Dr. A Vinodan

Proper measurement and monitoring is sin qua non for reducing unsustainable consumption of resources. This is very pertinent in case of environmentally sensitive destinations. This paper is an attempt to bring ecotourism destinations under the framework of environmental accounting in the context of Indian ecotourism scenario. The study suggests a destination based framework to undertake environmental accounting as a pre cursor to the environmental auditing at destinations. The framework suggests destination and enterprise level accounting system under the supervision of local self government, forest and wild life authorities. Study also cites the probable intervention areas of such mechanism and future directions to ensure destination sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to identify existence of various community intervention strategies (CIS) and its’ dimensional orientation of community based ecotourism (CBE) destinations of India. The study adopted exploratory sequential method. Employed focus group, interview, and structured questionnaire for primary data collection. Exploratory factor analysis was done for identifying dimensions of CIS. Data gathered from four Protected area (PA) based ecotourism destinations of Kerala, India, viz Thenmala, Periyar, Parambikulam and Wayanad. The result indicate that there are 16 intervention strategies widely practiced in CBE destinations of India. All these 16 intervention strategies has three distinct dimensions consist of governance, ecodevelopment and commercial, which underline the diversified way of intervening in resource management practices at ecotourism destinations.

The nexus between Tourism and Handicrafts is well established; owing to which contribution of handicrafts is substantial towards revenue from tourism. Therefore identification of skill requirements of artisans working in handicrafts is relevant in this context. As women artisans outnumber men in handicrafts, this study has attempted to identify the skill requirements of women artisans working in handicrafts.
The present study adopted an exploratory sequential method. The study identified three skill related requirements among women artisans with regard to tourism. Study identified these as tourism specific skills, job skills and communication skills. Women centric factors have been identified as women artisans by virtue of being women could be facing some challenges and possible link between these factors and skill requirement is examined through a model, for a comprehensive study in this domain.

Contribution of Handicraft exports is well acknowledged due to its valuable contribution to India in terms of foreign exchange earnings and employment potential. (6.77 million In 2006-07). The sector has been expanding and witnessing significant growth of 3% annually. This paper has attempted to explore the entrepreneurial possibilities in Handicrafts with specific reference to tourism destinations of Srikalahasthi, Venkatagiri, Madhavmala (3 destinations of Andhra Pradesh) known for tourism as well as for Handicrafts which has the status of Geographical indicators. Many tourists visiting these destinations spend a substantial amount of money on Kalamkari work (Sri Kalahasthi), Venkatgiri sarees (Venkatgiri) Woodcarving (Madhavmala); thus entrepreneurial opportunities are seemingly abundant. The initial part of the study, attempts to map these possibilities and the second part of the study deals with the evaluation of these possibilities (prospects in specific destinations), which are destination specific in nature. Classical Ethnographical method of research is adopted in exploring the possibilities and the prospects. Keywords: Entrepreneurs, ethnographic method, Matrix method

Responsible tourism is a sustainable tourism approach, which encompasses all forms of tourism and seeks to minimize negative economic, environment and social impacts. It generates economic benefit to local people and enhances the wellbeing of host communities. It also makes positive contributions to the conservations of natural and cultural resources. Implementation of responsible tourism among different tourism players is considered as a tiresome task before the policy makers. This article is an attempt to develop a mechanism for implementing responsible tourism from a destination oriented approach to tourism development. It also examines the role of different stakeholders for catering the basic concept of sustainable tourism development like conservation, local level resource management, equitable sharing of resource

