Tourism Promotion in Himachal Pradesh: An Opinion Survey of Foreign Tourists

Abstract

This paper examines the marketing strategies of tourism in Himachal Pradesh, which is a small Indian hill state. Tourism has emerged as an upcoming industry in Himachal. Having realized the importance of tourism the present work is an attempt to find out the present status of tourism promotion in Himachal and whether it justifies the tourism products of Himachal. The current paper covers the majority of the tourist destinations visited by the international tourists. This study covers the three districts of Himachal Pradesh namely Shimla, Kullu and Kangra, reason being that these districts attract maximum number of tourists in Himachal Pradesh. At least two destinations in each district have been chosen. 80 foreign tourists had been selected with respect to tourist arrival in the respective districts. Ultimate sample was selected on convenient cum random basis. The response categories were presented as Strongly Agree, Agree, No comments, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. Chi-Square was attempted on the responses of the international tourists. It has emerged from the study that the State of Himachal has the potential to become a year round popular destination amongst the foreign tourists provided if it is promoted aggressively.

Keywords: Destination Image, Marketing, Tourism Products, Tourism Promotion, Tourism Potential.

View PDF