Reorienting HRD Strategies For Tourists’ Satisfaction | Nageshwar Rao & R. P. Das

The World Tourism and Travel Council (WTTC) has estimated that by the year 2010 India?s travel and tourism potentials can provide to our economy a substantial resources?Rs.5,00,000 crores as contribution to GDP, Rs.130,000 crores as capital investment and Rs.160,000 crores as export earnings (Bezbaruah,1999). Paradoxically, while global international tourism is a $400 billion business, India?s share is mere $1.5 billion and we are getting only 0.33 percent of world tourists arrival out of 550 million, despite of the country?s rich cultural heritage and diverse tourist attraction.Therefore the challenge before Indian tourism industry is to promote service marketing approach to delight both the international and domestic tourists in order to attract them in large number to reach our target from this sector. A recent study on service industries revealed that service firms and its employees in India have a strong inclination to improve upon the customer orientation and customer services (Agrawal, 2001); therefore, the present paper highlights how the Indian tourism industry can reorient its HRD strategies in order to satisfy and delight its customers to survive in the global competition. Tourism has fast emerged as a major socio-economic and political activity all over the world. Even for many of the Third World countries which own their freedom during the mid-twentieth century, tourism has been a new found source of earning foreign exchange. The prediction of Mr. Harman Khan, an eminent futurologist of the USA, that almost two billion people would be travelling in the year 2000, ranking tourism as one of the largest industries of the world is now holding good. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru had a great fascination for the tourism and the tourists and he described India ?as a land of contrast?. Our history, wildlife, colourful fairs and festivals, sandy beaches, sunny climate and exotic culture have always enchanted and attracted the people from distant lands. Over the years, India?s foreign exchange earnings from tourism have increased significantly