Tourism Planning and Development in South Asia

Tourism has huge significance as a global economic and social phenomenon, and given the growing reliance on the industry by service-dependent economies around the world, the lack of focus on tourism planning and development in South Asia is surprising. Current issues including social, environmental and cultural aspects underpinned by security challenges have defined the tourism development narratives in many South Asian countries over the last decades and lead to fluid demand and supply patterns. The appetite for and reliance on tourism growth is seen regardless of the numerous challenges faced by the region. Despite a rich and steady history of tourism and demand driven by numerous pull-destinations, most South Asian countries have not invested or benefitted from global tourism growth trends. This book discusses tourism planning and development in South Asian countries and reveals successful and unsuccessful stories by: providing thorough analyses of the nature and focus on tourism development in South Asia; analysing the experiences and challenges addressed via country-focused chapters; identifying the key impacts and current challenges; including cases from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and more. Written by scholars with extensive research experience on tourism in these countries, this book is a much-needed resource and an invaluable reference for researchers, policy makers and other tourism stakeholders involved in tourism planning and development.

Dimitrios Stylidis is an Associate Professor of Tourism Development and Destination Promotion. He holds a Ph.D. in Tourism with a specialization in Tourism Development and Marketing from the University of Surrey, U.K. an MSc in Tourism Management from the University of Surrey, U.K. and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the University of Macedonia, Greece. He has taught for several years in the Department of Economics at the University of Crete (2021-2025), where he received the department's Teaching Excellence Award for the academic year 2022-23. He also taught at Middlesex University London (2015-2021) where he served as the Director of the MSc International Hospitality and Events Management program, and at Ben-Gurion University (2012-2014). His research interests include tourism marketing, destination marketing and image, tourism policy, planning and development, and the role of residents in these processes. He has published numerous academic papers in international peer-reviewed journals, including: Tourism Management, Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, Journal of Travel and Tourism Marketing. He serves as a member of the Editorial Board of international journals such as the International Journal of Tourism Research, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, CABI Tourism Case Studies, International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, and an academic reviewer for over 30 international journals and conferences. In 2023, he received the Best Reviewer Award from the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Boopen Seetanah is Professor in International Economics and finance at the University of Mauritius and the WTO Chair Programme Co-Chair. He is also the director of research at the International Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Hospitality (ICSTH) at the University of Mauritius. Boopen's research interest is in international tourism and trade, international finance and applied economics. He is/has been a consultant for a number of international organisation such as the World Bank, UNEP, COMESA, RMCE, UNDP and ADB among others.

Dr Konstantinos Andriotis works at the Hellenic Open University (Greece) and he is an adjunct professor at Taylor's University (Malaysia). In the past he worked as a Professor in Tourism at Middlesex University London and Associate Professor and Head of the Hotel and Tourism Management Department at the Cyprus University of Technology. He holds an MSc in International Hospitality Management (University of Strathclyde, 1995), a PhD in Tourism Development and Planning (Bournemouth University, 2000) and a Post Doc in Tourism Marketing (Hellenic Open University, 2006). He edits the 'International Journal of Tourism Policy', the 'Journal of Qualitative Research in Tourism' and the CABI Regional Tourism Series. He is author/co-editor of twelve books and over 50 peer reviewed articles and book chapters. His work has appeared in a variety of leading academic journals, such as Annals of Tourism Research, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Hospitality Management as well as International Journal of Tourism Research. He has an h-index of 38 and approximately 7000 citations. He was listed in the Stanford University list of top 2 per cent of scientists in the World. He has acted as Chairman and member of the Organising and Scientific Committees of various international conferences and he has given keynote speeches in several conferences. His research interests include tourism development and planning, alternative forms of tourism, tourism experience and degrowth.