A Study on the Satisfaction of Tourist with Special reference to Religious Tourism in Nagapattinam District of Tamilnadu

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1 A Study on the Satisfaction of Tourist with Special reference to Religious Tourism in Nagapattinam District of Tamilnadu. P.Rathina devi, Dr.G.Ramu,. Ph.d Research scholar in Commerce, Head and Assistant professor in commerce, Thiru.vi.ka Government Arts College, Thiru.vi.ka Government Arts College, Thiruvarur. Thiruvarur. Abstract Tourism is a collection of activities, services and industries that deliver a travel experience, including transportation, accommodation, eating and drinking establishments, retail shops, entertainment business, activity facilities and other hospitality services provided for individuals or groups travelling away from home. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes. From ancient time to till date, religion has been a motivating force for tourism. Every religion has cast upon its followers some duties that involve travel and tourism The Hindus want to visit Kasi (Benaras), Rameswaram, Kanniyakumari, Badrinath etc. The Muslims visit Mecca and Madhina as Haj visits, which is considered as holy. The Christian pay visit to Jerusalem and Vatican once in their life time, which is considered to be auspicious. In India, the domestic tourism is almost a Religious Tourism Introduction Tourism is a term applied not only to travel undertaken for pleasure, but entails a multi-billion dollar business that caters to the tourist s need for transportation, accommodation, food, entertainment, recreation, health and social contact. Tourism, the significant activity existed long before it was actually identified but, its present form was recognized only in the 20th Century that too only after the World War I It is not simply an economic activity beneficial to human beings. It is an activity which assists to link this vast and varied nation as an integrated one. It helps to dissolve the barriers of race, caste, creed, religion, language and regional chauvinism, hence, an important instrument of national integration. Tourism stands for international understanding and to promote peace among the nations Definition The Macmillan Dictionary defines tourism as the business of providing services for people who are travelling for their holiday. Wikipedia defines it as travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. According to Oxford Dictionary, tourism is basically travelling for pleasure. It involves a decretory use of time and money Page No:294

2 Meaning of tourism Tourism means many things to many people. For the tourist, it is a travel, relaxation, recreation and exposure to other cultures and traditions Basically, it contains, three aspects a) travel by non-residents b) for stay a temporary nature; and c) without professional or commercial purposes and it is these basics which govern measurement in planning for tourism Types of tourism o Religious Tourism o Pleasure or Leisure Tourism o Educational Tourism o Health Tourism o Business Tourism o Adventure Tourism o Sport Tourism o Wild Life Tourism o Resort Tourism o Winter Tourism o Summer Tourism o Circumstantial Tourism o Cultural Tourism o Ethnic Tourism o Social Tourism o Mass Tourism o Package Tourism o Youth Tour Importance of Tourism We must welcome friendly visitors from abroad not only for economic reasons, but even more because this leads to greater understanding and mutual appreciation. -Jawaharlal Nehru The importance of tourism and its implications on economy for any country can be inferred from the following points * Transfer of resources from the generating economics to the receiving economies Page No:295

3 * Income distribution among the people either within the country or in different countries. * A multiplier effect can be generated by improving the tourism in an area, so that entire community in that place gets benefitted. Religious Tourism From ancient time to till date, religion has been a motivating force for tourism. Every religion has cast upon its followers someduties that involve travel and tourism The Hindus want to visit Kasi (Benaras), Rameswaram, Kanniyakumar, Badrinath etc. The Muslims visit Mecca and Madhina as Haj visits, which is considered as Holy. The Christian pay visit to Jerusalem and Vatican once in their life time, which is considered to be auspicious. In India, the domestic tourism is almost a Religious Tourism TAMIL NADU - A unique Tourist Destination Tamil Nadu has a broad enough base of tourist attraction for retaining and perpetuating the interest of tourists for several days. The most significant of all tourism attraction of Tamil Nadu is her cultural tapestry. Cultural tourism includes visits to historic building and sites, historical monuments, museums, art galleries, contemporary paintings, sculpture and the performing arts. Each and every centre of tourist's attraction in Tamil Nadu is associated directly or indirectly with Indian mythology PRESENT SITUATION AND FEATURES OF TOURISM IN INDIA Today, tourism is the largest service industry in India with a contribution of 6.23% to the national GDP and providing 8.78% of the total employment. India witness s more than 5 million annual foreign tourist arrivals and 562 million domestic tourism visits. The tourism industry in India generated about US$100 billion in 2008 and that is expected to increase to US$275.5 billion by 2018 at a 9.4% annual growth rate. The Ministry of Tourism is the nodal agency for the development and promotion of tourism in India and maintains the"incredible India" campaign. Review of Literature 2015, Dr. R. Kavitha and A. Sugapriya in their study Pilgrimage Tourism in Tamil Nadu an Overview find that India is blessed with plenty of well-known religious destinations that brings enormous economic gain to local residents. 2012, the study conducted by Selvi, G. Kalai, and S. Jesi Isabella, with the title Analysis of the Seasonality of Tourism Market in Thanjavur District proved the importance of tourism for economic prosperity and employment opportunity. The number of tourist arrivals to a destination has direct relationship on its local economy and employment. 2010, Chauhan, G in his study titled Analyzing tourism potential of Tamil Nadu state of India: a people tourist s perception approach highlighted that India is one of the major destinations of the foreign tourists particularly the state of Tamil Nadu which has a rich cultural heritage among the Indian states. 2006, a study conducted by Dallen. J. Timothy and Daniel H. Olsen, titled Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys London and New York: Rout ledge Pilgrimage tourism seems to be a newer academic concept but it is certainly not a new phenomenon. Page No:296

