TOURISM AND ITS IMPACT ON LOCAL ECONOMY: A STUDY ON PART OF GANGTOK MUNICIPAL CORPORATION AREA, EAST SIKKIM, INDIA

Abstract

Tourism always plays an important role in developing the economy at national, state and local levels.This study focuses on two major aspects of tourism industry i.e. the socio-economic development which helps in creating employment opportunities for the local residents that leads to the improvement of daily living of the local community and secondly on the psychological satisfaction of the tourists who visit this place for various purposes. Only complete satisfaction of the tourists will lead to the progress and growth of the tourism industry in these areas. This paper tries to analyse the impact of tourism on the local resident’s economic status based on the tourists’ feedback of availing essential and important services of the tourist centres.

The economic impact analysis presented here through investigating the various parameters like gender, age, sex, religion, length of stay, purpose of visit and so on. These parameters by and large, have influenced both tangible (quantitative) and intangible (qualitative) values of life of the people of the East District. The most significant tourist-based determining factor of tangible parameter is income no matter how operationalized.Although the present investigation indicates that a relation between the number of visits and spending levels are much contradictory and season dependent. Day trippers and overnight tourists especially a business trip contributes more and rapidly than a tourist gang with a long stay. Nevertheless, a long staying tourist although pay less in stay and food, they spend more in transportation for site seeing. We suggest that analysis of the above parameters is not exhaustive and further understanding ofeconomic growth also depends on attributes of supply and satisfaction with it. In the Sikkim region, economy is much dependent on the characteristics of destinations and the findings indicate a significant impact on the spending level that is influenced by season, travel motives and activities.