Micro finance is considered as a viable tool for reaching the unreached. It has accessed in all societies in developmental activities where hitherto over looked because of various reasons. The inclusion of the 'neglected' in to the mainstream of the society through micro finance initiative has widely recognized in all most all parts of the world. This paper seeks to identify the role of micro finance in the changing tourism development scenario as it is considered as the one of the viable option for the inclusive growth. The investigation is to unravel tourism options in micro finance not only to the destination facilitation but travel enhancement among the low-income people through an exploratory study on tourism sector by citing the case studies from Kerala. Even though both models of destination facilitation and travel enhancement found to be viable, destination facilitation model is more conducive to employment generation, gender development and inclusive growth. INTRODUCTION Globalization and present growth trajectory brought about new challenges of widening inter personal and inter regional disparities with greater rural urban divide in India. In order to tackle these challenges and achieve broad based balanced development financial inclusion 1 (FI) and self-help groups 2 (SHG) are emerging as viable strong alternatives. The Indian economy has been growing at a steady rate of 8.5 % to 9% about five years till 2006-07.The potential for growth in the primary and SME sectors is enormous. Limited access to affordable financial services such as savings, loan, remittance and insurance services by the vast majority of the population in the rural areas and unorganised sector is believed to be acting as a constraint to the growth impetus in these sectors. Access to affordable financial services-especially credit and insurance-enlarges livelihood opportunities and empowers the poor to take charge of their lives. Such empowerment aids social and political stability. Apart from these benefits, FI imparts formal identity, provides access to the payments system and to savings safety net like deposit insurance. Hence FI is considered to be critical for achieving inclusive growth; which itself is required for ensuring overall sustainable growth in the country. Tourism is emerging as a major tool for economic development in many countries its role in the economy varies from country to country depending on the stage of development as well as the degree of tourism infrastructure and attractions. As a global industry tourism employs one out of every fifteen people across the world and has contributed substantial share to the world economy in terms of income generation. Innovations in tourism sector included eco tourism, rural tourism, cultural tourism, monsoon tourism, diamond tourism, wildlife tourism, Geo tourism, etc. are to meet varying needs. This paper attempts to discuss implications of micro finance in tourism development and inclusive growth with special reference to emerging micro models in the state of Kerala.

Ecotourism is an approach to tourism development to meet the sustainable development initiative globally. In order to meet the sustainability through resource appropriation a clear and well-knitted framework is very essential. The present study made a detailed investigation on destination management with reference to Thenmala Ecotourism Project, India's first planned ecotourism. Further, it evaluates the competencies of institutional arrangements to meet the policy objectives of ecotourism through SWOT analysis of the destination. The study shows that the destination level framework is (a). Thenmala Ecotourism Promotion Society (TEPS) at the administrative level and (b) community based organizations like Eco Development Committees (EDC) under Forest Development Authority (FDA) and Self Help Groups (SHG) under Kudumbashree Programme at the operational level which have certain operational weakness leading to sustainability failures. Study further suggests for an integrated efforts to revitalize these grass root level institutions.

The nexus between Tourism and Handicrafts is well established. Hence contribution of revenue from handicrafts is substantial than tourism. Therefore identification of skill requirements of artisans working in crafts is relevant in this context. As women artisans outnumber men in handicrafts, this study has attempted to identify the skill requirements of women artisans working in handicrafts. The present study adopted an exploratory sequential method. The study identified three skill related requirements among women artisans about tourism. The study identified these as tourism specific skills, job skills, and communication skills. Women-centric factors have been identified as women artisans by being women could be facing some challenges, and a possible link between these factors and skill requirement is examined through a model, for a comprehensive study in this domain.

This chapter investigates the potential of Kalaripayattu as a tourism product. The study adopted interview method both personal and telephonic to extract primary data from practitioners and tourists. The study result shows that various facets of Kalaripayattu practices provide scope for visual engagement, psychological engagement, spiritual/wellbeing engagement, therapeutic engagement, engagement in specialized treatment, and engagement in combat and self-defense applications. These engagement are found to be appropriate to develop tourism products which could meet the general, wellness, cultural, as well as health tourism sectors. Study further investigates the impeding factors, while developing Kalaripayattu as a tourism product and suggested strategies to overcome the same. The study also suggests that the contemporary marketing practice can create a vibrant market for Kalaripayattu, and thereby, this ancient martial art could become a unique selling proposition (USP) in the tour...