4 Research Methodology The research was based on both primary data and secondary data. Primary data was collected by using questionnaire and secondary data have been collected from journals, websites and so on. The researcher has not possible to study the entire population of attitude of domestic tourist in Madurai district. So the researcher has collected only limited respondents i.e. 80 respondents of attitude of domestic tourist in Madurai District. The researcher has been selected the method of sampling is Judgment sampling method. The researchers for processing the interpretation of data, have applied the following statistical tools are Tables, Diagrams and Chi- square test. Research Design Survey method was followed for the study. Nagapattinam area was selected for this study. The study is mainly a descriptive type in nature. Both primary and secondary data were used for the study. Primary data were collected with the help of interview schedule. Secondary data for the study were collected from books, journals, magazines and from websites. The questionnaire was properly designed and checked the reliability of the questions.simple random sampling method was adopted for collecting a sample of 120 respondents from the places of Nagapattinam, Nagore, Trangambadi, Velankanni and Karaikal. Chi- square test is used to check the validity of the research. Statement of the Problem The problems faced by the domestic tourists and their satisfaction level towards infrastructure and the services of the tourism promotional agencies are also taken into consideration for this study. Hence the present study focus on the attitude of domestic tourist in nagapattinam District. Period of the study : The primary data collected for the study related to the month of sep 2014 to sep Area of the study Nagapattinam district is selected as the area of this study. Scope of the Study The study was conducted on domestic tourists only, since they visit almost all the places with their entire family members. The present study has brought out the importance of tourism and the identification of various popular Pilgrim tourist spots in Nagapattinam District along with some statistical information regarding the tourists arrivals in India and the study area. Hypotheses: The researchers have framed the following hypothesis to fulfill the above mentioned objectives. There is no significant difference between the occupation and purpose of visit in the domestic tourist. There is no significant difference between the religion and mode of transport in the domestic tourist Prime contributions Objectives of the study : To study the socio economic profile of the tourist coming to Nagapattinam District To find out the problems faced by the tourist while visiting the places. To offer suggestions for reducing the problems in the tourist places To study the growth of tourism in the religious Page No:297

5 SOCIO ECONOMIC OBJECTIVES Herewith in this chapter analysis the socio-economic objectives such as personal attributes like Age, Gender Educational Qualifications, Religious and Marital Status Factor Particulars Respondents Percentage Age Below Male Gender Female Educational Qualification Religious Marital Status Occupation Illiterate School Degree Others Hindu Muslim Christian Others 6 4 Married Un Married Government Private Business Profession indian Foreign Source: Primary Data While analyzing the personal profile, 50 percent of the respondents are having the age group between years, 62 Percent of the respondents are Male and 44 percent of the respondents are studied other than the Degree level, 56 percent of the respondents are related with Hindu family, 70 percent of the respondent were got married and 38 percent of the respondents were related with government employees Page No:298

6 Customer Preference Herewith in this chapter analysis the customer preference such as purpose of the visit, status of the travel, factors to motivate for tourist, sources of the information and accommodation facility. Factor Particulars Respondents Percentage Purpose of visit Travel status Motivational factor Sources of information Accommodation facility Tour Business Education Office Individual Couple Family Friends Broachers Advertisement Personal interest Cultural Interest 12 7 Books and hamlet Guide Web page 6 4 Friends Govt. guest house 6 4 Private lodge Friends house Source: Primary Data While analyzing the personal profile, 54 percent of the respondents are having the age purpose of the visit, 45 Percent of the respondents are travelled with their family members, 37 percent of the respondents are related with motivated by personal interest, 51 percent of the respondent were got information from the books and hamlet and 81 percent of the respondents were accommodated with their family members in lodges managed by private sector. Facilities Preferences Herewith in this chapter analysis the customers facility preference such as frequency of the visit, duration of the travel, factors to motivate for tourist by mode of the transport, sources of the information by the selection and accommodation facility related with category of lodge and services offered by agents and guides. Page No:299

