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Transport for Tourism: Concept of Transport, Linkages between

Transport and Tourism
Transport is one of the essential components of tourism activities. The movement of human beings at
national and international level is taking place because of various means of transport. Millions of
tourists are being transported safely, quickly, and comfortably to their destinations at a reasonable
cost. In fact, transport and its associated infrastructure have facilitated human mobility on large scale.

Concept of Transport
The term transport is derived from the Latin word trans meaning across a port. Thus, the
movement of people or goods from one place to another by a means of transport is called
transportation. Each tourist must move from place to place and needs transportation for his or her
movement. Transport helps people to move from tourist generating area to tourist destination area.

In between, there is a transit route. There are different modes of transport like road transport, rail
transport, water transport and air transport. In earlier times road transport was more popular
than railways or waterways.

Linkages between Transport and Tourism

Tourism plays a key role in the socio-economic and cultural progress through creation of jobs,
enterprise and infrastructure and revenue earnings. Transport occupies a key position in tourism
sector, and it is an important driver for socio-economic progress. It plays an important role as it
would be impossible for tourists to visit many tourist sites without it.

It provides an essential link between points of origin to its destination areas. Due to new
innovations in transport system, the growth and patterns of tourism are changing. In India,
Planning Commission has identified tourism as the second largest sector in the country in providing
employment opportunities. Most of the semi-skilled workers are engaged in supportive activities of
tourism industry.

Characteristics of Tourist Transportation

A good system of transport plays an important role in sustaining economic growth and development
of a country. Because of the fast-moving life, people have less time and they want to visit more and
more places in a shorter period. Each and every mode of transport has its own characteristics with
regard to travel and tourism.

Characteristics of Road Transportation

Road transport provides basic accessibility in connecting various places and people. It also has a
number of advantages like good flexibility, reliability, speed, cheaper cost etc. It is accessible to a
large number of people and is more efficient than other means of transport.

It can take the tourist up to the final destination point.

National and State Highways both are very important in the development of a fine network of
roadways. Both flyovers and good conditions of road have helped to increase the travel and tourism
activities across the world.

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Different types of road vehicles are used like car, taxi, coaches, buses and jeeps which can connect
rail, air and water transportation to each other.

Characteristics of Rail Transportation

Railway is the most suitable and cheap means of transport for long distance travelling. As compared to
road transport, it is very cheap and comfortable for longer distances. There are various categories of
coaches including General, Sleeper, AC Classes, AC Chair Car etc. The railway provides basic
infrastructure for movement of tourists to nearly all parts of the country.

Characteristics of Water Transportation

Travel by ship was the main means to travel overseas until the middle of 20 th century? The earliest
type of boat was the raft, made of grasses, logs and other light material. Now the quality of boats
and ships has improved a lot and most of the discoveries of the world were made through water
transport. This is evident as tourism through cruises is increasing day by day and has an excellent
potential.

Lakes, rivers, canals, Backwaters Sea are very important modes of water-based tourism all over the
world.

Characteristics of Air Transportation

At the global level, air travel is the second most popular mode of transport after road. It is the
fastest means of transport. One can reach the destination in hours covering the distance of
thousands of kilometres. Air transportation has connected all nations of the world. It has
transformed the whole world into a Global Village. This mode of transport is free from surface
hindrances such as inaccessible mountains, dense forest, marshy land, flooded areas, hot and cold
desert.

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High speed that saves time and providing luxurious journey are important characteristics of air
transport. It is a convenient, comfortable and luxurious source of transport.

Means of Transport in India

India is a vast country with amazing geographical diversity together with plurality in language,
religion, culture, and ethnicity from the mountains of the Himalaya in the north to the seacoasts in the
south and from the Thar deserts in the west to the humid forests in the northeast. The means of
transport in India comprises various modes such as road transport, railways, water transport and air
transport. Each of these has its own significance in relation to travel and tourism.

Transport engaged in travel and tourism can be divided into following four categories:

Road Transport
Road transport is a very important mode of transport for shorter distance. It connects the people and
places of the country. It links a market, cultural centres, religious places, historical sites, villages, and
towns with national mainstream.

Highways
Highways and District roads are primarily used to connect major tourist centres in the country.
National Highways (NHs) are principal roads connecting different state capitals to the main cities
of country. There are 23 NHs in India varying in length. In recent times, many expressways and
flyovers have come up in India making the road transport fast and efficient

The travel time and traffic jams have been considerably reduced, which helps in promoting
movement of people in general and tourism activities. Flyovers built in urban areas reduce the
pressure on intersections facilitating smooth run of traffic. Delhi is known as City of Flyovers and
has helped reduced pollution and travel time within Delhi.

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Superhighways
In India, Golden Quadrilateral connects four major cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.
North-South corridor connects Srinagar in the north to Kanyakumari in the south and East-West
corridor connects Silcher in the east to Porbandar in the west. There is a Golden Triangle which
connects three cities Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur.