Purpose This study aims to examine individual-specific market orientation as an innovative approach and its relationship with marketing skills among artisan entrepreneurs in India. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted an in-depth interview to explore variables, a questionnaire survey to understand their latent dimensions through exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to test the relationship between constructs under study. Findings The interview result indicates that 20 variables explain factors affecting individual-specific market orientation with four latent dimensions: customer orientation, competitor orientation, external coordination orientation and personal selling orientation. There is a significant and positive relationship between customer orientation and personal selling orientation with the marketing skills of artisan entrepreneurs in India. Research limitations/implications The study is confined to three southern states of India and weaving...

Purpose This study aims to understand the linkage among sustainability initiatives (SIs), community development (CD) and community well-being (CW) in tourism. Design/methodology/approach The exploratory sequential methodology consists of expert interviews, a questionnaire survey and the model verified with analysis of moment structures 22. Findings This study shows that the direct relationship between community-level SIs and CD and CW is significant and positive. The direct relationship between CD and CW is significant and positive. CD partially mediates the relationship between community-level SIs and CW in Indigenous tourism business operations. Research limitations/implications This study assumes significance in developing Indigenous tourism destinations and calls for an integrated development strategy at the community level to enhance CW. This study provides a path for examining the contribution of grassroots-level sustainable business initiatives, their development and the comm...

PurposeThe study explores the possibility of developing a valid scale for integrated management of heritage sites to bring a holistic approach to heritage properties' conservation practices.Design/methodology/approachThe study followed the exploratory sequential method. An in-depth interview was adopted for exploring indicators, and a questionnaire survey was administered for descriptive analysis.FindingsCultural resources conservation strategies have been analyzed from a tourist, local communities and stakeholder's perspective with local-specific indicators. The study indicates that a multi-dimensional approach that integrates tourists, local communities and other stakeholders-based indicators can be developed at the destination level for the integrated management of heritage properties. Tourist-centric, local community-specific and stakeholder-oriented approaches could act as catalysts for more pragmatic conservation practices in the local areas based on the site-specific ...

Responsible tourism is a sustainable tourism approach, which encompasses all forms of tourism and seeks to minimize negative economic, environment and social impacts. It generates economic benefit to local people and enhances the wellbeing of host communities. It also makes positive contributions to the conservations of natural and cultural resources. Implementation of responsible tourism among different tourism players is considered as a tiresome task before the policy makers. This article is an attempt to develop a mechanism for implementing responsible tourism from a destination oriented approach to tourism development. It also examines the role of different stakeholders for catering the basic concept of sustainable tourism development like conservation, local level resource management, equitable sharing of resource

The study aims to explore the linkages between self-help groups (SHGs) and destination sustainability. These linkages, examined through literature review, interview, and observation methodology to explore these linkages. The study observed that the impact of SHGs on tourist destinations could be assessed as changes due to their intervention in destination areas following Input-Output- Outcome Model. The community-level sustainability initiatives are construed as input variables; the result of initiatives is considered output, and the subsequent changes in the area as outcome variables. The study assumes significance in assessing the impact of community intervention based on local action initiated through SHGs with outcome variables generated from the locality concerned. Further, the study gives a more holistic approach to understanding the intervention strategies of SHGs pivoting around the coexistence of good guest-host relationships in tourism.

Micro finance is considered as a viable tool for reaching the unreached. It has accessed in all societies in developmental activities where hitherto over looked because of various reasons. The inclusion of the 'neglected' in to the mainstream of the society through micro finance initiative has widely recognized in all most all parts of the world. This paper seeks to identify the role of micro finance in the changing tourism development scenario as it is considered as the one of the viable option for the inclusive growth. The investigation is to unravel tourism options in micro finance not only to the destination facilitation but travel enhancement among the low-income people through an exploratory study on tourism sector by citing the case studies from Kerala. Even though both models of destination facilitation and travel enhancement found to be viable, destination facilitation model is more conducive to employment generation, gender development and inclusive growth.