7 Factor Particulars Respondents Percentage First Frequency of visit Repeated One day Duration of stay More than one day Air Mode of transport Road Railways Time Reason for selection Convenience Safety Cost Luxury Category of lodge Moderate Economy More satisfied Service offered by guide Satisfied Moderate Source: Primary Data From the above table, 80 percent of the respondents are having the frequency of the visit, 52 Percent of the respondents are travelled with their family members more than one day, 50 percent of the respondents are related with their travel by railways,62 percent of the respondent were select moderate level and 60 percent of the respondents were satisfied for service offered by guide and agencies. Page No:300

8 TOURIST FACED PROBLEMS AT THE TIME OF TOUR Factor Particulars Respondents Percentage Problems at the time of tour Local language 12 7 Pollution Health Care Beggars Increased litter Water and toilet facility Behaviour of shop keepers in tourist place Concern for tourist 12 7 Cheating the customers Raising the product price Selling the poor quality product Source: primary data The above table depicts the problems faced by the respondents at the time of going to tour. 31% of the respondents feel that the Water And Toilet Problem And Its is a a big problem to them % of the respondents agreed that shop keepers cheating the customers in the tourist places. Findings Observed from the Research The following are the important findings of the study: Majority of the respondents are Male Most of the respondents are Well educated Majority of the respondents are in the age category of years. The most dominating religion in the domestic tourism is the Hindu Religion Majority of the respondents are married Many of the respondents got the information through books and Astrologer Most of the respondents prefer to stay in private lodges most the respondents used railways as their mode of transport. First time visitors are comparatively more in number More than half of the tourists visited the study area for marriage purpose 23% are from foreign countries.(like vellankani church ) Page No:301

9 Government employed people prefer to visit the tourist places. Majority of the respondents are earning the monthly income of Up to per month. Most of the respondents prefer to go for pilgrimage centre. Majority of the respondents family size is up to 3 members. Most of the respondents are going to tour occasionally. Water facility& toilet in the tourist locality is the biggest problem for most of the respondents. Most of the shop keepers are trying to cheat the customers at the time of purchasing. Most of the respondents highlighted that the problems given by the beggars are high in tourist places. It is found that heavy crowd and irresponsible authorities are the reasons for the majority of the problems. Suggestions to Improve the Tourism The following are suggestions of the present study 1. Frequency of bus is so limited and there is no special buses are available for local sightseeing and for shopping.. 2. The important inscriptions in temples should be translated in English for the convenience of domestic and foreign tourists 3. Good water& toilet facilities can be offered to the tourists 4. Prosperity of the tourism industry needs the support of the government aids. 5. Beggar problems strictky prohibited in India; still It can to create a pleasant environment to the tourists. 6. A proper queue can be maintained in the place of heavy rush. 7. Efforts should be taken to give proper health care and hygienic environment. 8. Transport facility, communications and energy infrastructure should be properly maintained in all tourist places. 9. Moreover tourists should have proper awareness about the places which they are going to visit. 10. Authorities should be more responsible in improving the tourist industry. CONCLUSION Our research based on the analysis and findings, it is concluded that the Tamilnadu tourism department is at present concentrating much on the development of this sector. Tourist sector is one of the major sources of revenues to our government. It will develop the national as well as regional economic growth Officers should conduct periodical visit to all the tourist spots and interview the tourist to know about their grievance when they visit various places. It will help the tourist without facing any problem.. It is the main duty of both the government and the citizen of the our country to take utmost care to safeguard this sector. References Charles J. R., Kauser and Carry E. Helber, Tourism Planning and Development, CBI Publishing Co., Inc. Boston Massachusetts...Hunziker and Krapf: quoted from Foster, Douglas, Travel and Tourism Management, Mcmillan, London..Davar, S.C., and Mrs. Davar. V, Marketing of Tourism Services A Study of Haryana Tourism, Manorama Year Book, 1990, p.558..dallen Timothy J, Daniel Olsen H. eds Tourism, Religion and Spiritual Journeys. London and New York: Routledge, Page No:302

10 .Selvi Kalai G, Jesi Isabella S. Analysis of the Seasonality of Tourism Market in Thanjavur District. Analysis 2012; 2:12..Chauhan G. Analyzing tourism potential of Tamil Nadu state of India: a people tourist s perception approach. Journal of Environmental Research and Development. 2010, 5.2. Page No:303