A SWOT ANALYSIS OF RAJASTHAN TOURISM

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Spectrum: A Journal of Multidisciplinary Research

Vol.2 Issue 6, June 2013, ISSN 2278-0637

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A SWOT ANALYSIS OF RAJASTHAN TOURISM

DR. ANUKRATI SHARMA*

*Associate Professor,

Faculty of Commerce and Management,

University of Kota, Kota,

Rajasthan, India.

ABSTRACT

Rajasthan is the land of kings and warriors and is famous for its heritage, art, craft and culture.

The state is well known for its hospitality also. Rajasthan is a combination of all the tourism

products. Foreign tourists and domestic tourists both can enjoy whatever they desire and

whatever they expect from a tourist destination. The state represents an unusual diversity in all

its form, be it, people, culture, customs, costumes, cuisines, dialects and music. No other region

in the country assembles the many paradoxes of India, as does the desert land of Rajasthan.

Unexpected forest glens, lakes and temples appear like mirages in the deserts. There is romance

in Rajasthan’s forts and palaces and arts of gallantry retold in ballads and legends. Then there are

sanctuaries sheltering the rich and varied species of flora and fauna. And the shimmering Thar

Desert belt charms with a rare and amazing sight. Rajasthan has everything for every age group

of tourists. The tourist can visit the state with the purpose of knowledge, enjoyment, relaxation,

medical, wedding, adventure, sports, cultural, pilgrimage and now a days with the purpose of

MICE and literacy tourism. The paper is an attempt to find out the satisfaction level of Foreign

and Domestic Tourists who have visited Rajasthan. The paper also focuses on the SWOT of

Rajasthan Tourism.

KEYWORDS: Tourism, Marketing, SWOT, Foreign Tourists, Domestic Tourists.

______________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

The state of Rajasthan is one of the favorite destinations for the tourists in India, both domestic

and foreign. Rajasthan is famous for its rich culture and tradition, fairs and festivals worldwide.

The different tourist destinations attract the tourists because of various reasons. The mixture of

art, craft, historical monuments, heritage, natural scenes, sports, fairs, festivals, food, and

religion which is so brilliant that no one can avoid the state, from the tourist point of view.

Rajasthan is a state for every age group of tourist and of any background. It has lot many things

to offer to the people who are visiting. The diversity of the different tourist destination of the

same state is the competitive advantage which Rajasthan enjoys. The government and private

sector both are engaged in the development of the tourism industry in the state. The Department

of Tourism is working and making strategies to enhance the potential growth of the industry in

the state. As tourism is one of the fastest moving industries and is generating employment and

monetary gains, Rajasthan is well known on the world map for its tourism products and

hospitality. Rajasthan is a combination of all the tourism products. Foreign tourists and domestic

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tourists both can enjoy whatever they desire and expect from tourist destinations. The state

represents an unusual diversity in all its forms, be it people, culture, customs, costumes, cuisines,

dialects and music. No other region in the country assembles the many paradoxes of India, as

does the desert land of Rajasthan. Unexpected forest glens, lakes and temples appear like

mirages in the deserts. There is romance in Rajasthan’s forts and palaces and arts of gallantry

retold in ballads and legends. Then there are sanctuaries sheltering rich and varied species of

flora and fauna. And the shimmering Thar Desert belt charms with a rare and amazing sight.

Rajasthan has everything for every age group of tourists. The tourist can visit the state with the

purpose of knowledge, enjoyment, relaxation, medical, wedding, adventure, sports, cultural,

pilgrimage and now a days with the purpose of MICE and literacy tourism. The research paper is

an attempt to find out the satisfaction level of tourists who are visiting Rajasthan.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Literature survey is the most simple and fruitful basis of formulating precisely the research

problems. For this purpose the researcher has to review the works already done by others. Javaid

Akhtar (1988) of Aligarh Muslim University in his study'; "Accounting for the travel agents and

tour operators - An approach to Effective Management", opined that "better co-ordinate

management system will be applicable to tourism industry that will result in overall

improvement in industry". Batra K.L. (1990) in his study on "Tourism in Rajasthan - problems,

potential and future prospect" concluded that there were various snags, impediments and

obstacles in the promotion of tourism in the state of Rajasthan in particular, and India in general.

