People living in rural areas travel more and contribute in domestic tourism than the urban population. Though they move out mostly for social purposes, yet make significant contribution in the growth of tourism by visiting tourism places in and around their main destinations. This has been established from a finding of a survey.
In order to estimate the total Number of domestic tourists by different purposes of travel; and to estimate the total magnitude and pattern of tourist expenditure, the Department of Tourism had commissioned a nation-wide household survey in the year 2002. The results of the survey, conducted by the National Council of Applied Economic research (NCAER) are now available. Some of the important findings of the survey giving demographic profile of tourist households, characteristics of tourists’ trips, expenditure patter, etc are as follows:
- Of the total households in the country, about 44% are tourist households where at least one member of the household was a tourist during the reference period.
- Of the total tourist households, about 75% are in rural areas, and balance 25% in urban areas;
- Total estimated domestic tourists IN 2002 at the national level are about 550 million, of which about 29% were urban inhabitants and balance 71% rural;
- Top five States ranked according to their relative shares in total tourists are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan;
- Travel for social purposes accounted for the largest percentage of tourists in both urban and rural areas accounting for about 59% of total estimated tourists, followed by ‘Religion & Pilgrimage’ tourists accounting for about 14%;
- The average expenditure per trip made by Domestic Tourists at the All India level is Rs. 1389. It is Rs. 2044 for urban areas and Rs. 1170 for rural areas;
- Expenditure on transport accounts for the major share of the trip expenditure;
- Average expenditure per trip is the highest for travel related to ‘leisure and holiday’ and lowest for ‘social purposes;
- Total expenditure incurred by domestic tourists in the country during 2002 is estimated to the tune of Rs. 319 billion.
The Survey also covered for the first time ever the phenomenon of same day trips on a pilot basis, and estimated that a total of 243 million same day trips for tourism were made during a single month of December 2002, of which nearly 176 million were by rural households. The pilot survey also estimated the average expenditure on the same day trips for all purposes taken together in urban areas as Rs. 119 and Rs. 78 in rural areas.
(Release ID :1304)