NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74
OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES TO SUPPORT LEARNING, TEACHING AND RESEARCH IN TOURISM
Dr. G. Saroja Assistant Professor Dept. of Library & Information Science Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University, Hyderabad Email: drgsaroja@hotmail.com
N. Yadagiri Assistant Librarian Dr. Y.S. R. National Institute of Tourism & Hospitality Management Email: yadagirinirudi@gmail.com
ABSTRACT Internet is the first source of information for tourists. Internet is widely used to locate destinations, plan travel destinations, hotel bookings etc. Internet offers a cost effective medium and also provides interactivity. There are several resources on the web which can be accessed freely without any cost. The open educational resources like – e-journals, e-books, e-thesis & dissertations are of immense use to those pursuing studies in tourism and allied courses. This paper discusses the tourism education in India. The paper focuses on the multifarious advantages offered by Internet and lists out some of the open access resources on tourism that are available on the Internet. Keywords: Open Educational Resource, Tourism Information, E-journals, online information
NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74
Introduction: Tourism has become vital for many countries because it contributes to income generation and provides employment opportunities to the people in the allied service industries like –hospitality, transportation, entertainment and recreation. People across the globe travel to other countries and visit places with different motives viz., to promote business, spend leisure time, to know the culture and religions of other countries or places, for educational purposes etc. Accordingly, several new types of tourism like – sports tourism, adventure tourism, medical tourism etc. has emerged. With the growth in tourism industry, several higher educational institutes are offering diplomas/ degree courses in tourism to produce skilled and trained manpower. The Indian Institute of Skiing & Mountaineering, Gulmarg is offering various adventure courses and also has training facilities for adventure sports. Ministry of Tourism initiated several awards of excellence to promote tourism in the country. It also established National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology to impart training in Hospitality Management. At present, in India, there are 41 Institutes of Hotel Management comprising of 21 Central IHMs, 8 State IHMs and 12 Private IHMs and 5 Food Craft Institutes following National Council’s course curriculum. Internet is the first source of information for tourists. Internet is widely used to locate destinations, plan travel destinations, hotel bookings etc. Internet offers a cost effective medium and also provides interactivity. There are several resources on the web which can be accessed freely without any cost. The open access resources like – e-journals, ebooks, e-thesis & dissertations are of immense use to those pursuing studies in tourism and allied courses. This paper discusses the tourism education in India. The paper focuses on the multifarious advantages offered by Internet and lists out some of the open access resources on tourism that are available on the Internet. Tourism Education in India: Tourism is the largest service industry in India accounting 6.23% contribution to the national GDP and generates 8.78% employment in India. Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan are the top five states that receive inbound tourists. Domestic tourism is also found to be on the rise. Ministry of Tourism in consultation with other Government agencies formulates national policies and programmes for the development and promotion of tourism. Concerted efforts are underway to promote new forms of tourism such as rural, cruise, medical and eco-tourism. According to World Travel and Tourism Council, India will be a tourism hot-spot from 2009–2018. India's thousands of years of history, its length, diversity and the variety of geographic features make it the most preferred tourism destination across the world. Heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business and sports tourism are popular in India. Ministry of tourism is concerned with developing standards, formulation of guidelines and strategies for promotion of tourism in India. Ministry of Tourism has been NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74
instrumental in formulating strategies for development and promotion of Golf Tourism, Polo Tourism, Adventure Tourism, Medical & Wellness Tourism, EcoTourism in India. The Ministry of Tourism is responsible for development of a system of training and professional education for generating manpower sufficient to meet the needs of the tourism and hospitality industry. At present, there are 29 Institutes of Hotel Management (IHMs), comprising 21 Central IHMs and 8 State IHMs, and 5 Food Craft Institutes (FCIs) established with the support of the Ministry. These institutes were set up as autonomous societies to impart / conduct hospitality education / training in hospitality skills. Ministry of Tourism in the year 1982 established NCHMCT (National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology). The council holds the responsibility of imparting education in hotel management and catering by setting up affiliated institutes, prescribing the course curriculum. As a result of vast expansion and modernization of the country’s hospitality industry, hotel management and catering education programmes gained tremendous popularity and the profile of students seeking admission to these courses also underwent a transformation. As a result, courses offered by the National Council are of international standard which have been recognized by the hospitality industry. VALUE OF INTERNET TO TOURISM: In the present day Internet is referred to as people’s network where people can interact, discuss, debate, teach, learn, do business and share any type of information. Internet facilitates anytime, anywhere access. Tourists across the globe turn to internet to plan their travel, interact with travel agents, make their bookings etc. Internet has been playing a major role enabling the growth and expansion of tourism industry. Following are some of the advantages Internet has in the tourism industry. Internet 1. Offers a cost effective medium both to the tourists and the operators 2. Enables two way communication and customers can obtain quick response 3. Makes it possible to locate the places with the help of maps and obtain a real view of the tourist locations with the help of multi media capabilitiesPromotes e-commerce attracting the customers by developing appropriate marketing strategies. 4. Effects Global reach However, use of internet for tourism will be less effective in places where internet penetration is low. Internet is not only useful to promote tourism but also can be effectively used in education sector. E-Learning strategies can be adopted to impart NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74