Some of which were inbuilt in nature and some were created by those who were totally unaware

of the benefits of tourism. He strongly recommends that "tourist activity in Rajasthan must be

taken as a dynamic tool in uplifting the social status of our society. For this, one suggestion can

be given that there should be frequent get-together of our local people with the foreign tourists so

that some of our age old rotten social barriers and orthodox systems can be broken". Pierce

(1996), in his book, viewed tourist destinations from five broad sectors namely attractions,

transportation, accommodation, supporting facilities and infrastructure. He explained that

attractions encourage tourists to visit the location, the transport services enable them to do so, the

accommodation and supporting facilities like (e.g. shops, banks, restaurants, hotels) cater for the

tourists’ well being during their stay and the infrastructure assures the essential functioning of all

the above sectors- Suhita Chopra in ‘Tourism Development in tourism in India’. Ratandeep

Singh (1996) has also thrown light on various issues related to tourism marketing in Dynamics of

Modern Tourism M. M. Anand in Tourism and Hotel Industry in India (1976) has critically

evaluated the tourism industry in India. According to Vellas (2002), tourism is a complex

economic activity which has multiple linkages to a wide range of other economic sectors and

activities, thus having a positive multiplier effect and a potential to act as a catalyst for economic

development. Tourism is viewed increasingly as an essential sector to local, regional and

national reconstruction and development for economies at various scales (Visser and Ferreira,

2011). Tourism has become an important policy tool for development in many parts of the world

and from various vantage points has been shown to have both significant impact and potential to

influence and change the use of existing economic, natural and cultural resources, in addition to

a range of other real and imagined attributes ."

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TOURISTS DESTINATIONS OF RAJASTHAN

ALWAR

AJMER PUSHKAR

BIKANER

BUNDI

BHARATPUR

JAIPUR

JAISALMER

JODHPUR

KOTA

MOUNT ABU

RANTHAMBOR

SHEKHWATI

UDAIPUR

NATHDWARA

RANAKPUR

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS IN RAJASTHAN

PALACE ON WHEELS

ROYAL RAJASTHAN ON WHEELS

FAIRS AND FESTIVALS

WILD LIFE

HERITAGE

ADVENTURE AND SPORTS

SHOPPING

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MEDICAL TREATMENTS

GROWTH OF TOURISM IN RAJASTHAN

Tourism is the fastest growing industry in the state of Rajasthan. The industry is moving fast and

generating more avenues for the people residing in the state. The government and the

Department of Tourism are focusing a lot on the innovations and development of the tourism

products. Tourism is a crucial sector for the economy of Rajasthan and can play an important

role in bringing about socio-economic development of the state. Tourism was declared an

industry, in Rajasthan in the year 1989, and ever since Rajasthan has emerged as the top tourism

state of India. Rajasthan Tourism is playing an important role in not only generating foreign

exchange but also in creating opportunities like employment, good infrastructure, developing

hotels, communication links, investment opportunities etc. Except for a sea beach and snow clad

mountains, Rajasthan offers everything to tourists. Some of the tourism products of Rajasthan

have become internationally famous and popular among the tourists. These include palace-on-

wheels, heritage hotels, camel safaris, Pushkar fair, desert festivals and wild life sanctuaries,

national parks etc.

Tourism industry is changing rapidly worldwide and its impact also effects India and also some

of the most important destinations or states of our country. Rajasthan is one of them.

