Tourism and Travel Industry: Geography, Culture and Operations

Travel and tourism are changes of simple movements to the most complicated, dynamic, and dominant industry globally. Tourism in the modern world is no longer a matter of leisure and recreation, it touches upon economics, culture, technology and sustainability, and the policy of different countries, and relations between the countries. The high rate of globalization, digital transformation, climate change, and changing consumer behaviour have also increasingly changed ways through which destinations are created, managed and experienced. It is in this context that the current book seeks to give a holistic, analytical, and modernized conception of travel and tourism as an academic discipline as well as practical application of the same. The book is aimed to provide the readers with the systematic discussions of tourism in the conceptual premises of its origins to its contemporary, institutionalized, technology based, and policy-based aspects. It combines some of the classical theories with the modern discussions, which will guarantee the readers enjoy the historical context of tourism, as well as its dynamic nature. It highlights tourism as a system, i.e. the interrelationship between demand and supply, intermediaries, destinations, ways of governance and socio-economic effects, and not an industry in its own right.

The introductory chapters lay good groundwork on the concepts by considering the meaning of travel and tourism, its nature, extent, and the classifications. These chapters dwell upon tourism demand and supply, tourist motivation and behaviour and important typology models that have dominated tourism research. The book brings together theory and current day examples to point out how the digitalization, issues of sustainability and experiential traveling are redefining the core theories of tourism. Chapters follow the historical development of the topic of travel and tourism, showing how human mobility has evolved within various civilizations Firstly in terms of early trade routes and pilgrimages to the idea of the Grand Tour, the Industrial Revolution and the emergence of mass tourism. The focus is, in particular, on the Indian context, using which the authors demonstrate how there are indigenous travel traditions, effects of colonialism, and the initiatives of the post-independence policy which jointly formed the industry of tourism in the country.

The book has given a lot of attention to tourism policy and institutional arrangements on the international, national, as well as regional levels. The impact of global organizations, national tourism administration, aviation regulatory bodies and national-level partnerships between the global organizations and local governments is analyzed in order to demonstrate the effect of governance, regulation and capacity of policy on growth, resilience and sustainability of tourism. Considering the new disruptions in the world within the recent past, the book also brings to focus the new governance trend, destination resilience, tourism climate-focused, smart tourism systems, and digital governance.

There has been an attempt to strike a balance between the scholarly approach and the pragmatic approach throughout the book. Case discussions, comparative tables, conceptual models and modern examples are presented to aid in the learning and application. It is presented in a way that undergraduate and postgraduate students of tourism, hospitality, and management will find it easy to read, as well as the researchers, policymakers, destination managers as well as professionals in the industry. The authors want this book to encourage the readers to think seriously about tourism as an economic event as well as a social, cultural and environmental event with both opportunities and commitments. Through establishing an internalized and progressive outlook, this work aims to play a significant role in intervention to the areas of the education, research and sustainable practice to tourism in a world which is becoming increasingly interconnected.