Purpose Tamil Nadu, the southern provincial state of India attracts the highest number of domestic as well as international tourist to India. Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu is the much sought-after destination for tourists and attracts a large number of visitors. Considering the transformational role of tourism with its focus on community-in-need, tourism can usher opportunities for both not-for-profit and for-profit social entrepreneurship (SE). At this juncture, the number of poor people in the city is relevant, which is almost 40% of the population seeking livelihood opportunities. SE operating for-profit model is often construed sustainable and appropriate in the context of tourism. Considering the relevance of such innovative actional approaches, this study aims to explore the potential of for-profit SE in the the city of Chennai. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted the exploratory sequential method. The social drivers and challenges of SE in Chennai were exp...

The purpose of this chapter is to identify entrepreneurial skill acquisition priorities of artisans and its dimensional orientation in cultural tourism destinations of India. The study adopted the exploratory sequential method, employed in-depth interview in qualitative stage, and structured questionnaire in the quantitative stage for primary data collection. Factor analysis was done for identifying dimensions of entrepreneurial skill acquisition priorities. Data gathered from three cultural tourism destinations of Andhra Pradesh, India. The results indicate that there are 17 indicators pertaining to entrepreneurial skill acquisition priorities, with three distinct dimensions consisting of (1) managerial skill, (2) initiating skill, and (3) destination-specific skill. This emphasizes that focus has to be given while imparting entrepreneurial training for artisan aspiring for grabbing cultural tourism opportunities. The study highlights the importance of framing broader strategies in...

Kalari is the Malayalam (language spoken in Kerala) word for a special kind of gymnasium, where the martial art known as Kalaripayattu is practised based on the idea of a sound mind in the sound body. It is one of the most ancient and comprehensive art form of India rather the world, because it has an excellent system of physical training, effective self-defence techniques, both armed and unarmed, training for excellent flexibility for physical and mental strength and is based on the Dravidian culture of India. Kalaripayattu is considered as the basis for all martial arts. This martial art has been practised on the basis of a scientific system of medicine called Kalarichikilsa ( Kalari-related treatment). This article investigates the potential of cultural heritage resources from a supply and demand perspective, as cultural resource management is the need of the hour to preserve and commercialize cultural and heritage resources. The study reveals that cultural heritage resources lik...

This article intends to the validate measurement model for integrated community intervention strategies (ICIS) and explore the entrepreneurial orientation of community members in ecotourism destinations through ICIS. The study adopted the exploratory sequential method. The study employed focused groups, interviews and structured questionnaires for primary data collection. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and percentage analysis were conducted for testing the hypothesis. Data were gathered from four protected area based ecotourism destinations of Kerala, India, namely, Thenmala, Periyar, Parambikulam and Wayanad. The result indicates that there are three latent constructs for ICIS that is governance intervention strategies, eco-development intervention strategies and commercial intervention strategies. As far as entrepreneurial orientation is concerned, local community members are able to orient themselves in three levels of entrepreneurial requirements positively, namely, explorat...

This article intends to the validate measurement model for integrated community intervention strategies (ICIS) and explore the entrepreneurial orientation of community members in ecotourism destinations through ICIS. The study adopted the exploratory sequential method. The study employed focused groups, interviews and structured questionnaires for primary data collection. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and percentage analysis were conducted for testing the hypothesis. Data were gathered from four protected area based ecotourism destinations of Kerala, India, namely, Thenmala, Periyar, Parambikulam and Wayanad. The result indicates that there are three latent constructs for ICIS that is governance intervention strategies, eco-development intervention strategies and commercial intervention strategies. As far as entrepreneurial orientation is concerned, local community members are able to orient themselves in three levels of entrepreneurial requirements positively, namely, explorat...