Atna Journal of Tourism Studies

Examine the Impact of Curriculum Components on Students' Employability Potential: A Study on Undergraduate Tourism Students

Vineet Kumar — 2026-01-30

The primary goals of education are to educate students, equip them with the necessary skills to support themselves, and prepare them for success in their chosen fields of work. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of curriculum components on students’ employability potential. The study's target population consists of institutions and universities in the North Indian region. A total of 360 students enrolled in bachelor's programs and taking tourism courses in the regular mode were approached for the study. To analyse the collected data, SPSS version 24 and AMOS version 21 were used. Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh were considered. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, along with structural equation modelling (measurement and structural models), were employed, revealing that the generic and functional-area skills in curriculum structure design have a significant positive influence on students’ employability potential.

Sustainable tourism and destination resilience in Nigeria’s tourism sector

Friday Ogbu Edeh — 2026-01-30

Resilience emerged in tourism research due to the need for destinations to withstand unforeseen circumstances, beyond the disruption of destination activities. Some destinations fail to withstand environmental turbulence due to inadequate resilience skills and strategies, which sometimes forces destination practitioners to retrench workers, thereby creating more unemployment. These lapses occurred because the destinations lack an injector that could improve their sustainable tourism performance. The above vacuum prompted this study. Thus, the main objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between sustainable tourism and destination resilience in southeastern Nigeria. The study used a cross-sectional survey design. Data were collected with a validated questionnaire from one hundred and eighty-four (184) participants at eight destinations in Enugu, south-eastern Nigeria. Three research hypotheses were developed from the literature review. The descriptive statistics were analysed in SPSS 25, while the research hypotheses were analysed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4. The study found that sustainable tourism has a significant positive relationship with destination resilience.

Emerging Trends and Insights in Homestay Tourism: Quantitative Analysis and Future Agenda

Sahil Gautam — 2026-01-30

Homestay tourism plays a significant role as an alternative accommodation that supports community-based development. The study provides a comprehensive bibliometric assessment of 397 publications on homestay tourism extracted from the Scopus database. Performance indicators are used to highlight publication trends, leading authors, countries, and journals. Science mapping helps to identify the intellectual and thematic structure. The findings indicate a steady rise in homestay-related publications, strongly contributed by Asian countries and periodicals focusing on sustainability, intercultural learning, and destination management. Prominent themes include tourism development, rural and community-based tourism, sustainability, eco-tourism, and tourist behaviour, alongside newer interests in resilience and livelihood outcomes. The study shows how homestay research has evolved and identifies areas where further theoretical development and comparative work are required to support the sustainable expansion of homestay tourism.

Reviving Intangible Cultural Heritage through Sustainable Tourism:

Subecha Chettri — 2026-01-30

The Kholey Dai Festival, celebrated annually in Parengtar village, Kalimpong district, West Bengal, India, demonstrates how community-driven cultural initiatives can align with sustainable tourism principles while preserving intangible cultural heritage. This study critically examines the festival’s contributions to cultural preservation, community-based tourism (CBT) development, and environmental sustainability. Using a mixed-methods approach including qualitative interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and quantitative surveys of visitors, vendors, and homestay providers. The findings reveal that the festival revitalizes traditional music, dances, and agrarian rituals, while strengthening community pride and generating livelihood opportunities. Economically, the festival produced revenues directly benefiting households through homestays, food, and handicraft sales. Environmentally, the festival enforces a zero-waste policy. Nonetheless, challenges include infrastructure strain, carrying capacity limits, commercialization risks, and uneven distribution of benefits. This paper situates Kholey Dai as a model of grassroots sustainable tourism with implications for rural festivals globally.

