An Introduction to the Business of Tourism by Venu Vasudevan

Exam Material For A Basic Guide to the Industry of Travel by Venu Vasudevan

This manual provides a clear comprehension of the industry of travel and assists learners in gaining practical and innovative insights.

An output of numerous years of practical knowledge, An Introduction to the Industry of Travel provides a new standpoint of the skill-based, information-oriented, and interdisciplinary domain of the travel industry. It offers a well-rounded combination of the fundamental principles and ideas, their execution and policy consequences, as well as the practicalities and functional features of the travel sector.

Split into four parts and distributed over nineteen chapters, this manual extensively explores Indian and global travel experiences with various integrated case studies and illustrations.

About the Writer
Venu Vasudevan presently works for the Government of Kerala as the Principal Secretary, Travel, and oversees three more divisions. With above 15 years of practical experience in leading management roles, Dr. Vasudevan is the most extended serving official in the travel sector in India. Dr. Vasudevan engaged in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in 1990, and has served both the Indian Government and the Kerala State Government in various roles. Born in 1964, Vasudevan achieved a qualification in medicine but subsequently opted for a profession in civil services.

He has operated in the areas of Travel and Culture in a diversity of positions. It was during his time as Director, Kerala Travel, and later as Secretary, Department of Travel, that Kerala transformed its market stance and formulated a robust public–private partnership, leading to Kerala’s recognition by the National Geographic Traveller as one of the 50 ‘essential’ destinations worldwide. Kerala Travel Mart, India’s most extensive international travel trade fair, is his innovative idea. He served the Ministry of Travel, Indian Government, and took a crucial role in creating the ‘Incredible India’ initiative.

Two projects created by him have won global accolades presented by Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA). Utsavam, an initiative to renew the conventional art forms of Kerala and offer revenue streams to performers, secured the PATA Gold Award 2008 (http://www.pata.org/ update-from-past-winners). ‘A Day with the Masters,’ a guided tour of Kerala Kalamandalam, an institution for performing arts, received ‘honourable mention’ in 2005 (http://www.kalamandalam. org/adaywithmasters.asp).

He served as Secretary, Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala (2007–2011), during which period the International Theatre Festival of Kerala (http://www.theatrefestivalkerala.com/) was set up. He was an essential figure in forming and maintaining a modern museum, Keralam (http://www.museumkeralam.org/). He played a crucial role in the progression and upgrade of the museums and archives of Kerala.

Transitioning to the Central Government, he acted as Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture, managing top cultural institutions, libraries, archives and Museums. As the Director General of the National Museum (from January 2013 to May 2015), he led a team that labored on the restoration of National Museum, beginning a range of projects that increased visitations, enhanced visibility, and engaged stakeholders and the academic society. He was requested to be a participant in the Global Museum Leaders Colloquium of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He served as the Vice Chancellor, National Museum Institute of History of Art, Conservation, and Museology.

In the travel sector, Dr. Vasudevan has a profound curiosity in community-based travel. He organized the 2nd International Conference on Responsible Tourism, and played a key role in establishing a robust model for Responsible Tourism in Kerala. He writes extensively on communities, responsible travel and the evolving part of the public sector in the travel sector.

On top of his official obligations, he is a passionate theatre artist and a fervent supporter of Arsenal football club.

Vijayakumar B. acted as the Principal of Kerala Institute of Travel and Travel Studies for ten years from 2007 to 2017. He entered the Collegiate Education Department, Government of Kerala as Lecturer of Economics in 1981, and also operated as Senior Lecturer and Reader of Economics in various government institutions. He also worked as visiting faculty in travel in University of Kerala for seven years.

Dr. Vijayakumar holds postgraduate qualifications in economics, travel management, and rural development and gained degrees of MPhil and PhD in travel from the University of Kerala. He is an approved management instructor and lifelong member of All India Management Association, the editor of Indian Journal of Travel and Hospitality Management, expert member of various committees of State Planning Board, vocational higher secondary education, Business Advisory Committee Hospitality Sector of Additional Skill Acquisition Programme Kerala, Postgraduate Board of Studies in Travel at Central University, Puducherry and Anna University, Chennai. He also worked as Chairman, Board of Studies (UG), member of Postgraduate Studies in Economics and Management and faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kerala.

He has overseen 12 research tasks, published 4 books in economics, 11 books in travel, and contributed research pieces to different national and international journals. He has presented research papers in over 75 national and international conferences. He received the National Award for Best Research Report in 2003, presented by International Institute of Adult and Lifelong Education New Delhi and Vocational Excellence Award by Rotary Club, Thiruvananthapuram in 2014. His fields of expertise encompass sustainable travel and community-based travel activities. He is actively engaged in promoting responsible travel among travel stakeholders at micro and macro levels through public gatherings, workshops, print, and electronic media.

Saroop Roy B.R. currently serves as Assistant Professor, Kerala Institute of Travel and Travel Studies, and the project coordinator of the Responsible Travel Initiative in Kerala, where he has played a significant role in formulating and executing the project in the region. He completed his Masters’s degree in Travel Administration (MTA) from the University of Kerala after completing his B.Tech in Electronics and Communication engineering. Commencing his career in the travel industry as a trainee at Thenmala Ecotourism Promotion Society (TEPS) in 2000, he managed as the Kerala co-ordinator of EQUATIONS, a Bengaluru-based research campaign and advocacy organization on travel policies and issues, for eight years. In 2010, he transitioned to the travel academic field as faculty MBA (Travel) at the Institute of Management in Kerala (IMK) under the University of Kerala. In 2011, he joined KITTS as Assistant Professor in Travel and Tourism (T&T). His skills include areas in travel policy formulation, ecotourism, responsible travel, rural travel, and community-linked travel projects.

During his time at EQUATIONS, he participated in the SBSTTA 13 meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity held in Rome in February 2008. He also led the Indian delegation of ecotourism practitioners to attend the South African and Indian Practitioners’ Workshop to exchange lessons and best practices on using nature travel as a force for Poverty Alleviation in Johannesburg in May 2008. He was also the resource person at various sessions on Institution Building for Sustainable Travel and Livelihoods, organized by UNDP at IRMA, Anand as part of the Endogenous Travel Project in 2006 and 2008. He participated and presented papers at various international forums, including the ‘Canopy Travel: Concept and Practice in the Indian Context,’ at the 5th International Canopy Conference in October 2009, Bengaluru, and made the keynote presentation on environmental responsibility at the International Conference on Responsible Travel―Looking Back: Moving Ahead―held at Kumarakom in June 2013.

On the policy side, he was a member of the drafting committee of the Kerala Travel Policy 2012, Renovation of Homestay Classification Scheme for Kerala 2015, and the preparation of a charter for Green Carpet initiative for Kerala Travel 2016.

Vijayakumar and Saroop Roy co-authored the manuals Travel and Livelihood: Selected Experiences from Kerala (2011), A Case Study on Kumarakom (2013) and submitted research paper ‘Community Based Travel Business in Kumarakom: A Case Study of Innovative Products and Experiences’ which was accepted for presentation at the 2nd UNWTO Knowledge Network Global Forum held in Mexico in 2014.