In the 21st Century, tourism has emerged as a leading sector across the globe. This sector has been widely acknowledged for its contribution to national income, foreign exchange reserves, employment creation, expansion of local business, poverty alleviation, infrastructure development, balanced regional development, cultural exchanges, and above all for developing and maintaining international relations and world peace. The development of tourism sector generates growth due to its linkage effects and cross-sectoral synergies which lead to the progress of other sectors including agriculture, handicrafts, healthcare, education, transport and communication, construction etc. On the social front, expansion of tourism brings positive changes in the population structure, occupational patterns, value system, individual behaviour, family relationships, collective lifestyles, moral conduct, creative expressions, traditional ceremonies and community organizations. In India, tourism has become the most vibrant service sector activity and a multi-billion dollar industry over the years. The natural surroundings, architectural masterpieces, music, dance, paintings, customs and languages have all made India a tourist paradise. The strategies and policies of the Government of India including Incredible India and Athithi Devo Bhava have significantly contributed to the expansion of tourism in India. The present volume contains 14 scholarly papers, authored by experts in the field, which not only provide an overview of the growth of tourism in India, but also give an analytical account of the problems and prospects associated with it.

This is now universally recognized that tourism must be developed and managed in a controlled, integrated and suitable manner, based on sound planning. Tourism is coming up as a major source of earning in the developing countries. Tourist development is no longer seen solely in terms of destinations, with much more consideration being given to origins or markets and associated linkages. Tourism as a system endorses the need for all developers, planners and managers to understand the dynamic relationship among all parts of tourism as a system. India has been a spiritual and cultural destination for tourists from all over the globe from time immemorial. Its rich cultural diversity, religions, languages, magnificent monuments, its sheer size and people have been a source of fascination for outsiders and insiders alike. How alive this fascination is can be gauged from the fact that since 1988 the arrival of foreign tourists in India has gone up steadily from 1.6 million to nearly 2.4 million in 1997. As many as 162 million domestic tourists undertook travel within the country in 1997 and out of these 150 million were pilgrim tourists. Such is the growth potential of tourism sector in the country. India has immense potential for the tourism. It has all resources for all types of tourists. Government has started to keep an eye on it as an industry and foreign exchange earner. In the present work Chapter 1 discusses with the overall view of tourism with its socio-economic impacts and marketing aspects of tourism. Chapter 2 discusses with the research design and methodology adopted in the research. Chapter 3 deals with tourism resource potential in India as a great attraction in tourism field. Chapter 4 analyses the study area Bundelkhand as a whole keeping in mind historical perspective. Chapter 5 contains the tourism potential in Bundelkhand region. Chapter 6 discusses with the tourism traffic trends, to destinations and state of tourism infrastructure. Chapter 7 deals with the analysis and interpretation of survey results. Chapter 8 contains strategies for effective and judicious utilization of tourist resources. Chapter 9 is related with conclusion of the research. At the end of the book there are Bibliography and Index.

Contributed articles at a seminar.

The tourism industry of India is economically important and growing rapidly. The World Travel & Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated ₹ 6.4 trillion or 6.6% of the nation's GDP in 2012. It supported 39.5 million jobs, 7.7% of its total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.9% from 2013 to 2023. This gives India the third rank among countries with the fastest growing tourism industries over the next decade. India has a large medical tourism sector which is expected to grow at an estimated rate of 30% annually to reach about ₹ 95 billion by 2015. According to provisional statistics 6.29 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2011, an increase of 8.9% from 5.78 million in 2010. This ranks India as the 38th country in the world in terms of foreign tourist arrivals. Domestic tourist visits to all states and Union Territories numbered 1,036.35 million in 2012, an increase of 16.5% from 2011. The most represented countries are the United States (16%) and the United Kingdom (12.6%). In 2011 Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Delhi were the most popular states for foreign tourists. Domestic tourists visited the states Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu most frequently. Chennai, Delhi, Mumbai and Agra have been the four most visited cities of India by foreign tourists during the year 2011. Worldwide, Chennai ranked 41 by the number of foreign tourists, while Delhi is ranked at 50, Mumbai at 57 and Agra at 65 and Kolkata at 99. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013 ranks India 65th out of 144 countries overall. The report ranks the price competitiveness of India's tourism sector 20th out of 144 countries. It mentions that India has quite good air transport (ranked 39th), particularly given the country’s stage of development, and reasonable ground transport infrastructure (ranked 42nd). Some other aspects of its tourism infrastructure remain somewhat underdeveloped however. The nation has very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison and low ATM penetration. As per the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, December 2013, India’s rank in the World Tourism Receipts during 2012 was 16th and rank in international tourist arrivals was 41. The rank of India was 7th among Asia and the Pacific Region in terms of tourism receipts during 2012. The Ministry of Tourism designs national policies for the development and promotion of tourism. In the process, the Ministry consults and collaborates with other stakeholders in the sector including various Central Ministries/ agencies, State Governments, Union Territories and the representatives of the private sector. Concerted efforts are being made to promote new forms of tourism such as rural, cruise, medical and eco-tourism. The Ministry also maintains the Incredible India campaign. India's rich history and its cultural and geographical diversity make its international tourism appeal large and diverse. It presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business, educational and sports tourism. Therefore the practitioners, academicians and researchers need to meticulously review these aspects and acquaint them with knowledge to sustain in such scenarios. Thus, these evident scenarios emphasize the need of a broad-based research in the field of Tourism in India. This book is an attempt in that direction. I sincerely hope that this book will provide insights into the subject to faculty members, researchers and students from the Tourism institutes, consultants, practicing managers from industry and government officers. Prof. K.VijayaBabu Jayaprakashnarayana. G

Tourism to and within India has undergone some important changes in recent years seen by the rising numbers of international tourists and an increase in domestic tourism; this book is the first to critically analyse India's tourism historical and contemporary relationships.

Tourism in India is growing at a fast pace with lot of development happening in the infrastructure and other countries putting the country in a better position to place it in the international market. The tourism is the glamorous industry generating foreign exchange and employment potential for the country. Tourism has become an important tool to gain economic self-sufficiency for several societies. India has also begun to utilize this tool for achieving self-sufficiency through promoting international tourism, but it is believed that India has yet to formulate proper strategy in this regard. India should formulate its strategy to promote international tourism based on professional principles of tourism business. It must evaluate the international trends related to the tourism business. The basic aim of this paper is to build the base of the strategic inputs for the development of the strategy that can boost the growth of the tourism industry.