The major growth of the Indian tourism sector is contributed by domestic tourism which tends to be more focused on cultural destinations. Travel and tourism for fun, pleasure and recreation is still considered an elite ‘five star’ activity by a majority of the Indians. At the same time, travel and tourism for cultural purposes forms an integral part of the Indian population, where people from all ages, religions and income groups often manage time and resources for cultural tourism. Tourism has a huge potential for poverty alleviation by increasing job opportunities and spending by tourists. Most important from India's point of view is the fact that these employment opportunities are created in the small and medium segments of the economy and disperse throughout the country. When people of a country visit such sites and experience their culture, they understand ‘who they are and where they have come from’ (Palmer, 1999). Since viewing of such sites by domestic tourists offers glimpses of a nation's past, their promotion becomes vital in the construction of national identity (Johnson, 1995). The measurement of perception of tourists and thereby identifying gaps in the current service-good composition and customizing pro-tourist product mix, becomes crucially important for all the stakeholders of the tourism industry. This paper primarily studies those crucial factors which have a direct impact on the perception of tourists in the heritage city of Agra.

Tourism is a complex phenomenon which encapsulates a varying number of services and processes. It is not an industry or a sector in the traditional sense, rather it is an economic activity that runs through all of the society involving very different and varied sectors pushed forward by market forces, controlled by regulatory framework and governed by general economic conditions. In many countries and regions, tourism is significantly important to the economy because it attracts tourists who bring spending power. For many regional economies, tourism can bring about an encouraging response to the regional development considering its positive influence on regional employment and income. According to World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), travel and tourism is an important economic activity in most countries around the world. It has a direct as well as a significant indirect and induced economic impact. The UN Statistics Division’s approved Tourism Satellite Accounting methodology quantifies only the direct contribution of travel and tourism. But WTTC recognizes that the total contribution (considering direct, indirect and induced impacts) of travel and tourism to GDP is three times greater than its direct contribution. According to WTTC’s annual report on Economic impact of tourism in India in 2006, the direct contribution of travel and tourism to India’s GDP was 1,236.7 bn. It reached 1,919.7 bn (2% of GDP) in 2012, and it is expected to grow by 7.8% pa to 4,360.6 bn (2.1% of GDP) in 2023. In 2006, the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP was 4,280.5 bn. It reached 6,385.1 bn in 2012 (6.6% of GDP) and is forecasted to rise by 7.9% pa to 14,722.3 bn in 2023 (7% of GDP).

Tourism directly generates employment in its own sector as well as via indirect and induced effects in the connected sectors of the economy. According to WTTC, travel and tourism generated 24,477,4000 direct jobs in India in 2006, and 25,041,000 direct jobs in 2012 (4.9% of total employment in the country). It is forecasted to account for 30,631,000 direct jobs by 2023, an increase of 2.1% pa over the next 10 years. The total contribution of travel and tourism to employment is much more than the direct contribution. It generates huge employment opportunities in various other sectors and hence provides a source of income to millions of countrymen every year. The total contribution of travel and tourism to employment was 43,210,300 jobs in 2006 and 39,512,000 jobs in 2012 (7.7% of total employment in the country), and is expected to generate 48,592,000 jobs (8% of total employment in the country), an increase of 2.1% per annum over the period in 2023.

Marketing Management Journal, Mall Mania, Factors Influencing Consumers’, Shopping Malls in Coimbatore, Paired-t-test, factor analysis, ANOVA.