A STUDY ON INCLUSION OF MICRO, SMALL, MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN TOURISM INDUSTRY OF MADURAI

Abstract

Tourism is one of the leading industries growing globally at 10% per annum. This industry is like double-edged sword, it can benefit the host countries by increasing revenue and has the potential to degrade the environment, cause inflation. Thus this industry has to be regulated and must be sustainable and responsible considering its activities. This practise of achieving sustainable is advocated by both- the Sustainable Development Goals and the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. The Ministry has also introduced various principles and indicators to measure sustainability and apply them for respective sectors of tourism industry. This study is an applied research, applying the principles to study if sustainability is achieved by tour operators sector in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The result of the study says that on an average 100 percentage of the products and services consumed by tour operators are from local MSMEs. 90 percentage of the tour operators facilitate tourists to buy products directly from MSMEs. 100 percentage of the employees employed are local population of Madurai. If accessibility to MSMES can enhanced by setting up of outlets, 100% direct selling from MSMEs to tourists can be achieved, which will promote economic benefit to the home country’s population.