Situational Analysis of Tourism Micro-Enterprises in Meghalaya with Special References to Homestays and Food and Beverages

Abstract

Tourism in Meghalaya has grown exponentially. According to the Directorate of Tourism 15 lakhs tourists travel to the State in the year 2023. With the high tourist influx, tourism can no longer be perceived as a part-time business but a full-fledged livelihood of the local people. Thus, to meet their growing demands, tourism enterprises such as homestays, transport operators, tour operators, retailers, restaurants, and tour operators are the main thrust to provide the facilities and deliver quality services. The paper attempts to provide a comprehensive study on the current tourism value chains and a baseline assessment of the existing enterprises in the State. To facilitate the research objective, SWOT matrix was chosen for the study employing both quantitative and qualitative research with self-administrative questionnaires serving as the primary tool for data collection. Research design includes a stratified sampling of the different tourist circuits and a random selection of 50 samples of tourism enterprises from the strata. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in the form of SWOT matrix. Results indicate that all value chains nodes shows variations of SWOT. However, overall assessment indicates that a major strength was observed in the accommodation and food and beverages, more effort needs to be improved on accessibility and tour operators and the highest scope was observed in tourist activities and shopping arcade. While all enterprises are susceptible to unforeseen events, the impact on accessibility and tourist information is higher as they are pure tourism driven enterprises.

Keywords: Situational Analysis, Tourism, Micro-Enterprises, SWOT, Meghalaya

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