Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management

The Role of Tourism for Human Resource Development in Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India
Dr. Sherap Bhutia

Abstract
Tourism is one of the most important economic activities and smokeless industry in the world today, because it directly generates services, products, foreign currency, employment and investments. It is one of the key global industries which is labour intensive and generates manifold benefits. It helps develop national economies, catalyses development process, highlights and conserves cultural heritage, and acts as a bridge in international harmony and peace. Human Resource Development is central to the sustainability-oriented tourism development initiative. Based on secondary sources, literature search and discussions with key stake holders and interaction with the tourist, the existing tourists’ scenario and situation and their role on human resource development were studied. The information collected from different sources has been verified with the field experience. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of tourism for promoting the human resource development in Darjeeling District of West Bengal. Tourism has emerged as an important socio-economic activity of the people of Darjeeling District having its unique geographical advantage with a mountainous topography and is a leading tourist destination in West Bengal. It has created the opportunity for local people to overcome their latent problem of high unemployment. The major conclusion that has emerged from the present study is that it is particularly important to promote tourism as an instrument for human resource development in the region. The tourism industry in Darjeeling is a large & diverse field & it provides challenging & exciting career opportunities for people of this region of the country. It is hoped that these findings will generate strong interest in government agencies, privatesector stakeholders in tourism development, academics, and the media. It is also hoped that the discussion and analyses generated by the observation and findings will contribute to a better-informed policy dialog between government and the private sector in more fully exploiting the potential of tourism in the economy.

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