Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Abstract
In 2050, it is predicted that 4.17bn or nearly 50% of the worlds population will take an international holiday. In South Asian countries tourism is often prescribed as one of the most promising sectors for their economic development. By 2050 tourism sector will be dominated by the Asia-Pacific countries because of unparalleled natural beauty, unique cultural identity, and a significant number of historical and archaeological sites, and virginity of many of the destinations. To play the leading role in tourism sector in 2050 South Asian countries require to prepare plans particularly at the central level to guide tourism development, as they have recognized tourism as an important source of foreign currency earning and employment generation. India, being the largest country of this region and also one of the largest emerging economy of the world, has tremendous scope to explore and expand its tourism sector. Apparently, the whole of India is preparing to grab the big slice of the tourism pie in the next few decades. However, as tourism is a multidisciplinary phenomena, so it is imperative to analyze the negative impacts of tourism and find out the ways to combat with these negative factors for two reasons: one, how to minimize the negativity of the factors and two, establish herself in a respectable position in the world tourist map. This paper attempts to demonstrate some key characteristics of tourism in 2050 in order to gain a general understanding of future tourism in the region with special reference to India. Further, some strategies and policy issues have been identified and proposed to grab the opportunities to come by 2050 vis-a-vis the risk elements associated with the expansion of tourism.
Keywords: Tourism, Population Boom, Population Structure, Market Shift, Ageing Population, Silver-Hair Tourism, Urbanization, TCC, PPCP
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