Tourism Practices as a Means of Entrepreneurship Development
A Case Study of Varanasi’s Tourism Practitioners
Author- Siddharth Singh & Dr. Anil
Kumar Singh
Department of History of Art & Tourism
Administration,
Faculty of Arts, Banaras Hindu University.
Phone No- 8004126605, 9838071003
Abstract
Tourism is the highest potentiated burgeoning service industry in India. With its multiplier effect tourism provides numbers of employment opportunities directly and indirectly through its different channels. It has higher potential to generate entrepreneurs with product enhancement or product enlargement in comparison to other service sectors in India. Varanasi being a hub of domestic & inbound tourists calls upon numbers of guests all around a year. There are numerous travel agents in the city that started their career in tourism industry as simple practitioners and in later faze of their career transformed into full fledge travel agents as an entrepreneurs with either product enlargement or enhancement.
Introduction
Varanasi being the religious & cultural capital of India fascinates tourists from around the world to visit here at least once in lifetime. For Indians it’s the ultimate place to be at in course of their life’s journey. There are 84 Ghats in crescent shape on the western banks of pious river Ganga. Major Ghats are Dasaswamedh, Manikarnika, Harishchandra, Kedar, Assi & Panchganga. Vishwanath Temple situated in Dsaswamedh area is one of the 12 swambhu jyotirlingas of Lord Shiva. New Vishwanath Temple the highest temple in city is situated at Banaras Hindu University. Sarnath is approximately 15 km away from city across the river Varuna on the northern fringe. Main attractions of the city are Sunrise at River Ganga, Heritage Walk in Narrow Lanes of Old City, Evening Arti at River Ganga, Sarnath & city tour. There are four universities in the city along with two well preserved museums & different research institutes. Lip-smacking cuisine of Varanasi adds flavor to visits of tourists here.
There are chiefly 200 plus small & large travel agents in the city that work independently for tourism industry along with different hoteliers. There are other tourism participants that work either independently or in cooperation to these agents like Boat Men, Rikshwa Pullers, Auto- Rikshwa Drivers, Transports, Guides & Shop Keepers etc.
Method
Methodology: On primary level, numbers of case studies are done to understand the proper condition of afore mentioned theme of the research paper methodically. Questionnaire is developed to understand how differently characteristics of tourism practices vary from other working conditions at the same time a comparison is done with other sector. Samples are individuals from tourism industry & collage students passed out from different tourism institutions working in tourism industry in Varanasi. The research paper is a mixed study of quantitative & qualitative methods. Sample size is of 50 individuals for each point & use of Lickert’s scale of 5 point for data collection.
Case Study -1
An individual started his career in tourism industry as an auto-rickshaw driver in Varanasi. He had limited knowledge of any foreign language & limited educational background as well. For first few years of his career in tourism industry; he spent his life in tourism as a practitioner or a learner. Within few years of initialization his career, he developed a cliental of his own with his unique way of service providing & developed goodwill with the tourists. He increased his career from an auto-rickshaw driver to an agent of few special clients that he got & could deal with. In these years the client that came again & references of tourists that came to the city, he provided them transportation facilities & few times accommodation as well. Within these years he started his own travel agency leaving the tag of an agent only. After two years of his career as a travel agent, he opened his own hotel a property of 15 plus room in the Varanasi. Currently, he is dealing with the clients coming from different travel agencies, selling rooms as an independent owner of a hotel as well.
Case Study-2
An individual passed High School and started his career as a normal practitioner of tourism industry on the banks of river Ganga as a boatman. Initially it was all about providing boat ride to the tourists coming from either different travel agents or independent travellers. In second phase of his career he started to minutely understand the tourism business as working with different tourist escorts & guides who used to come on his boat with tourists. Later he managed to incorporate different boatmen to work on behalf of his bookings that he got in numbers through different travel agents & some time independently. As this practice increased- his business flourished, making it easier for travel agents to search for a single boatman instead of booking different boatmen all the time. His credibility increased as his business grew. In third phase of his career, currently he is managing his clubbed boatman service to numerous travel agents at the same time he has opened two guest houses for tourists managing accommodation needs of his independent clients and sometime to other travel agents as well.
Case Study-3
An individual, who has graduated from commerce background and got knowledge of music from formal education system, once gets a chance to manage a group as an escort on Buddhist circuit. He manages his first group appropriately and gets chance to work in tourism industry independently for few more years. As the time passes his expertise increases on aforementioned sector and he initially tries to promote the sector and get other groups independently to start his tourism business. In few more years he establishes a reputed travel agency working specially on this sector and currently managing his accommodation unit as well.
