Today Tourism has marked its significance in both social and economic growth and International Tourism is a major concern for all the governments across the globe.
As we know from history, Travel has continued to grow since the men start to begin to travels long distances in search of food and water and often for clothes as a part of his survival. The purpose of Travel has changed from the immediate necessity of survival to the reasons like trade, economic gain, war, migration and other kinds of motives.
Date back million years climate changes made the people leave their homes to seek refuge elsewhere which was resulted in the invention of the wheel, which made travel possible followed by the invention of money by the Sumerians (Babylonia) that led to the development of trade and the beginning of a new era. Perhaps The Phoenicians were the first real travelers in the modern sense as they went from place to place as travelers and traders. The 3,500 years old Mohenjo-Daro civilization in India is also at the same time and the trade and travel developed in India. While digging through the history, traditions of travel in India are the oldest in the world with a motive of religion and trade. For a purpose of meditation and to set up Ashrams the great Indian sages traveled to the Himalayas in the North and the jungles of the South. Travel of course played an important role in the development of civilizations.
The result of the growth of Travel all over the world accumulates as Tourism and became a twentieth-century phenomenon. According to Historians England was the birthplace of mass tourism as a result of the rise of middle-class travel in the period of Industrial Revolution and the creation and development of jet aircraft Industry in the 1950s following the Second World War caused the growth of international Travel which was led to this new Industry, Tourism.
Even though one of the largest segments of the service industry, in some countries travel and tourism is unrecognized as an entity. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (1992), ‘Travel and Tourism’ is the largest industry in the world on virtually any economic measures including; gross output, value added, capital investment, employment, and tax contribution.
Because of problems of definition which directly affect statistical measurement, it is not possible with any degree of certainty to provide precise, valid or reliable data about the extent of world-wide tourism participation or its economic impact. In many cases, similar difficulties arise when attempts are made to measure domestic tourism.
Since travel industry includes hotels, motels, and other accommodation facilities, restaurants, gift shops, transportation services, food services, amusements parks leisure facilities and a large number of other enterprises in which many businesses serve local residents impacted by overlooked or underestimated the major problems of the travel and tourism industry. This problem has made it difficult for the industry to develop any type of reliable or credible tourism information base in order to estimate the contribution it makes to regional, national and global economies.
Travel in different countries fosters a better rapport between people of various stocks. Personal international contacts have always been an important way of spreading ideas about other culture. Thus tourism is an important means of promoting cultural exchanges and international co-operation
The contribution of the Tourism Industry to the improvement of social and political understanding. Is commendable apart from the foreign exchange and employment generation.
Rajani.A
Executive Editor
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