DATA ANALYSIS AND SURVEY ON TOURIST INTERESTS.
Tourism industry is one of the most dynamic and perhaps the most economically important sector in India as a whole. The industry contributes to more than 6% of the total GDP and employs over 8.7% of the total population. In the light of tourism Kerala is a very important tourism hot spot. It is named as one of the ten paradises in the world. The industry grows at the rate of over 12% per annum and is a major contributor to the state’s economy. Though we might know a lot about the industry little is archived or observed about the travelling interest of the people in the state.
Through this survey we wanted to understand the travelling preferences about the respondents, make sense of what they liked and disliked about the industry and also to find out the problems faced by them while travelling. The survey also aims at getting their feedback on what change they wanted to see in the industry to improve it too.
The survey was conducted using Google forms application and the findings are as follows:
- Majority of the people that we surveyed were from nuclear families (79.2%).
- While selecting tourist destinations respondents were chiefly in favor of places with importance for Relaxation and aesthetics (62.5) followed by sporting and adventure.
- Cars and public vehicle are the most preferred means of transportation (58.3%) compared to other means.
- Most people prefer travelling during long vacations (83.3%) rather than during weekends and short holidays.
- Most people are of the opinion that tourism only plays a moderate role in India’s economy.
- A large proportion of responses suggest that people book their accommodation through online websites (66.7%) when compared with government or private services
- Out of all the responses, 79.2% suggest that people like to travel independently, and that 75% people travel once in a year
- 50% of the respondents prefer to travel for about 2-3 days, i.e. for a short period of time. Star rated hotels are more preferred for staying when people go out on vacations. It is also evident from the survey that people favor travelling out of the state.
- People like travelling with family members than with friends or travelling alone.
- 66.7% of the respondents prefer carrying credit/debit cards with them while travelling over carrying cash in hand.
- Only 12.5% people go on adventure tours very often.
- 37.5% equally chose their travel destination with the help of travel websites as well as recommendation of friends.
- On a scale from 1 to 10, 29.2% people rate the efforts taken by the government at 5 & 7.
- About 41.7% face problems related to accommodation when they go out on a tour and equal numbers of people face problems related to the disposal of travel generated waste and adjusting to food in other areas.
- A majority of people felt that the most important aspect that the government should look to improve the tourism in any area is by maintaining its cleanliness.
