A Comparative Analysis on Community Involvement in Tourism Development in Select Areas of Telangana and Maharashtra

Abstract

The research is focused to identify the community involvement and their experiences in the development of tourism in Telangana and Maharashtra states. The study is initiated and empirically tested based on a conceptual model that includes three factors showing the involvement of community in development of tourism. The tourist activities, integration of community and barriers to tourism development in Telangana and Maharashtra states. The data has been collected from 273 respondents, 139 from Telangana and 134 from Maharashtra respectively and analyzed using a Non parametric statistical tool The Mann Whitney U Test. The result is that there is a significant difference between integration of community and barriers in tourism development among Telangana and Maharashtra states but the opinion stands the same with regard to tourist activities among both the states. The findings of the study concluded that community engagement is very important in the development of tourism sector in any state and they contribute to the development of the state directly or indirectly and the state governments also have to provide the opportunity to the individuals to development the tourism sector that contribute not only the GDP but also to promote the heritage and culture of the respective states. The future research could focus on some more additional factors which may help in the development of the tourism sector.