Tourism Management Assignment: How Taj mahal Contributed Towards DevelopmentIn India

Question

Task: Write a report on tourism management assignment discussing aboutTaj Mahal as a tourist destination. Discuss how Taj Mahal has played an important role in the economic growth and development of India.

Answer

Introduction to tourism management assignment:
History &Backgroud of TajMahal:
Taj mahal is one of the greatest mausoleums across the world. It is located in Agra in the Uttar Pradesh State of India. It is situated at the river bank of one of Yamuna which is the most famous rivers flowing in India. The famous Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan had created Taj Mahal in the memory of beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who lost her life in the childhood. Since then Taj Mahal is referred as world’s iconic symbol of love. The construction of the building was started in the beginning of 1632 AD and it was completed in 1648 AD, with its mosque, guest house and the main gateway. Taj Mahal is completely constructed with the white marble which was procured from Makrana, Rajasthan and the marble reflects the hues in accordance with moonlight or the sunlight. Various historical and Quaranic inscriptions given in Arabic scripts have influenced the setting up of chronology of the Taj Mahal. It is also distinguished as the classic example of finest Mughal architecture for its exteriors and interiors. UNESCO had declared Taj Mahal as the World’s Heritage Site in the year 1983 (UNESCO, 2020). For the purpose of construction of Taj Mahal various professionals like masons, stone cutters, architects, wall-carvers, painters, interior designers, calligraphers and the dome builders were arranged from the entire empire as well as from Central Asia and Iran.

Source: https://www.theconstantrambler.com/taj-mahal-tribute-to-love/

Scope and Size of Taj Mahal:
Taj mahal is known for its finest architectural achievement of the entire gamut ofIndo-Islamicarchitecture. The building covers the area of around 42 Acres. The mausoleum is resting in the centre of a wide plinth of 23 feet high. The building has 4 facades which are almost identical with a wide central arch of height of 108 feet at its apex point (Encyclopædia Britannica). The central dome of the building has a height of 240 feet and is surrounded by 4 shorter domes.The destination marketing organization of Taj Mahal is the Uttar Pradesh Tourism. UP Tourism is a not-for-profit entity which promotes the local tourist destinations in the entire Uttar Pradesh State of India (Uttar Pradesh Tourism, 2019). Generally, around 7-8 million people visit Taj Mahal every year. On the busy tourists days around 70000 people visit the Taj Mahal (Katz. 2018). As per the reports from Minister Of State for Culture and Tourism, in 2018-19, the number of tourists who visited the great monument were 70,90,207 and this count has allowed the government to generate a revenue of around INR 86 crore (The Economic Times, 2019).

Source: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taj-Mahal

Description of Taj Mahal’s Image
The building of Taj has a royal exterior with equally beautiful interiors covering spectacular artistic work which gives it a mesmerizing view.The water way and the fountain work at the entrance of the monument makes it even more majestic. Also, the grounds of the buildings cover attractive gardens for the tourists to relax and enjoy the beauty of the place.The main dome has acoustics inside it and it causes single note of flute which reverberates 5 times. The main building of Taj Mahal consists of two cenatophs which are built in the memory of both Shah Jahan and Mumtaz Mahal. Taj Mahal is the centre of attraction for the tourists from India as well as from all across the world since it has been listed in the Seven Wonders of the World. The unique and interesting story behind the building process of Taj Mahal has always been successful to inspire people of different ages and nationalities to visit the place. Taj Mahal has achieved great image in the eyes of the world. Also, the tourists have called it as the Epitome of Love and they enjoy visiting the place since it gives them a sense of love. The Uttar Pradesh Government gives Taj Mahal a prime place in its directory of famous UP tourism destinations as it helps in bringing in so much value and respect for Indian tourism and its culture and values.