education. Internet has numerous information resources in different formats that can boost the teaching-learning experience of tourism students, faculty and researchers. OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES FOR TOURISM : Internet can be termed as a huge library of libraries which contains information on almost all the subjects, available in different formats which can be located and accessed through different search engines. Internet is a repository of learning resources. Some resources can be accessed only on payment and some resources can be accessed, downloaded free of cost. These resources are called Open Educational Resources. William and Flora Hewlett Foundation defines Open Educational Resources (OER) as “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge”. This study lists out some important open educational resources on tourism available in different forms such as e-Journals, e-books, e-theses & dissertations, courseware, reference materials such as travel guides, atlases, tourist dictionaries, encyclopedias etc. E-THESES AND DISSERTATIONS : Now-a-days, several universities and research institutions are making their research output in the from of theses and dissertation at Master Level, M.Phil, Ph. D. available on their Institutional repositories. Some of the ETD repositories that possess research works conducted on tourism in India are listed below. 1. Vidyanidhi (Meaning 'Treasure of Knowledge' in Sanskrit) is India's premier Digital library initiative to facilitate the creation, archiving and accessing of doctoral theses. Research works on Tourism can be accessed on the following website: http://dspace.vidyanidhi.org.in:8080/dspace/simplesearch?query=Tourism+&submit=Go 2. The Shodhganga at INFLIBNET Centre provides a platform for research students to all institutions and universities. Research works on Tourism can be accessed at: http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/browse?type=title&sort_by=1&order=ASC &rpp=20&etal=-1&starts_with=Tourism+ Some important repositories of Theses & Dissertations in other countries of the world are:
NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74
3. NDLTD (Networked Digital Library Theses and Dessertations): http://www.ndltd.org 4. MI (University Microfilms International): http://www.lib.umi.com 5. 5. National Library of Canada: http://www.nic-bnc.ca/index-e.html 6. TUG Electronic Theses Project: http://www.lib.lutwaterloo.ca/TUG/ETD 7. Australian Digital Theses Project: http://www.library.unsw.edu.au E-JOURNALS: Some important National and International Journals on Tourism that are available in Open Access are listed below along with their website links. Name of the Journal
Website / URL
An Indian Journey
http://www.anindianjourney.com/index.htm
Atna - Journal Of Tourism Studies
http://journals.christuniversity.in/index.php/atna/inde x http://wscholars.com/index.php/ajtr/index
American Journal of Tourism Research Almatourism - Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development
http://almatourism.unibo.it/index
Enlightening Tourism- A pathmaking Journal
http://www.uhu.es/publicaciones/ojs/index.php/et
European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation
http://www.ejthr.com/
GeoJournal of Tourism and Geosites
http://gtg.webhost.uoradea.ro/
International Journal of Sport Management, Recreation & Tourism International Journal of education & arts Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sports and Tourism Education Journal of Topurism & Hospitality
http://www.ijsmart.eu/
Medical Tourism Magazine, Health tourism, Medical travel Tourismos : an International Multidisciplinary Journal of Tourism Trav talk etalk
http://www.medicaltourismmag.com/index.php
Travel hour
http://www.travelhour.in/index.htm
Journal of Information Technology & Tourism Virtual Journal of Tourism
http://ojs.modul.ac.at/index.php/jitt/index
NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
http://www.ijea.org/articles.html http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/johlste http://www.omicsgroup.org/journals/jthhome.php
http://www.chios.aegean.gr/tourism/journal.htm http://www.travtalkindia.com/index.htm
http://www.ivt.coppe.ufrj.br/caderno/index.php?journ al=caderno
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74
TRAVEL GUIDES : Some important Open Access travel guides available on the Internet are – 1. World Travel Guide offers inspirational destination guides, features, travel deals, events and more : http://www.worldtravelguide.net/ 2. Lonely planet India : http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ Travel Alert: There are multiple current warnings for travel to India- check out Smartraveller for more information Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/india#ixzz1qCuaaJvq ATLAS 1. World Atlas site http://www.worldatlas.com/aatlas/world.htm DICTIONARY : Touristic dictionary written for ordinary citizens provides short concise and understandable information on thousands of touristic places and travel items. http://www.tourismdictionary.com/ E-NEWS LETTERS : Tourism and Hospitality News can be obtained at: 2. http://www.traveldailynews.com/ 3. http://www.newkerala.com/travel-india-news.php ONLINE VIDEOS : A number of videos on Indian Tourism and tourism on other countries can be accessed through You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/). Some of the online videos on Tourism can be watched by pressing the following links 1. http://kottke.org/12/03/korean-tourism-videos 2. http://www.keralatourism.org/video-clips/ 3. http://touritalityinfsite.yolasite.com/tourism-videos.php CONCLUSION : The resources on tourism presented in this paper are by no means exhaustive. There are innumerable resources on the Internet which can be of help to the students, faculty, researchers and the tourists. The Library & Information Scientists working in the Tourism sector should put in efforts to locate these materials and make their client aware of these materials. Creating a Directory or Portal exclusively for Tourism resources will help the users to easily access the materials without wasting time in searching through the web. Integrating Information Literacy skills into the curriculum will enrich the learner’s knowledge of locating and accessing the OERs on the Internet. REFERENCES: 1. West Paul G. & Victor Loraine. Background and Action Paper on OER. http://www.paulwest.org/public/Background_and_action_paper_on_OER.pdf 2. Wikipedia. Tourism in India. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_India 3. Makuni Milner. Exploring the value of Internet in Tourism. http://www.share4dev.info/kb/documents/3781.pdf NITHM Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management,
Volume: II
Issue: 1
January – June 2012
69 - 74