Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Inbound Tourism in Uttarakhand, India, before and after the 2013 Kedarnath Disaster – Evidence Derived from Social Networking Sites Using GIS


Affiliations
1 Forestry and Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, 4-Kalidas Road, Dehradun 248 001, India
 

Tourism is an important industry for the developing nations. The Indian Himalayan region attracts a multitude of tourists, but is highly prone to natural disasters that affect tourism. The 2013 Kedarnath disaster in Uttarakhand caused by the torrential downpour and subsequent flooding is one such example. In the present study, visitation rates were assessed with regard to the Kedarnath disaster using geo-tagged photographs posted on Flickr as proxy. Continued decrease in photo-user days from 2012 to 2014 was witnessed and the effectiveness of GIS in the spatio-temporal analysis of inbound tourism using big data available on social networking sites has been demonstrated.

Keywords

Big Data, Natural Disasters, Social Networking Sites, Tourism, Visitation Rates.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • WTTC, Travel and Tourism economic impact 2015 Indonesia, The authority on World Travel and Tourism, World Travel and Tourism Council, on-line edn, 2015; rochelle.turner@wttc.org.

  • World Tourism Organization (ed.) Making Tourism More Sustainable: A Guide for Policy Makers, WTO Publications, 2005.

  • Tribe, J., Philosophical Issues in Tourism, Channel View Publications, Bristol, United Kingdom, 2009.

  • Smith, C. and Jenner, P. Educational tourism. Travel Tourism Anal., 1997, 3, 60–75.

  • Kelman, I. and Dodds, R., Developing a code of ethics for disaster tourism. Int. J. Mass Emerg. Disasters, 2009, 27(3), 272–296.

  • Ellis, C., When volunteers pay to take a trip with scientists – Participatory Environmental Research Tourism (PERT), Hum. Dimen. Wildlife, 2003, 8(1), 75–80.

  • Kulendran, N. and Witt, S. F., Forecasting the demand for international business tourism. J. Travel Res., 2003, 41(3), 265–271.

  • India Tourism Statistics at a Glance, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India, 2013; http://tourism.gov.in/sites/default/files/Other/Incredible%20India%20final%2021-7-2014%20english.pdf (accessed on 1 May 2017).

  • All India Disaster Mitigation Institute, Disaster in Devbhoomi a year after the floods. In Uttarakhand, Ahmedabad, India, 2014; http://www.rebuilduttarakhand.in/reports/aidmi.pdf (accessed on 5 May 2017).

  • Arshadi, S., Floods deal death blows to Kashmir’s tourism industry, Times of India, 2014; http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Floods-deal-death-blow-to-Kashmirs-tourism-industry/articleshow/42799450.cms

  • Satendra, K. J. A., Kumar and Naik, V. K., India Disaster Report 2013, National Institute of Disaster Management, New Delhi, India, 2014.

  • Gairola, S. and Bisht, H., Rapid damage assessment for the Mandakini Valley flood using pre- and post-high resolution satellite data in Uttarakhand state, India. Int. J. Eng. Sci. Res. Technol., 2014, 3(10), 60–68.

  • Chattoraj, S. L. and Ray, P. C., Simulation and modeling of debris flows using satellite derived data: a case study from Kedarnath Area. Int. J. Geomat. Geosci., 2015, 6(2), 1498.

  • Ray, P. C., Chattoraj, S. L., Bisht, M. P. S., Kannaujiya, S., Pandey, K. and Goswami, A., Kedarnath disaster 2013: causes and consequences using remote sensing inputs. Nat. Hazards, 2016, 81(1), 227–243.

  • Wood, S. A., Guerry, A. D., Silver, J. M. and Lacayo, M., Using social media to quantify nature-based tourism and recreation. Sci. Rep., 2013, 3,

  • Calgaro, E. and Lloyd, K., Sun, sea, sand and tsunami: examining disaster vulnerability in the tourism community of KhaoLak, Thailand. Singapore J. Trop. Geogr., 2008, 29(3), 288–306.

  • Huang, Y. C., Tseng, Y. P. and Petrick, J. F., Crisis management planning to restore tourism after disasters: a case study from Taiwan. J. Travel Tourism Marketing, 2008, 23(2–4), 203–221.

  • Rongali, A., Etiquettes of construction management in disaster-prone areas (with special reference to Uttarakhand). J. Civil Engg. Environ. Technol., 2015, 2(16), 67–71.

  • https://en.climate-data.org/region/763/ (accessed on 31 April 2017)

  • Kent, K., Sinclair, A. J. and Diduck, A., Stakeholder engagement in sustainable adventure tourism development in the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, India. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. World Ecol., 2012, 19(1), 89–100.

  • Keeler, B. L., Wood, S. A., Polasky, S., Kling, C., Filstrup, C. T. and Downing, J. A., Recreational demand for clean water: evidence from geotagged photographs by visitors to lakes. Front. Ecol. Environ., 2015, 13(2), 76–81.

  • Uttarakhand Tourism Development Master Plan 2007–2022, 2008; http://uttarakhandtourism.gov.in/utdb/sites/default/files/volume-1-executive-summary.pdf (accessed on 4 May 2017).

  • Yin, J., Karimi, S., Lampert, A., Cameron, M., Robinson, B. and Power, R., Using social media to enhance emergency situation awareness. In 24h International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 2015.

  • National Database for Emergency Management, Geo-portal for emergency management, 2013; http://ndem.nrsc.gov.in (accessed on 1 May 2017).

  • Ilavarasan, V. and Rathore, A., Social media use in Indian businesses: inputs for appropriateness. In ECSM2015 – Proceedings of the 2nd European Conference on Social Media 2015: ECSM 2015, Porto, Portugal, July 2015, p. 218.


Abstract Views: 520

PDF Views: 117




  • Inbound Tourism in Uttarakhand, India, before and after the 2013 Kedarnath Disaster – Evidence Derived from Social Networking Sites Using GIS

Abstract Views: 520  |  PDF Views: 117

Authors

Stutee Gupta
Forestry and Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, 4-Kalidas Road, Dehradun 248 001, India
Shikha Anand
Forestry and Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, 4-Kalidas Road, Dehradun 248 001, India
Srishti Gwal
Forestry and Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, 4-Kalidas Road, Dehradun 248 001, India

Abstract


Tourism is an important industry for the developing nations. The Indian Himalayan region attracts a multitude of tourists, but is highly prone to natural disasters that affect tourism. The 2013 Kedarnath disaster in Uttarakhand caused by the torrential downpour and subsequent flooding is one such example. In the present study, visitation rates were assessed with regard to the Kedarnath disaster using geo-tagged photographs posted on Flickr as proxy. Continued decrease in photo-user days from 2012 to 2014 was witnessed and the effectiveness of GIS in the spatio-temporal analysis of inbound tourism using big data available on social networking sites has been demonstrated.

Keywords


Big Data, Natural Disasters, Social Networking Sites, Tourism, Visitation Rates.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv114%2Fi08%2F1755-1759