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POTENTIAL OF TOURISM IN HIMACHAL

PRADESH: AN ANALYSIS OF TOURIST’S
OPINIONS
Dr. Subhash Chandra
Assistant Professor in Commerce
Govt. Degree College Bilaspur, H.P.

Abstract: Tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh has wide scope to flourish and provide a new direction to the economy of the
state. Tourism potential is only next to hydro-electric power potential in the state. There are sufficient opportunities for wildlife lovers
and sportsmen. It is a paradise for trekkers, climbers and other ardent devotees of the spirit of adventure on account of its topography
and terrain. The adventure sports like trekking, mountaineering, rock-climbing, and heli-skiing, hang gliding, skiing, water sports
including water skiing, river-rafting, fishing, golf etc. can be perused here. These sports remained largely undiscovered by
adventurers till fairly recently. Even, presently, it has been attracting some enthusiastic sportsmen from all over the world. The focus
of the present study is to identify the potential of tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh. Keeping in view the objectives of the study,
this study is based on both primary and secondary probes .The primary data for the study has been collected from Indian and foreign
tourists . This study has relevance in the present circumstances. There has been a tremendous change in the growth and potential of
tourism industry these days.

Keywords: Potential, Opportunities, Enthusiastic, Analysis, Industry

INTRODUCTION
Tourism is the basic and most desirable human activity deserving the praise and encouragement of all the people and
Governments. According to World Tourism Organization, “Tourism is the movement of people away from their normal place of
residence and work for a period of not less than 24hours and not more than one year”. The concept of travel generally denotes the
movement of people. “It is common practice to use the words travel and tourism either singly or in combination to describe three
types of concepts (i) Movement of people, (ii) a sector of economy or an industry and (iii) a broad system of interacting relationship
of people, their needs to travel outside their communities, and services which attempt to respond to their needs.” The growth of
tourism is closely related to the ease and speed of travel, economic growth and political developments. Since the end of the last world
war, tourism has developed very rapidly as the world began to settle down after the years of readjustments immediately after the war
ended in the year 1945. Since then there has been a remarkable rapid increase in both domestic and international tourism.

THE ELEMENTS OF TOURISM

Tourism does not exist in isolation. It consists certain components, three of which may be considered basic components of
tourism namely transport, local and accommodation, there are certain elements of ingredients of tourism. These elements predispose
towards tourism development. These elements which are the fundamental attraction of tourism are:- Pleasing weather, Scenic
attractions, Historical and cultural factors, Accessibility, Amenities and Accommodation3.

TYPES OF TOURISM
The majority of the demand of tourism enumerates the motives which can prompt a person to make a journey for tourist
region. These motives are varied and do exercise a decisive influence on the destination of the journey. Thus, the diversity of touristic
motivations generates the various types of tourism. We can divide tourism into broad categories as follows:- Cultural Tourism,
Religious Tourism, Educational Tourism, Exploratory Tourism, Commercial Tourism, Adventure Tourism, Eco- Tourism, Health
Tourism , Sports Tourism and Cinema Tourism.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND NEED FOR THE STUDY

The tourism industry has been developed tremendously over the last few decades. Its multifarious benefits, the magnitude of
impacts and its future growth prospects have all together made the tourism a subject of extensive study and research. Tourism
infrastructure has been a point of concern for several researchers in India. Ram Acharya, O.P.Kandari, K. Kumar, Chib (1983),
R.K.Malhotra, Gulab Nabi (2000), A.K. Sarkar, P.N. Dhar and R. Singh concentrated their research and discussion on infrastructure
for tourism in India. Ram Acharya made a study on world tourism and evaluated the role and impact of tourism vis-à-vis development
in India with reference to 42 other countries having various types of economies. Further, some of researchers have made study on
mass tourism, its impacts, eco-tourism, cultural and heritage tourism, sports tourism, challenges of tourism industry, economic

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impacts, religious tourism and development of tourism. Most of the studies conducted on Indian perspective are focused on general
tourism concepts, impacts of tourism and study of the state’s tourism development corporations. Thus, it has been observed from the
review of literature on different aspects of tourism, that the studies have been carried on the tourism, its development and its impact
on various fields. These studies have relevance in the present circumstances. There has been a tremendous changes in the growth and
potential of tourism industry these days.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The present study is mainly concerned with the potential of tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh. The pinpointed objectives
of the study are :
1. To identify the main purposes of travel of the tourists in Himachal Pradesh.
2. To identify the potential of tourism industry in Himachal Pradesh.