Sacred-Secular Tourism of Kashmir, Similarities, Continuity and Complementary: A Case of Baba Rishi Shrine

Ab Qayoom Shah Ab Qayoom Shah — 2026-01-30

Sacred-Secular tourism experiences appear deeply embedded among the visitors of Baba Rishi Shrine of Kashmir. In this work the researcher focused on the expressions of beliefs, feelings, motivations, behaviour and experiences of visitors. These attributes were identified through review of literature and direct conversations with the stakeholders of shrine. The main objectives of the present study was to explore the Age, gender, residency, marital status and religion of visitors who travel Baba Rishi shrine, and their interest in other sacred and secular destinations of Kashmir. The study revealed visitors of Baba Rishi shrine are interested in both sacred and secular places on same day and schedule. They prefer to experience both sacred and secular tourism. The objectives of the study were achieved through Survey method and indepth interviews. The respondents were mainly the visitors of Baba Rishi shrine and other stakeholders (custodians and travel agencies). The final result of the study revealed that there is a close nexus between sacred and secular sites of Kashmir and visitors (pilgrims/tourist) seeks common motives and interests. The sacred-secular activities of visitors are not dichotomous in nature, rather they appeal for similarities, continuum and complementary.

Visitor Preferences of Landscape Components in Kashmir Region, India

Ashis K. Saha — 2026-01-30

This paper explores visitors' perceptions of landscape preferences in Kashmir, India. Using purposive sampling, data were collected from 500 respondents via a self-administered questionnaire comprising mainly closed-ended questions. Among them, 120 (24%) were foreign tourists, 251 (50.2%) domestic visitors, and 129 (25.8%) local excursionists. Vegetation ranked highest in visitor preference (score: 7.30), followed by heritage (6.93), landform (6.45), water (6.23), and builtform (2.42). Except for built form, significant differences were observed among visitor groups based on their origins. Additionally, statistically significant differences (p<0.05) were found between male and female preferences for primary landscape components, except for built form (p>0.05). These findings highlight how landscape preferences vary across visitor demographics, underscoring the need for landscape development plans that accommodate these differences. This is crucial for ensuring the long-term sustainability of fragile tourism destinations like Kashmir.

Responsible Tourism Practices and Community Involvement in Darap, Sikkim: The Role of Local Communities in Ecotourism Development

Jigmie Wanchuk Bhutia — 2026-01-30

Community engagement in responsible tourism is critical to the sustainable development of destinations, enabling residents to benefit from tourism activities. The community's perception of sustainable tourism can significantly influence residents' behaviours, attitudes, and involvement in environmentally responsible practices. This study investigates and analyses community participation and RT practices at Darap, Sikkim, an acclaimed ecotourism and cultural destination, from the local community's perspective. Results indicate that residents perceive Darap's significant potential to develop into a responsible ecotourism destination that offers tourism advantages. Local communities nevertheless contribute only a negligible amount to the growth of ecotourism and responsible practices. About 48.2% of respondents are employed in the tourism industry, which is broadly consistent with the local community's overall economic and social demographics. The main obstacles to community involvement and participation in ecotourism development are limited funds and knowledge, the absence of ongoing training, and the lack of capacity-building programs in responsible tourism practices, all of which need to be highlighted for sustainable destination development.

Can Tourism Help In Reshaping a Country’s Informal Sector? Evidence From India

Megha Jacob — 2026-01-30

ABSTRACT

The informal sector in India, employing over 80% of the workforce, faces socio-economic vulnerabilities and limited access to formal systems. This study explores how tourism can promote the formalisation of traditional sectors such as handlooms, handicrafts, leather, and the gig economy, thereby enhancing economic stability and cultural preservation. By linking artisans to global markets, both physical and virtual tourism enable high-value sales, as exemplified by luxury brands like Louis Vuitton. Despite this potential, artisans face structural barriers and lack institutional support. Current initiatives like "Make in India" fall short in addressing these gaps. This paper adopts a mixed-method exploratory approach, using semi-structured interviews as research tools, conduct cross-sectional regression and correlational analysis to examine the link between tourism and formalization of traditional sectors, with implications for achieving relevant Sustainable Development Goals.