Immediately after independence, tourism was considered useful only for the elite and the

pilgrims, but now its meaning has changed. It is now one of the most important industries of the

state as explained below:

ARRIVAL OF TOURIST IN STATE FROM THE YEAR 2000 TO 2012

S. No. Year Number of Tourist

Changes in % with

Comparison to Last Year

Domestic Foreign Total Domestic Foreign Total

1 2000 7374391 623100 7997491 10.47 10.74 10.48

2 2001 7757217 608283 8365500 5.19 -2.38 4.60

3 2002 8300190 428437 8728627 6.99 -29.57 4.34

4 2003 12545135 628560 13173695 51.14 46.71 50.92

5 2004 16033896 971772 17005668 27.81 54.6 29.09

6 2005 18787298 1131164 19918462 17.17 16.4 17.13

7 2006 23483287 1220164 24703451 25.00 7.87 24.02

8 2007 25920529 1401042 27321571 10.38 14.82 10.60

9 2008 28358918 1477646 29836564 9.41 5.27 9.21

10 2009 25558691 1073414 26632105 -9.87 -27.36 -10.74

11 2010 25543877 1278523 26822400 -0.06 19.11 0.71

12 2011 27137323 1351974 28489297 6.24 5.74 6.21

13 2012 28611831 1451370 30063201 5.43 7.35 5.52

Source: Tourism Annual Report 2012-2013 - Department of Tourism, Rajasthan

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COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN TOURIST IN STATE ON

MONTHLY BASIS

Year/Mont

h

Foreign Tourist

Arrived in India

Chang

e in %

Foreign Tourist

Arrived in

Rajasthan

Chang

e in %

Sharing

Percentage of

Foreign Tourist

Arrived in India

as per Rajasthan

2011 2012 2011 2012 2011 2012

January 622713 681282 9.41 130183 155156 19.18 20.91 22.77

February 627719 677472 7.93 150419 175574 16.72 23.96 25.92

March 535613 622658 16.25 149676 167896 12.17 27.94 26.96

April 446511 452239 1.28 96331 110921 15.15 21.57 24.53

May 383439 371678 -3.07 50503 52378 3.71 13.17 14.09

June 405464 432128 6.58 47760 43272 -9.4 11.78 10.01

July 475544 524644 10.33 67878 70613 4.03 14.27 13.46

August 428490 455662 6.34 108379 101619 -6.24 25.79 22.3

September 417478 414859 -0.63 83138 85359 2.67 19.91 20.58

October 559641 576382 2.99 143473 141610 -1.3 25.64 24.57

November 669767 689613 2.96 194265 198036 1.94 29 28.72

December 736843 749701 1.75 129969 148936 14.59 17.64 19.87

Total

630922

2

664831

8 5.37

135197

4

145137

0 7.35 21.43 21.83

Source: Tourism Annual Report 2012-2013, Department of Tourism, Rajasthan

DOMESTIC OR INDIAN TOURISTS IN RAJASTHAN

Domestic or Indian tourists move within their own country. For example when a person who is

living in Mumbai, visits Rajasthan for spending holidays or for pleasure or for knowing about the

tradition, culture, art etc. of Rajasthan he is called an Indian tourist.

“The winning of foreign tourist is not the only goal. Development of domestic tourism has

important intrinsic value and in economic terms, can help to build up the infrastructure,

necessary for tourists.”

The people of India are very religious and they want to know more and more about the religion

as well as the history of our glorious past and for this purpose mainly they like to visit Rajasthan.

The second and important reason of the increasing number of domestic tourists in Rajasthan is

the handicraft work, textiles and the delights of this state. For knowing the royal families, about

the life of Raja Maharajas is the third main reason for visiting Rajasthan as it is well known that

Rajasthan is a place of Rajas. It has been famous for its kings and princes and their heroic deeds

and kingly affairs.

Rajasthan’s famous festivals are like Gangaur, Teej, Urs and on these festivals, special

arrangements are made by the government for the foreign as well as for Indian tourists.

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Domestic tourism is making rapid inroads and is growing at a faster rate than foreign tourists

arrivals. The growth of domestic tourist has been shown below:


15

.45

18

.96

26

.65

35

.44

19

.86

15

.92

16

.92

22

.5

63

.32

13

.89

20

.47

16

.74

14

.83

17

.07

23

.18

33

.01

14

.16

20

.94

15

.06

21

.93

63

.21

14

.72

18

.04

15

.22

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Comparative Analysis of Domestic Tourist Monthly Arrival (in lacks)

2012 (286.12)

2011 (271.37)

21.34%

24.90% 35.90%

17.86%

Quarterly Analysis of Domestic and Foreign Tourist Arrival in 2012 Domestic

January-March April-June July-September October-December

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In the Year 2012, if we look at the following graph, we can conclude that every quarter the

percentage of domestic tourists has increased mostly during the months of July – September

2012.