HYPOTHESIS
The following hypothesis has been developed for the purpose of this study:
1. The main purpose of tourists inflow in Himachal Pradesh is its scenic beauty, good climate and peaceful atmosphere.
2 There is a huge potential of tourism in Himachal Pradesh.

METHODOLOGY
This study is based on both primary and secondary probes .The primary data for the study has been collected from Indian and
foreign tourists. The schedule has been developed for the tourists. Keeping in view the objectives of the study, the sampling method
has been used to collect the primary data from the tourists. The sample consists of 600 tourists.The 15 important tourist places have
been selected on the basis of flow of tourists. These places are Shimla, Kasauli, Chail, Manali, Mani Karan/Kullu, Rewalsar,
Tabo/Keylong, Sangla, Chamba, Dhalhousi, Dharmshala, Naina Devi/Bilaspur, Deot Sidh/Hamirpur, Jawala Ji and Chintpurni.

The process of selection of the tourists from each of these places has been computed in stage two. The sample consisted of
30 domestic tourists and 10 foreign tourists from each of these fifteen places. The selection of tourist for the present study has been
based on convenient sampling method as it was impossible to use random sampling method. The efforts have been made to select,
these tourists in different seasons to make the sample more representative. To make the study more relevant and authentic, various
sources has been consulted. These are: Publications of Government of India and Himachal Pradesh, .Books and journals , Research
reports, Tourist guides and pamphlets, Publication of H.P. tourism development corporation, Directorate of Economic and Statistics,
Magazines, articles and news papers, Existing literature of tourism.

Tools and Techniques

Keeping in view the nature of study, the data collected has been analysed and interpreted with the help of simple
mathematical method and statistical method. The following statistical methods has been used to examine the tourist’s opinion on the
statements regarding the tourism potential in H.P.
 Arithmetic mean
 Median
 Standard Deviation
 Skewness
 Chi-Square Test

Classification and Tabulation

The data collected from the tourists have been first of all placed on the master chart and thereafter, different one way tables
and two ways tables have prepared for the purpose of analysis and interpretation.

Table-1. Classification of Tourists on the Basis of Nationality and Purpose of Visit

Purpose of Visit In H.P.

Nationality Pleasure Visiting Total
Climate Business Education Pilgrims Sports Others
Trip Relatives
183 150 18 12 63 18 3 3 450
Indian
40.7% 33.3% 4.0% 2.67% 14.0% 4.0% 0.67% 0.67% 100%
60 36 6 30 3 15 150
Foreigner - -
40.0% 24.0% 4% 20.0% 2.0% 10.0% 100%
243 186 18 18 93 18 6 18 600
Total
40.5% 31.0% 3.0% 3.0% 15.5% 3.0% 1.0% 3.0% 100%
Others: For Health, Historical and Cultural, Gaining Knowledge etc.

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Source: Primary Probe 2 = 43.005

P < 0.01
The classification of tourists on the basis of nationality and purpose of visit has been presented in table 1. The pleasure trip,
good climate and pilgrims in that order are the main purposes of the travel of both domestic and foreign tourists. The other purposes
of visit in a small number of tourists are business, education, sports and visiting relatives etc. The main purposes of travel of both
domestic and foreign tourists are almost same. However, the domestic and foreign tourists vary considerably with respect to other
purposes of their travel. The chi- square value is significant at the one percent level. It reveals that there is a significant difference in
the purposes of travel of domestic and foreign tourists particularly in relation to other purposes of their travel.

