Consumer Behavior in Hospitality & Tourism Industry

Pacific Institute of Hotel Management, Pacific Academy of Higher Education & Research University, Udaipur, with the support of the Indian Council of Social Science & Research, organized a two days National Conference on Consumer Behavior in Hospitality & Tourism Industry on August 7-8, 2015. This brought together the academicians, researchers, industrial leaders representatives of associated national public authorities, in the presence of Shri Raghunandan Sharma. Honorary Advisor- Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training and Prof. B.P. Sharma, President PAHER.

Objective of the Conference

The aim of this Conference was to set a meeting ground for Industry Managers, Tourism and Hospitality Researchers together to deliberate on the issues related to Travel, Tourism and Hospitality business. The conference profiled current and emerging trends, challenges and issues that are being faced by Hospitality and Tourism Operators in a high growth business environment.

Format of the conference

The inaugural ceremony set the beginning of the conference with the welcome speech by the Director Mr. Vinod Kumar Singh Bhadauria, followed by the speech of Shri Raghunandan Sharma, Chief Guest, Prof. Nimit Chowdhary, IITTM, Noida, Key note Speaker. Dr. Madhu Murdia, Convener Conference. Mr. Jacob John, Vice Principal and Dr. Yaswant Rawal, Co Convener of the Conference. The speeches delivered by the speakers derived the conclusion that there is lot of opportunity to flourish Tourism & Hospitality Industry in India. The conference was attended by more than 150 participants from Delhi, Mumbai, Kerala, Banglore, Pune, Ahmedabad, Surat, Rajkot, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, Ajmer Gwalior, Noida, Garhwal, Jammu, Shimla, Oberoi, Taj, Ramada, representing the National Government Industry, Universities and research institutions. Around 55 Papers were presented by the participants and more than 150 papers were contributed.

The conference, constituted good opportunity to foster the networking among researchers, practitioners, academicians and students and the shared knowledge on consumer behavior and new product development will improve the governance accountability, and effective development delivery and results.

The Conference organizing committee members Ms. Sangeeta Dhar, Ms. Monica Chowdhary put up great efforts for the successful conference. The overall track coordinator was Dr. Swati Gokhru. The other organizing committee members Mr. Devendra Singh Solanki, Mr. Bhavya Khamesra, Mr. Shailesh Mathews, Mr Prithvi Pal Singh, Mr. Noel Bishwas, Mr. M.M. Gupta, Mr. Narendra S. Chundawat, Mr. Rohit Mathur, Mr. Devpratap S. Rathore, Dr. Gajendra S. Saroha, Ms. Pratibha Bhandari, Mr. Naresh Kanja, Ms. Deepika Jain, and Mr. Dharma Gameti enabled effective functioning of the conference through contribution in Registration committee, Food & Hospitality, Accommodation, Certification, technical and the overall functioning of the conference.

The Valedictory ceremony was held on 8th August and was graced by the Mayor of Udaipur Mr. Chandar Singh Ji Kothari as the Chief Guest. The valedictory briefly presented the conference report, awarded best paper presentations and Director Mr. Vinod Kumar Singh Bhadauria & Mr. Jacob John gave conclusive remarks of the conference as:

There is urgent need to reframe the syllabus and concepts.
There is need to study tourist behavior for new development in the tourism industry.
India has to be presented as an iconic nation in all tourist sectors especially to attract the foreign tourist.
Local cuisines have their own significance. Even that can be utilized as product.
Tribal Tourism can be adopted as a new concept and form of tourism.
Social Media can play a big role in enhancing its significance.
Skilled Labour and promotion of NGO activities can develop skilled professional in the Industry.

The Conference Convener Dr. Madhu Murdia and Co-Convener Dr. Yashwant S. Rawal thanked all the participates for their respective contributions.