The Hindu Business Line : Wooing the tourist

Given all the glamour and buzz surrounding the tourism industry, it's easy to forget that tourism is essentially a business activity. The Management of Tourism edited by Lesley Pender and Richard Sharpley efficiently draws attention to the fact that tourism is a business like any other and therefore requires the application of management theory and practice.

The book is a comprehensive collection of essays on four broad areas of tourism — managing tourism systems, managing the tourism business, managing tourism in its environment, and contemporary issues in tourism.

The section on strategy, for instance, emphasises just how important this managerial aspect is to the tourism business.

Similarly, the chapter on tourism and the law - - while having no direct bearing on India - — offers pointers to the legal issues that tourism businesses must consider. More important, it highlights how complex many of these laws are.

For India, which saw international tourist arrivals grow 23.5 per cent in 2004 over the previous year, issues such as managing urban tourism and involving local communities in the development process are extremely relevant. For the Indian tourism industry, which is currently seeing a healthy growth, this segment of the book offers a crucial reality-check of sorts.

The book also highlights another important aspect of tourism that local players are yet to grasp — site and visitor management. For instance, it underlines the importance of informative displays at tourist centres.

The authors make a case for tourism as a development driver, pointing out how it generates employment and foreign exchange for developing nations. However, the book is also refreshingly honest in admitting that the tourism industry may not always contribute to the overall development of a destination. Of course, it offers the industry an escape clause by highlighting the limitations placed upon the tourism sector.

Another thought provoking discussion relates to Government funding of tourism promotion, which has special relevance to states such as Kerala where there is ongoing debate on this issue. Yet another vital chapter is on crisis management. Against the backdrop of recent events such as the avian flu in East Asia and the tsunami of 2004, the importance of effective crises management for the tourism industry cannot be ignored.

For all that is good about it, The Management of Tourism often remains a textbook and a soporific one at that. The case studies, which could add great value to the book, are a mixed bag. Only some of these are insightful and useful.

The book also has very little information on tourism industry experiences, practices and cases from India and similar markets. This tends to undermine its appeal in these developing markets. Similarly, at a time when responsible travel, sustainable tourism and eco-tourism are increasing in popularity, the book devotes rather limited space to these issues.

However for those studying the hospitality industry or interested in a career in tourism, the book has some reference value.

Picture by Sandeep Saxena

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Wooing the tourist