Because of the triangular shape, it is called the Golden Triangle. This route is more popular among
the foreign and domestic tourists. Majority of the tourists travel from Delhi to Taj Mahal (Agra) and
then Jaipur and its surrounding deserts.

Roads
State Highways connect state capitals with district headquarters, important towns, and cities within a
state. Major District roads take the traffic from main roads. It contributes significantly to the growth
and development of tourism in the country. Availability of district and village roads is promoting rural
tourism. The inter-state bus system is well developed, and the quality of buses varies. Golden
Quadrilateral connects four cities Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai.

Rail Transport
Indian railways provide the principal mode of transportation for public and tourists. It brings
together people of different areas for business, sightseeing, religious, education etc. India has the
second largest Railways network in Asia and the fourth largest in the world after USA, Russia, and
China. India tops world’s leading countries regarding passengers carried per kilometre. Ministry of
Railways is making positive efforts for improving the demands of passengers like increasing faster
trains, safe and comfortable journey.

Tourism Promoting Trains

Indian Railways are running few special trains to promote tourism in India. Few special trains have
been started to promote tourism in India.

They are:

Palace on Wheels is a royal train which provides all-inclusive package tour of seven days covering
important tourist sites of Rajasthan, Delhi, and Agra. Its coaches have luxury services. This is
popular among domestic and international tourists who want to enjoy sightseeing of the region,
travelling in sheer luxury and enjoying a delicious cuisine simultaneously.

Fairy Queen Train has the oldest steam locomotive engine. It departs from Delhi and stops at Alwar
where guests are taken to the Sariska tiger reserve forest for an overnight stay.

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Heritage on Wheels is a luxury train connecting small cities of Rajasthan, which includes Bikaner,
Gajner, Nawalgarh, Mandawa, Ramgarh and Shekhawati.

Bharat Darshan is a special tourist train, which covers all the important tourist places in the
country. The affordable cost of tour package covers accommodation arrangement for each coach,
tourist buses for visiting sightseeing spots, hall accommodation at places of night stay: Guides for
information are some of the added facilities.

Air Transport
Air transport is used to carry tourists and luggage’s over long distances, and it has a very important
role to play in the tourism development. At global level, demand of air transport is increasing, as it
has made it easy to visit any place in the world within 24 hours. Airports provide the entire basic
infrastructure, which is needed for passenger comfort.

Now, tourist charter lights can land at all 16 designated international airports, namely
Ahmedabad, Agra, Amritsar, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Chennai, Cochin, Delhi, Guwahati, Hyderabad,
Jaipur, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram, Varanasi, and Port Blair. Many public and private air travel
agencies offer concessional tickets, special packages to attract more of lower budget tourists.

Water Transport
Since the Indus valley civilization, rivers have been used for transportation of goods and human beings.
There are three major dimensions of tourism categories of water transport:

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Coastal Shipping

Inland Waterways

Sea transport

India is bordered by Bay of Bengal in east, Arabian Sea in west and Indian Ocean in the south and it has a
very vast coastline of about 7500 km including Lakshdweep and Andman Island and Nicobar Island.
The country has an extensive Network of inland waterways and seaports. The inland waterways
include rivers, canals, backwaters, and creeks. There are 12 major ports and 185 nonmajor ports.
Gujarat, Maharashtra, and West Bengal have two major ports each while Tamil Nadu has three major
ports.

Waterways provide only one per cent of total transport in India though the navigable inland
waterways account for 14,500 km comprising different river system. There are three major
important National waterways in India. These waterways also attract tourists both national and
international. Thus, they are also promoting Indian travel and tourism industry

Water transport is also used for tourism promotion as West Bengal Tourism Department
introduced special tourist programmes to carry tourists to Sunderbans. Lakes and backwaters like
Dal lake in Kashmir, Nainilake in Nainital, Nakki Lake in Mount Abu, Chilka Lake in Orissa etc. are
attracting a great number of national and international tourists. Tourists visiting Lakshdweep
Island or Andman and Nicobar Island are taken by the boats and ships where different kinds of
recreation activities are arranged for them.

Transport to Promote Tourist

Transport acts as an integral part of tourism connecting the tourist generating and destination areas. It
enhances the tourism activities in such areas. Sometimes good or bad experiences in transport
services leave an imprint on the mind of tourists for whole of their life. Hence, tourist transport
system is very essential for growth and development of tourism.

Certain measures are also needed to boost tourism:

Clear information on location, distance, and fare for tourist sites should be given along with a
timetable and information about connecting buses, rail, and air modes of travel.

Updated arrival and departure information should be available on information boards, internet,
and telephone.

Aged and physically challenged tourists should be treated well.

A system of standard signs and symbols should be developed and installed on road, railway
stations and air terminals.

Infrastructure in tourist transportation should be created and improved.

Eco friendly transportations should be developed.

All terminals and stations should be neat, clean, and tidy.

Strict action should be taken against the persons who mislead and cheat tourists.

Tourist Police should be there to help especially for female tourist.

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