Findings & Discussions
After Computation the Major Findings were as follows:
1- More than 60% individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi has Initiative taking skill and competency sets.
2- More than 58 % individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi has Risk Taking skill and competency sets.
3- More than 70% individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi has Autonomy (Freedom/Independency) skill and competency sets developed while working in tourism industry.
4- More than 70% individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi has Innovation skill and competency.
5- More than 78% individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi has Social Networking skill and competency.
6- More than 72% individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi has Team Effort working skill and competency.
When we compare these skills & competency sets of different individuals working in tourism industry in Varanasi which are common in entrepreneurs of all sorts; the percentage is very high in comparison to other service industry at Varanasi. Few of the respondents that participated in this research paper are currently working as partial tourism entrepreneurs. Bunch of tourism students that started working in tourism industry within 6 months to 1 year are showing the same skills & competency sets above the average line and ultimate goal of these students are same to be a tourism entrepreneur.
a)- Most of tourism practitioners start as a partial entrepreneur
b)- They chiefly rely initially on their employers to understand the business of tourism
c)- Either they start their entities in vicinity of the same tourism products or in other cases put a new product in the market as a pioneer
d)- Services that augment tourism experiences to a different level many a times they move to that part & provide out of the box ideas to meet it
e)- Most of the practitioners prefer if a chance provided & situation suits, to start their business in their home town or areas those they have lived earlier with local participation
f)- Clubbing of services are so important that they not only work with their employers but club other resources of the company to produce a new product & give chance for others to be entrepreneurs as well
g)- They start their businesses most of the time as a community product designed or produced with certain communities.
h)- Local participations of home town provide technical hands of marginal works at the home destination for these entrepreneurs.
As summing up the outcomes of the case studies & statistical data collected from different sources we come up to the conclusion that tourism practices as a whole produce numbers of entrepreneurs in different categories of services augmentation in the same market at the same time it brings new entrepreneurs in other geographical locations most of the time home towns of these entrepreneurs in numbers so create a whole new region for tourism activities. In number of cases tourism practices produce new entrepreneurs from low income group from tourism business by on ground networks of these low-income group entrepreneurs. Students of remote locations who study tourism after working in tourism industry for few years if provided few financial aids by different institutions moreover infrastructural development is done in his home town tends to open his own business there. VFR (Visiting Friends & Relatives) is so common among these entrepreneurs at their home town that create environment for tourism business there at the same time besides engaging accommodation part create other revenue at the remote locations. Tourism practitioners get lots of technical advantages while working in tourism industry for future business development to work as tourism entrepreneurs. In many cases these new group of tourism practitioners either develop or hold on one segment of the market or club numbers of different services under one roof to provide better tourism services to tourists. Current tourism education provides limited future opportunities to theses students & they grab technicality while working in tourism industry. But few of the changes done in course curriculum of tourism studies can create wonder for these future entrepreneurs. To point some inclusion of entrepreneurship in curriculum, focus on banking & financial services, in-house travel agency training at institution level, focus on studies of all other important subjects of different nature, better time given to on-field studies rather class room teaching etc.
Conclusion
Entrepreneurship is a different base on which a particular country can make a great nation. It’s more like a way of living rather than building a business only for few selected ones benefits. When a sense of cohesion or engagements develop among the practitioners of any practice to produce something new or start the same thing with new colours it helps more than a business started by few individuals for harnessing a particular area or market, harnessing resources to the maximum & many a times destroying & polluting the whole area itself. Tourism being in parity with the limited utilization of the resources & many a times work in collaboration with the nature itself can answer many a dire questions raised in this new era of modernity & globalization.
Acknowledgement
This research paper is the result of numerous hardworking and dedicated individuals. The author would like to thank all the individuals from tourism & other industries who extended their continuous support during the present study. Their enthusiasm and interest towards a new branch of business knowledge is the basis of this study. In addition, sincere thanks go to all of the hotel owners, tourists and government officials who consented to interviews in the process of this research.
References-
1- Annual Report 2015-16, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India.
2- Shukla, M. B. (2006). Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management.
3- Alexander S. Kritikos (May, 2014). “Entrepreneurship and their impact on jobs and economic growth.” IZA World of Labor.
4- Ogutu, V. O. , Kihonge E. “ Impact of Business Incubators on Economic Growth and Entrepreneurship Development.” International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), ISSN (Online): 2319-7064, Volume 5 Issue 5, May 2016.
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