“A STUDY ON OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES OF EMPLOYMENT IN TOURISM SECTOR WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE OF KHAJURAHO (M.P)”
Abstract
Tourism industry plays a vital role in every economy of the world as it contributes in revenue generation, employment opportunities and in any country economy’s GDP. Khajuraho tourism sector plays a huge role in Madhya Pradesh economy’s development. Khajuraho is a beautiful city of culture, which situated in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India, about 175km southeast of Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh). The reason why Khajuraho is named as Khajuraho is because of the presence of beautiful date palm (खजुर) trees. Khajuraho group temples strike a perfect balance between architectures and sculptures. 84 temples were built in Khajuraho, out of which only 25 temples survive today, which fall into three distinct groups and belongs to two different religions – Hinduism and Jainism. Khajuraho is a popular and well visited tourist destination of India and is included in the UNESCO list if world heritage sites in the year of 1986. In the year 2020-2021 total domestic tourist arrivals are 128515 and foreign tourists arrivals are 275 while in 2021-2022 total domestic tourists arrivals are 243475 and foreign tourists arrivals are 795 with the 89.5% growth in domestic tourists arrival and 189.1% growth of foreign tourist arrival, from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022. Khajuraho has started contributing to state and regional development in a significant way and also shown the multiplier effect in cultural, social, economic, educational and religious spiritual life of people of the state and local region, thus, fulfilling all the objectives of successful tourist place. This research paper intends to study the Khajuraho's vast tourism potential through SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. Further, the paper intends to put forth suggestions for the employment opportunities in tourism sector of Khajuraho.
Keyword: Tourism industry, Employment opportunities and challenges, GDP, Economic development, Khajuraho
