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.