Business Opportunities in Cultural Tourism Environs – A Case of Temple Festival in Dindigul Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Cultural tourism protects historic, heritage and cultural resources in villages, towns and cities. It also provides an opportunity to educate the native residents and visitors’ about local, regional traditions and customs. More so, cultural tourism aims essentially cultural motivations, which include travel for specific purpose, for example, to attend festivals, or to visit cultural sites or historical monuments. It may be more broadly motivated by the desire to experience and enjoy cultural diversity or to immerse oneself in the culture of specific region. Cultural tourists promote the hosts and gusts relationship and local communities get benefits through cultural tourism in the form of strengthening the local economy, promote resources protection increase the visitors expenditures, generate employment, preserve the unique character of the locale, increase community pride and create awareness on community resources, increase tax revenues and stimulate economic development and growth. Temple festivals in rural India put money in the pockets of local vendors, generate both direct and indirect employment opportunities. It is right place to mention that Tamilnadu is considered as a land of religious and cultural celebrations and numerous fairs and festivals. Large number of fairs and festivals are related to religious ceremonies of the temples and generate benefits to rural areas in terms of rural employment, Improved distribution of wealth, conservation of rural environment and culture and local peoples’ participation. Festivals along with fairs are generally held for a span of one week to one month that attract mostly visitors from the villages around. With this background the authors have made an attempt to analyse the business opportunities emanate in the cultural tourism environs embodied in the temple festival in Dindigul of Tamilnadu state based on first hand information collected and collated from the cultural tourists, service providers and the local community.