TOURISM POTENTIAL IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal is known as the ‘land of Gods and Goddesses’. Its hundred of temples and shrines provides the great potential for
pilgrimage tourism in the state. The wilderness and wild in the state, various national parks, beautiful lakes, festivals, tourism in tribal
areas of the state and Himachali cuisine are also rich source of tourism in the state.
The state has various attractive places for tourist interest. The most popular hubs of tourism in the state are; Manali, Shimla,
Chamba, Chail, Kasauli, Dharmshala, Dhalausi and Khajjiar, where the tourists inflow is very heavy. However, the state has so many
undiscovered new destinations for the tourists which has not been explored till now. These are; Sangla, Kalpa valley in Kinnaur,
Pabbar and Daran Valley in Shimla district, Anni in Kullu district, Spiti valley, Bharmour-Pangi region in Chamba district, Janjehi,
Shikaridevi and Karsog in Mandi district, Batal region in Solan district, haripurdhar in Sirmour district and Plampur in Kangra
district.

TOURIST OPINION ABOUT TOURISM POTENTIAL IN THE STATE

Himachal Pradesh provides huge tourism potential for different types of tourism and have numerous places of tourists
interest as discussed above. In this part, an attempt has been made to solicit the opinion of the tourists on it and the other matters
related to it.
The responses of tourists on these statements about the tourism potential in the state have been presented in table-II on the
five point scale. An overwhelming number of tourists consider that there is considerable tourism potential in the state as most of them
either strongly agree or agree with these statements.
To the statement ‘Himachal Pradesh is the paradise for the visitors on the natural scenic beauty’, 52% of the tourists strongly
agree and another 44% tourists agree. There was 4% tourist who did not make their opinion on this statement. Thus, huge number of
tourists agrees with the above statement and good climate and scenic beauty of the state attracts tourists to enjoy their vacations. High
values of arithmetic means, negative value of the coefficient of Skewness also support it. The Chi-square value is also significant at
1% level also supports statistically that a large number of the tourists agree with this statement. The tourists consider its natural scenic
beauty as an asset for tourism development.
The tourists responses to the statement that ‘Himachal Pradesh is the spectrum of various cultural heritage’ are also equally
encouraging and positive. Mostly of the tourists consider the rich spectrum of various cultures of the state also good source of tourism
development and 93% tourist either strongly agree or agree with the above statement and the remaining 7% tourists are undecided on
this statement. High value of arithmetic mean, negative value of co-efficient of Skewness and Chi-square value being significant at
1% level also statistically prove that the tourists consider its varied cultural heritage as positive sign for tourism development.
The tourist also consider that there is a vast scope for the development of the domestic and religious tourism in the state as
87% tourists either strongly agree or agree with the statement that ‘Himachal’s most enchanting churches, temples and gurudwaras
has largest potential for domestic and religious tourism’. On the other hand, 1% tourists disagree with this statement and 7% tourists
are undecided about this statement. Statistically, the above findings are also held good as the value of mean is significantly high with
negative value of co-efficient of Skewness and Chi-square values is significant at 1%.

Table-II
Tourist Opinion on the Tourism Potential in Himachal Pradesh

Tourist Opinion
Particulars Total 2 Mean Mode SD Skewness
Strongly Don’t Strongly
Agree Disagree
Agree Known Disagree
Himachal
Pradesh is the
312 264 24 600
paradise for - -
238.080 4.48 5 0.57458 -0.55743
the visitors on - -
52.0% 44.0% 4.0% 100.0%
natural scenic
beauty
Himachal 300 258 42 - - 600 191.640 4.43 5 0.52108 -0.61366