Source: https://www.holidify.com/places/agra

Career Opportunities in Agra due to Taj Mahal
To promote and facilitate the growth and development of Taj Mahal as the tourist destination there could be the involvement and contribution of various professionals like taxi operators, guides, foreign exchange issuers, doctors, artists, painters, hospitality industry operators and so on. There could be various career opportunities linked with this tourism destination of India. For instance, Guides are required to help and let the tourists be familiar with the purpose, history, value and relevance of such monuments. Also, the local guides of Taj Mahal are required to learn multiple languages to communicate with the tourists from all over the world. The taxi operators would help the tourists to easily commute to multiple tourist destinations in Agra. The healthcare facilitators would help the visitors to check them up in case of any health imbalance. The hospitality industry operators would provide them proper accommodation and food facility. All these facilities have given a wide scope of employment in the city. Apart from this, various handicraft industries have been opened up in Agra to allow the tourists various shopping avenues and in this way these industries and factories have opened up a wide range of employment opportunities even for the daily wage earners to serve their livelihood in a better way.

Strategic Marketing Tools used for Taj Mahal
In the today’s scenario where Taj Mahal is being considered as one of the most visited tourist destinations in the world, the concept of marketing has also played an important role in its promotion at the global level. The use of social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and other toolsto promote monuments like social media has quite successfully contributed to the rapid growth of tourism industry in India. The other tool that is being used to promote Taj Mahal as the tourist destination is the product strategy which includes provision of additional services other than tourism to attract more tourism in the country. The DMO of Taj Mahal has encouraged the introduction of better infrastructural facilities in the city such as accommodation, food and health services. Apart from this pricing strategy has been used to promote Taj Mahal tourism wherein the entry prices for the monument visit have been kept at the nominal level so that visitors can easily afford to visit the place (Fazili& Ashraf, 2006). Apart from this government of India has facilitated the tourists with the guide facility which helps them in visiting the place thoroughly and knowing its cultural importance and value. At the national level, the ‘AthithiDevoBhava’ campaign has been introduced to promote the tourism of Taj Mahal. The campaign is being telecasted on televisions in the entire country. At the international level, The ‘Global Print Campaign’ has been adopted to showcase the large range of variety of tourism destination that are available with the Uttar Pradesh Tourism Organizations. Furthermore, the awareness of the Taj Mahal tourism has been spread across the international markets through e-tourists visa. Another initiative that has been taken in India to promote the tourism in India was the introduction of ‘Incredible India’ carry bags (Sharma. & Hazarika, 2017).

Apart from the above discussed marketing tools, the Uttar Pradesh Government in India could use other destination marketing tools such as targeting specific segments, promotional travel packages, experience differentiation, introducing shopping avenues, destination branding, internal marketing could be used to further promote the growth of tourism industry in India (BajwaBains, 2011). Though Taj and Agra have their own brand value across the world, proper brand management is essential for the government to make them economically sound (Gupta, 2008). For this purpose, reputed agencies must be hired with the motive of proper image management of the heritage. Moreover, efforts are also required to weave an Agra Saga wherein all the tourist destinations of Agra such as Taj Nature Walk, Tomb of Itimad-ud-Daulah Agra fort, Kinaari bazaar, MehtabBagh etc. are taken together (UP Toursim, 2019). There could be other basic but important arrangements to promote the attractiveness of the Taj Mahal as the tourism place such as arranging basic drinking facilities, umbrellas, conveyance facility that could help the tourists in exploring Taj Mahal in the hot weather

Opportunities and Challenges for Taj Mahal
The travel and tourism industry play a considerable role in the economic development and growth of the country. Taj Mahal, being the most popular tourist destination has contributed significantly in the development of Agra tourism as well as the growth and development of Indian Economy (Bassart, 2019). The collections made by way of the entry fees and other ways from the foreign nationals helps in brining in the foreign currency which enhances the foreign reserves of the country. The tourism provides the local citizens of the city great employment opportunity as the tourists in the country pays for their accommodation and food facilities. Apart from this the taxi industry gains a huge advantage of the tourism destination being located in Agra. These are the prime reasons because of which the travel, hospitality and tourism industry in India has achieved rapid growth. The tourism industry accounts for around 10% of its overall GDP.

Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/taj-mahal-introduces-rs-200-fee-for-main-mausoleum-hikes-entry-fee-5062402/

However, since Taj Mahal attracts huge number of tourists to visit the place, the massive visit poses certain challenges for the Government of India. Over the last 400 years, the site has begun to degrade majorly due to acute air pollution which has stained the monument’s once-sparkling and unique marble exteriors (Katz, 2018). The air pollution is caused due to the emissions from the nearby factories and the exhausting gases from the vehicles which have nowadays increased drastically in response to the increased tourism in the city. Apart from the air pollution, the tourists in huge numbers dumps their wastes such as plastics papers used for their eatable items, water bottles etc. at the spot and such waste then directly goes to the Yamuna River because of which it is highly polluted and contaminated. The polluted water of the river has now caused the proper of numerous insects to breed in the polluted water. The insects leave their poops on the white walls of Taj Mahal making it quite unpleasant. Moreover, in order to accommodate the tourists and to provide them better infrastructural facilities the trees have been felled off. Also, the climatic conditions in Agra make it a very hot in most of the months which bars the tourists to visit the place. The hot and dusty winds damage the exteriors of the building to a great extent (Shanmugasundaram, 2015).

Conclusion
In the limelight of above discussion, it can be concluded that tourists’ destinations like Taj Mahal not only brings in revenues in great numbers for the government of the country but also, they contribute to adding more and more values to the cultural and economic integrity of such nation. Taj Mahal as a tourist destination has played an important role in the economic growth and development of India as a whole. It being one of the Seven Wonders of the World has brought in a matter of pride for the country from all across the world. Therefore, such tourism destinations where ever located in the world requires utmost protection from the external forces which could damage their integrity. Along with revenues generated from the tourists coming to visit Taj Mahal, it has also contributed to wider employment opportunities in the local city as well in India as a whole which has ultimately added value to the better economic development of the country. Also, since Taj Mahal had been created by Shah Jahan to offer tribute to his wife for their love, it has now been recognized in the world as the epitome of love and through its beautiful it delivers a message of loving the beloved ones to its visitors.

References
Aggarwal, A. K., Guglani, M., & Goel, R. K. (2008). Spiritual & Yoga Tourism: A casestudy on experience of Foreign Tourists visiting Rishikesh, India.
BajwaBains, S. K. (2011). Can international tourists have a better experience at the Taj Mahal (Doctoral dissertation, Auckland University of Technology).
Bassart, L. (2019). Taj Mahal – World’s Most Iconic Tribute to Love. Retrieved from: https://www.theconstantrambler.com/taj-mahal-tribute-to-love/ ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA. (2020). Taj Mahal. Retrieved at https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taj-Mahal

Fazili, A. I., & Ashraf, S. H. (2006). Tourism In India Planning & Development. Sarup& Sons.
Gupta. D. (2008). Marketing Interventions for Tourism Promotion Recommendations for the top tourist destination of India. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/download/3426333/226-238_devashish.pdf

Shanmugasundaram, M. (2015). Strategies to Create Awareness of Tourism in the Hot Springs in India.Tourism management assignment Strategies, 19, 25.
Sharma. M. & Hazarika, D.D.(2017). Tourism Marketing in India: A Case Study.
Retrieved from: http://www.pbr.co.in/2017/2017_month/Nov/8.pdf Katz. B. (2018).India to Cap Number of Taj Mahal VisitorsSpurred by safety and conservation concerns, officials plan to limit the number of domestic tourists to 40,000 per dayRetrieved from: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/india-cap-number-taj-mahal-visitors-1-180967738/

The Economic Times. (2019). Tourists up at Taj Mahal and Red Fort but QutubMinar loses its No.2 Spot. Retrieved from: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/tourists-up-at-taj-mahal-and-red-fort-but-qutub-minar-loses-its-no-2-spot/articleshow/70152555.cms

UNESCO. (2020). Taj Mahal. Retrieved at https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/252/
Uttar Pradesh Tourism. (2019). Revitalization Of Shah Jahan Park Walkway Between Taj Mahal And Agra Fort, Agra. Retrieved from: http://uptourism.gov.in/article/ongoing-activities