditions of road in any  Benefit to the tourist/experience country or region. In India, there is a drastic  Price/cost of reaching the destination change in the last 20 years due to fast  Competition development of state highways, national highways and expressways. Yamuna WHY TOURISM TRANSPORT IS MUST FOR expressway has introduced facility to travel BETTER TOURISM IN ANY AREA? fast from Agra to NOIDA. Agra has good Tourist transport makes any places accessible tourist influx. It will certainly add up in the for tourist. Ajanta, Ellora are very good development of road transport network. heritage sites. But tourists have to to Road Transportation is very convenient & Mumbai and then to Aurangabad. It takes comfortable for short distances as airlines, more time. On the other hand Agra, Delhi railways and water transport have their and Jaipur are accessible in less time. There limitations. The automobile transportation are many beautiful locations in the country makes it convenient for the tourist to see the that are less traveled because of local places, markets, culture and heritage. transportation problem. These places can Automobile transportation also provides a pick up, if there is a good accessibility to the great amount of flexibility as compared to place. other transportation modes. Automobile companies are working innovatively to DEVELOPMENT IN LAST FEW YEARS improve the convenience and comfort of the tourists. After independence, there were few companies like Hindustan Motors, Tata, Fiat RAILWAYS and Ashok Leyland manufacturing vehicles. There was no concept of tourist transport. Railway is an excellent mode of These companies were manufacturing transportation and gives a memorable vehicles based on the multiuse of the experience to the tourist. In a vast country vehicles. like India, railway is an excellent option for

19

the tourist to travel and see the different  Monorail/Metro - There are many cultures. Railways have come up with good monorail projects under process or trains i.e. Shatabdi Express, Rajdhani Express, running in India. Metro train is running Duranto Express and Gatiman Express. successfully in , New Delhi and ICRTC has come up with wide range of tour Mumbai. packages for all kind of tourists (from premium to budget tourists). AIRWAYS have contributed immensely towards the Airline industry has changed very fast due to development of the tourism in India. To many reasons like introduction of low cost promote tourism in India, Indian railway airlines, more number of flights, has introduced a number of special trains in computerization of airlines sector and better collaboration with the state tourism marketing. Regular flights are available from development cooperation some of them all major cities of India. Recently, honorable are: Prime Ministry Sri Narendra Modi Ji has  Palace on Wheels – This is being operated announced flights from India to Sri Lanka by RTDC along with Indian Railways. keeping in mind Buddhist tourist. Air This was started in 1982 as a special transportation is one of the most important heritage train. It provides a unique modes of transportation for tourists across memorable experience of royal the world. In order to meet the increasing to tourists. The journey of this train demand and improve the travel experience, begins every Wednesday from Delhi. airline companies are adding new aircrafts to their fleets like Choppers, Air Taxies, Boeings  Royal Rajasthan on wheels - Following the success of palace on wheels, this train etc. Also they are developing airports, was started which is more luxurious than opening new airports and using innovative Palace on wheels. technologies. Because of a matchless role of airlines for long distances, the aviation  Royal Orient -This train takes the tourist industry is developing very fast. to different destinations of . It takes the tourists to different palaces and WATER TRANSPORT forts of Gujarat. Water ways are very popular since ancient  Deccan Odyssey -This is run by times in India. There are many places having Maharashtra tourism Development cruise services like: , Chennai, Mumbai Corporation and Indian Railways and etc. Cruise is a very popular option among takes tourists to unique destinations in tourist travelling to Goa & Andaman Maharashtra. Nicobar. Water transportation includes ships,  Golden Chariot - This is being operated cruise vessels, boats, ferry etc. The water by Karnataka tourist Development transport takes more time but it has got a Corporation & Indian Railways and takes very special & unique place in tourism the tourists to some fabulous destinations transportation. This is because it increases between Bangalore & Goa. the tourism experience multifold. If we follow the trend of cruise travel across the  Hill Railways - The Hill Railway gives a world, we will find that there is an increasing unique experience to tourists in India. At trend of cruising across the globe. The cruise present there are four Hill Railway ships are like moving hotels and they networks operating in India. provide the tourists an indispensable unique Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Railways, travel opportunity and enrich their travel Kalka Shimla Railways and Metheran experience. The cruise travel offers a unique Light Railways. opportunity to tourists to see different

20

countries and places. This mode of transport and ends with transportation. Because of this is expensive but a great experience. very fact, countries are striving hard to gain strategic sustainable advantage and are working hard to develop the transportation infrastructure in tourism sector. India has PERSONALIZED TRANSPORT done remarkably well to develop tourism There are many options for tourists on sector after independence but there is a huge personal basis also. These are good bicycles scope of development. at resorts and Royal Enfield/Bikes for To come to a conclusion, in order to develop, adventure lovers going to Leh, Lahul, improve and increase the travel experience of Laddhak. tourist, the various stake holders of tourism industry should work on the below Specific changes in tourist transport mentioned points- indicating development  The transportation modes at regional 1. Change from petro/ diesel to CNG levels should be developed keeping in mind less pollution.  The cost must be competitive 2. Change in comfort level. Present vehicles  Innovations should be brought in are more comfortable and luxurious. water, air and railway transportation 3. Change in mileage and fuel consumption. system Change from 2 strokes to 4 strokes in  New Ports must be developed (near small two wheelers and change in engine tourist attraction places) design in Cars/ Taxis.  New Airports must be developed 4. Change in segment. New segments in last (near tourist attraction places) few years i.e. Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV),  The Railway transportation multi utility vehicle (MUV) etc. experience can be enriched for local & foreign tourists ADVANTAGES OF GOOD TOURIST  Tourism people should be trained TRANSPORT AND MODE OF TRAVEL  Local heritage and culture should be promoted There are many advantages of good tourist  Carnivals, festivals etc. to be transport. celebrated at large scale.

 Fast access and convenience REFERENCES  Comfortable journey Bhandari R R, Indian Railways, (New Delhi,  More tourist traffic 2006), p.58  Good transportation makes you travel fast as well as saves lot of time Bhatia, A.K, “International tourism management”, revised edition, Sterling CONCLUSION AND DISCUSSION Publishers Private Limited, New Delhi. 2004 There are good numbers of options available Bruce P. “The role of the transport system in for tourists to use wide range of transport or destination development, Tourism vehicles. There had been a fast development Management”, 2000, Vol. 21, pp. 53-63. in this area in last 69 years in India. Davidson, R. “Tourism”, Pitman Publishing, Automobile industry will develop more in London, UK, 1991 coming years because of a huge scope in this sector. All the above discussed issues prove Dixit Saurabh (2013), Information the importance and indispensability of Technology in Tourism, APH Publishing transportation in tourism. As discussed Corporation, New Delhi above the travel experience of a tourist starts

21

Dixit Saurabh (2013), Introduction to Ory, D. T. and P. L. Mokhtarian (2008), Tourism, Travel and Hospitality, APH Structural Equation Models of Long-Distance Publishing Travel Attitudes, Behavior, and Desires, 87th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Goeldner, C. R. and Ritchie B. “Tourism: Research Board Conference Proceedings Principles, Practices, Philosophies” 12th edition, the USA: Wiley publication, 2012 V. Vara Prasad, V.B.T Sundari ,Travel and Tourism Management (New Delhi, 2009), p. John Hurd, Ian J. Kerr, India‟s Railway 24 History: A Research Handbook, (Boston, 2012) World Tourism Organization, Tourism Highlights: 2007 Edition. UNWTO Swain S K, Human Resource Development in Publications, 2007. www.unwto.org Tourism: Principles and Practices, (New Delhi, 2006)

***

22