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Pradesh is the - -
spectrum of 50.0% 43.0% 7.0% 100.0%
various
cultural
heritage
Himachal’s
most
enchanting
churches,
temples 312 210 72 6 600
-
gurudward 377.760 4.38 5 0.73246 -0.88353
-
has the largest 52.0% 35.0% 12.0% 1.0% 100.0%
potential for
domestic and
religious
tourism
Himachal is
endowed with
258 192 90 60 600
the immense -
167.520 4.08 5 0.98754 -0.78703
variety of both -
43.0% 32.0% 15.0% 10.0% 100.0%
flora and
fauna
H.P. has a
186 300 96 18 600
niche of -
294.240 4.09 4 0.76346 -0.55974
adventure for -
31.0% 50.0% 16.0% 3.0% 100.0%
everyone
Rivers of the
state has
tremendous
range of 72 282 78 120 48 600
activities like: 295.800 3.35 4 1.16179 -0.55615
boating, 12.0% 47.0% 13.0% 20.0% 8.0% 100.0%
swimming &
water skinning
tourism
Himachal’s
indigenous
Historical
156 246 90 78 30 600
architecture is
232.800 3.70 4 1.13673 -0.74718
the most
26.0% 41.0% 15.0% 13.0% 5.0% 100.0%
important part
of state
tourism
Himachal’s
wide ranged
handicraft 96 240 180 60 24 600
products give 261.600 3.54 4 1.00503 -0.52577
invitation of 16.0% 40.0% 30.0% 10.0% 4.0% 100.0%
shopping to
the visitors
The oldest
Buddhist
monasteries
180 222 156 42 600
are the -
118.560 3.90 4 0.91180 -0.35796
enormous -
30.0% 37.0% 26.0% 7.0% 100.0%
range of its
rich
architecture

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heritage in
H.P. which has
some of the
world’s fine
examples of
ancient
architecture?
The railway
track of H.P.
provided a 192 240 162 6 600
-
great view of 204.960 4.03 4 0.79382 -0.17408
-
sight seeing 32.0% 40.0% 27.0% 1.0% 100.0%
and excursions
in the state.
Source: Primary Probe

The tourists have shown significant agreement with the statement that ‘Himachal is endowed with the immense variety of flora and
fauna’, 75% tourists either strongly agree or agree with the statement. On the other hand, 10% tourists don’t agree with this statement
and the remaining 15% tourists have no idea about these flora and fauna. The Chi-square value is significant at 1% level with
arithmetic mean above 4 and negative coefficient of Skewness also provide statistical evidence in accepting this statement that large
variety of flora and fauna can also contribute in tourism development of the state.
‘Himachal Pradesh has a niche of adventure for everyone, 81% tourists either agree or strongly agree, 16% tourists are undecided and
remaining 3% tourists disagreeing with this statement. Thus, a vast majority of tourists consider that there is a good scope for the
development of adventure tourism in the state and it is also statistically supported as the arithmetic mean is high with negative value
of co-efficient of Skewness and Chi-square being significant at 1% level.
As regard to the statement that ‘Rivers of the state has tremendous range of activities like booting, swimming and water
skinning tourism, the responses of the tourists are not so much encouraging as 59% tourists either agree or strongly agree with the
statement. However, 28% tourists either disagree or strongly disagree with this statement and 13% tourists don’t know about these.
The Chi-square value is significant at 1% level with arithmetic mean 3.35 and negative value of Skewness co-efficient also shows that
majority of the tourists feel that there is a good scope for the development of tourism based on water sports.

About two-third tourists are of the opinion that ‘Himachal’s indigenous historical architecture is the most important part of the
state tourism. Out of these tourists, 26% strongly agree and 41% agree with this statement. However, 18% tourists either disagree or
strongly disagree with this statement and 15% of them are undecided. The arithmetic mean (3.70) very close to agree, negative co-
efficient of Skewness and Chi-square value being significant at 1% level also statistically prove that large majority of the tourists feel
that the historical architecture is also most important part of the development of tourism in the state.

There are 56% tourists who consider that ‘Himachal’s wide ranged handicraft products give invitation of shopping to the
visitors with 16% tourists strongly agreeing with this statement. However, 30% tourists have no idea about these products. On the
other hand 14% tourists don’t agree with this statement. The arithmetic mean in the halfway of agree and don’t’ know with negative
co-efficient of Skewness and Chi-square value being significant at 1% level statistically prove that majority of tourists feel that wide
range of handicraft products tempt the tourist to buy these products.
Nearly two-third tourists are in agreement with the statement that ‘The oldest Buddhist monasteries are the enormous range
of its rich architecture heritage in H.P. which have some of the world’s fine example of ancient architecture. Merely 7% tourists
disagree with the above statement. However, 26% tourists don’t’ have any idea about these monasteries. The arithmetic mean (3.90) is
very close to agree (i.e. 4) with negative co-efficient of Skewness and Chi-Square is also significant at 1% level also statistically show
that large majority of tourists agree with the above statement. ‘The railway track of the H.P. provide a great view of sight seeing and
excursions in the state, 72% tourists agree with statement, 27% tourists have no idea about it and merely 1% tourists disagree with it.
Thus a vast majority of the tourists feel that railway journey in the state provide them an opportunity of sightseeing and excursions.
The arithmetic means (4.03) is high with negative co-efficient of skewness and Chi-square value being significant at 1% level also
statistically lend support of the tourists to the above statement.
To sum up, the tourist considers that there is a vast scope of tourism development in the state. Its natural scenic beauty;
cultural heritage; religious places; flora and fauna; adventure; railway journey; ancient Buddhist monasteries, handicraft products,
Himachal’s indigenous historical architecture; and water sports in that order provide ample scope for tourism development.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESSIONS

Tourism is an industry which employs the leisure time of the people in a useful way. People get to know about the marvels of
nature. The beauty, serenity, tranquility, calmness and adventurism in this world excite people. It relieves them of their tensions and
refreshes them. It also gives better understanding of the human kind, giving more vigour and vitality to unite the mankind. As the

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fastest growing and one of the most profitable industries in the world, tourism offers unparalleled opportunities. Socially and
culturally, tourism offers the opportunity of providing jobs for minority and disadvantaged groups, creating adequate training in
management skills, education and technology to local people and increasing incomes in rural and local economies, thereby
contributing to the alleviation of poverty in developing countries. Environmentally, it is essential for tourism to maintain an optimal
balance of its natural resources to ensure the ongoing arrival of tourists to destinations.

 In this study it has been found that the tourists traveling in the state belong to different types of occupations, income groups,
each sex and young educated people from different parts of India as well as from foreign countries. The main purpose of their
travel are pleasure trip, good climate and pilgrims in that order. The other purposes of travel of small number of tourists are
business, education, sports and visiting relatives.
 The adventure sports like trekking, mountaineering, rock-climbing, motor racing, heli-skiing, hang gliding, skiing, water sports,
river rafting fishing, golf etc. can be pursued here. Even, presently, it has been attracting some enthusiastic sportsmen from all
over the world.
 Himachal Pradesh provides huge tourism potential for different types of tourism. It has been found in this study that large
number of tourists are of the opinion that the good climate, peaceful atmosphere and its scenic beauty attract tourists to enjoy
their vacations. The tourists consider its natural scenic beauty as an asset for the tourism development. Himachal Pradesh is the
spectrum of various cultural heritage and also equally encouraging and positive. The tourists consider that there is a vast scope
for the development of religious tourism in the state. Himachal’s most enchanting churches, temples and gurudwaras have
largest potential for domestic and religious tourism. The tourists feel that Himachal Pradesh is endowed with the immense
variety of flora and fauna and have a niche of adventure for everyone. The activities like boating, swimming and water
skinning tourism in the rivers of state has tremendous range of tourism promotion. Himachali indigenous historical architecture
and oldest Buddhist monasteries can be the most important part of the state tourism. The majority of tourists feel that wide
range of handicraft products give invitation of shopping for them. A vast majority of the tourist feel that railway journey in the
state provide them an opportunity of sight-seeing and excursions.
 The tourists feel that there is a wide scope of tourism based on Health and medical in the state. Now, people are more health
conscious and Himachal has to initiate for promoting health and medical tourism .There is tremendous scope to set up spas,
health resorts, recuperative centers etc. all over the state. The state has an enormous wealth of medical plants and herbal
gardens, therefore Herbal museums may be developed in the state.
 The overall opinion of the tourists is that the rural and tribal areas of the state provide ample scope for the development and
diversification of tourism. There is considerable scope for the development as new tourist destinations.
 Both domestic as well as foreign tourist highly favoured that ‘Special Tourism Zones’ like creation of amusement parks (Ski-
Village) and natural recreation areas should be initiated to attract more tourists in the state.
 The large number of tourists has strong feeling that there is a need to more advertisement of cultural heritage (Local fair &
festivals) Historical monuments and pilgrimages of Himachal Pradesh to attract more tourists in the state.

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