Potential of Geospatial Techniques to Facilitate the Tourist & Administration: A Case Study of Shimla Hill Station, Himachal Pradesh, India

Abstract

Tourism is an important sector in terms of source of income for any country. The success of any tourism business is determined by tourism planning, development and marketing. Thus, success of tourism industry is determined by the effective planning. The main objective of this research work is to review the potential of geospatial techniques to facilitate the tourism and administration in the Shimla city of Himachal Pradesh. Geospatial technologies offer great opportunities for the development of modern tourism applications using maps. This technology integrates with spatial and non-spatial database and provides the facility of query, analysis and to visualization through digital maps to the end users. GIS database for the present study has been generated through extensive field survey. Global Position System (GPS) is used to collect the spatial information. Base map for the study area is developed by using IRS Cartosat-1 satellite data. Various thematic layers on basic tourist facilities such as hotel, home stay, guest house, transportation, food hubs, heritage sites, bank, ATM, post office, police help, health facilities and all the tourist attraction sites etc., has been developed. Present study deals on to develop a GIS based information system for the tourist and as well as for the tourist administrators or planners which will also help in management and department of tourism for enhancement and beautification of site.