WATER RESOURCES AND TOURISM PROMOTION IN TELANGANA STATE

Book excerpt: Tourism is acclaimed to be one of the world’s biggest revenue generating industries accounting for billions of dollars and thousands of jobs. Technological innovations, urbanization, improvement in living standard, introduction of fuel efficient cars made journeys relatively easier. All these factors have generated a vibrant tourism activity and brought a bloom in domestic tourism. The tourism sector is having multiplier effect on the economy and its contribution to the GDP is one of the highest and its ability to generate employment is much more than any other sector. It is the largest single employer and industry in several island nations. The World Travel & Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated at an average annual rate of 7.9% from 2013 to 2023. This gives India the third rank among countries with the fastest growing tourism industries over the next decade. India's rich history and its cultural and geographical diversity make its international tourism appeal large and diverse. It presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business, educational and sports tourism. Water is an attractive element and plays an important role in recreation and holidays. Rivers, Lakes, Waterfalls have an aesthetic significance for attracting tourists. Today, there are a number of established lake tourism destinations all over the world. Water tourism assumes significance in the national economies of several European and Asian countries. There are several water based tourism destinations in the world which are very popular and drawing large number of both domestic and international tourists across the world. In India such as Rivers, Tanks, Lakes and Waterfalls etc., All these water bodies are sources of life for flora and fauna. All the important cities in India have been developed on the banks of the Rivers and Lakes from Ancient times. These water bodies provided irrigation facilities and became great centers of civilizations. Those centers are also popular as pilgrimage canters, since ancient times and are all also emerging as tourism destinations in modern times. The author has tried to make harmonious blend of theory and practice, which hopefully will make the book more useful to the students, teachers and practicing tourism professionals. The author would appreciate constructive comments and suggestions from the students, teachers, practicing tour planners and executives in the improvements of this book.