FOREIGN TOURISTS IN RAJASTHAN

Foreign tourists are those who travel outside their own countries. They spend their time to select

tourist places, beautiful sights and attractions of another country that are new to them.

In Rajasthan, there are a number of foreign tourists that come every year. “The tourist comes to

see the glories of the past and to enjoy the beauties of the present”. The more perfectly preserved

the monuments, the more vital the living traditions and the more pristine the natural

environment, the more the tourists, and more the profits. Moreprofits will lead to more local

motivation to preserve the monuments, to keep the traditions alive and to keep the environment

pure. It is a benevolent circle of a process in which both visitors and residents ultimately win.

Because of these reasons no other state is as much famous for the foreign tourists as much as

Rajasthan. Almost one in every three foreignors visiting India, comes to Rajasthan.

“Rajasthan has a rich heritage by way of castles, havelis, palaces, culture and people. Pages of

history come alive on any tour of Rajasthan, pageants, palaces, bastions and forts, festivals and a

celebration of handicrafts. The efforts made by the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation

in the past year have started giving dividend and the tourist inflow to the state has been

increasing year after year as evident from the below Table -


15

5.1

6

17

5.5

7

16

7.9

11

0.9

2

52

.38

43

.27

70

.61

10

1.6

2

85

.36

14

1.6

1

19

8.0

3

14

8.9

4

13

0.1

8

15

0.4

2

14

9.6

8

96

.33

50

.5

47

.76

67

.88

10

8.3

8

83

.14

14

3.4

7 1

94

.26

12

9.9

7

0

50

100

150

200

250

Comparative Analysis of Foreign Tourist Monthly Arrival (in thousands)

2012 (1451.37)

2011 (1351.97)

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The above graph is showing that the foreign tourists’ arrival has increased mostly in the month of

October and December 2012.

EXCEPTED GROWTH OF DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN TOURISTS IN RAJASTHAN

The rate of growth of domestic tourism is expected to be 7% while that of foreign tourist, it is

likely to be 5% as per the studies conducted by “TCS Projections” up to year 2020 as shown in

Table IV.1:

TABLE – PROJECTED TOURIST GROWTH

Year Domestic Tourist Foreign Tourist Total

2000 6.67 0.56 7.23

2005 10.18 0.75 10.93

2010 14.05 0.96 15.01

2020 27.64 1.57 29.21

Secretary, Tourism, Art & Culture, Year 2000

34.39%

14.20% 17.78%

33.63%

Quarterly Analysis of Domestic and Foreign Tourist Arrival in 2012 Domestic

January-March April-June July-September October-December

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SWOT ANALYIS OF RAJASTHAN TOURISM INDUSRTY

S- STRENGTH

Rajasthan has attractive Tourism products

High and Good Accommodation

Good Transport Services

Good range of Shopping Products

Diversity in the Tourist Destinations

W -WEAKNESSES

Lack of safety and security of tourists

Lack of Tourism Courses and training

Lack of use of different languages in the tourist literature

O - OPPORTUNITY

New Tourism Products and Innovations

Promotion and Marketing Strategy

Eco and Literacy Tourism

Government Support

T - THREATS

Political Instability

Undeveloped Infrastructure

Lack of Public Private Partnership

Although the Department of tourism in Rajasthan makes the following expenditure for the

promotion and marketing of tourism, yet it is not getting enough responses. The following table

is showing the expenditure spent for marketing and promotion of tourism in the state:

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EXPENDITURE SPENT FOR PROMOTION AND MARKETING OF TOURISM

Year

2005-

06

2006-

07

2007-

08

2008-

09

2009-

10

2010-

11

2011-

12

2012-13

(till

December

2012

Amount

1490.5

8

1853.8

2

1719.3

4

1513.6

9

1460.5

5

1905.7

2

1608.7

6 915.99


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Documents

A SWOT ANALYSIS OF RAJASTHAN TOURISM