HRD for Tourism and Hospitality- A study of Human Psyche

Abstract

Tourism has emerged in recent decades as one of the important segments of the service sector all over the world. Tourism not only promotes cultural understanding among nations, but also contributes to economic growth. It is a source for generating foreign exchange as well as employment both direct and indirect. The concept of tourism has broadened over the last few years and it includes leisure and recreation and also business, religious pilgrimages, travel for health etc. Its uniqueness is in the fact that it is not a single industry but is a composite of various activities such as transportation, hospitality services event management and so on. India has recognized tourism as an important industry and initiated new tourism policy in May, 2002. Even though India is witnessing a substantial growth in tourists’ arrival as well as its contribution to GDP, the country’s share in the global tourism market is low. The factors responsible for this phenomenon are numerous both on the demand side and on the supply side. This paper analyses two factors one each from this two sub groups i.e. the tourists psyche from the demand side and skills in providing tourism and hospitality services from the supply side. The paper focuses upon the human psyche in the context of tourism and states the purposes of tourism in the light of Maslow’s need hierarchy and role of hospitality services in satisfying the tourists’ needs. It postulates that appropriate hospitality skills, technical as well as soft skills can boost the tourism in the country. Paper discusses the various researches conducted in the area showing the importance of skills in hospitality and tourism. Author initiated skills demand surveys in some of the districts of the country. Paper illustrates one such survey conducted in the district of Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh. The survey brings out the emerging skill needs in the tourism sector in this district. The survey also indicates that skill development should not be supply based but demand based. The paper suggests a model for tourism development in the country in the context of human psyche.

Keyword:demand, supply, hospitality, tourism

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