IND-RAIL

To explore the splendor of multi-faceted India, Indrail Pass provide excellent value for money and enhances the charm of holidays for visitors from abroad. Indrail Pass offer visitors on a budget, the facility to travel as they like, over the entire Indian Railway system without any route restriction within the period of validity of the ticket. These pass can only be purchased by foreign nationals and NRI's on payment of US Dollars, Pound Sterling or any other convertible foreign currencies. The pass holder is not required to pay any reservation fee, superfast charges or surcharge for the journey. The Indrail Pass have now been made more attractive for transit and short stay visitors. The pass which were hitherto available for a duration ranging from 01, 07, 15, 21, 30, 60 & 90 days are now also available for half day, two days and four days. This new facility will offer economies of scale to visitors arriving by international flights and visiting only one or two connecting destinations. The fares of Indrail Passes are in US Dollars only but payments can be made either in US Dollars or Sterling Pounds.

Indrail Passes are available for sale at major Railway Stations over Indian Railways viz - Agra Cantt, Agra City, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Aurangabad, Bangalore City, Howrah, Chennai, Chandigarh, Chennai, Gorakhpur, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Mumbai, New Delhi, Puttaparthi Town Booking Agency, Rameshwaram, Secunderabad, Trivandrum Central, Vadodara, Varanasi, Vasco da Gama and Vijayawada.

Certain recognized travel agents are also authorized to sell these passes in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. Indrail Passes are sold outside India through our General Sales Agents appointed by Indian Railways in Bangladesh, Bahrain, Colombo, Finland, Germany, Oman, South Africa, and U.A.E, U.K.

Who are eligible?

 Foreign Tourists.

 Indian Nationals residing abroad on valid passport.

 Indian Spouse of foreign tourist.

 Guide accompanying foreign tourist.

Tips on booking your Indrail Pass

 All eligible passengers can avail of foreign tourist quotas on several trains in nominated classes as provided.

 Passengers should produce their valid passports before purchasing tickets.

 In case you do not possess the requisite foreign currency, you may produce an exchange certificate from any nationalized bank of India

AMTRAK

The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak (reporting mark AMTK), is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is combination of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union Station in Washington, D.C. All of Amtrak's preferred stock is owned by the U.S. federal government. The members of its board of directors are appointed by the President of the United States and are subject to confirmation by the United States Senate. Common stock was issued in 1971 to railroads that contributed capital and equipment; these shares convey almost no benefits but their current holders declined a 2002 buy-out offer by Amtrak. Amtrak employs nearly 19,000 people. It operates passenger service on 21,000 miles (34,000 km) of track primarily owned by freight railroads connecting 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces. In fiscal year 2008, Amtrak served 28.7 million passengers, representing six straight years of record ridership. Despite this recent growth, the United States still has one of the lowest inter-city rail usages in the developed world. Amtrak has some presence in all of the 48 contiguous states except Wyoming and South Dakota. Service on the NEC, between Boston, Massachusetts, and Washington, D.C., as well as between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is powered by overhead electric wires; for the rest of the system, diesel locomotives are used. Routes vary widely in frequency of service, from three trips weekly on the Sunset Limited (Los Angeles, California, to New Orleans, Louisiana), to weekday service several times per hour on the NEC, (New York City to Washington, D.C.) Amtrak also operates a captive bus service, Thruway Motor coach, which provides connections to train routes. In addition, the company owns Passenger Railway Insurance. The most popular and heavily used services are those running on the NEC, which include the Acela Express, and Northeast Regional. The NEC serves Boston, Massachusetts; New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Baltimore, Maryland; Washington, D.C.; and many communities between. The NEC services accounted for 10.0 million of Amtrak's 25.7 million passengers in fiscal year 2007. Regional services in California, subsidized by the California Department of Transportation are the most popular services outside of the NEC and the only other services boasting over one million passengers per annum. The Pacific Surfliner, Capitol Corridor and San Joaquin services accounted for a combined 5.0 million passengers in fiscal year 2007. Four of the six stations busiest by boarding’s are on Amtrak's NEC: New York (Penn Station) (first), Washington (Union Station) (second), Philadelphia (30th Street Station) (third), and Boston (South Station) (sixth). The other two of the top six are Chicago (Union Station) (fourth) and Los Angeles (Union Station) (fifth). Many Amtrak trains have both names and numbers. Train routes are named to reflect the rich and complex history of the routes and the areas traversed by them. Each scheduled run

of the route is assigned a number. Generally, even-numbered routes run northward and eastward, while odd-numbered routes run southward and westward. Some routes, such as the Pacific Surfliner, use the opposite numbering system, inherited from the previous operators of similar routes, such as the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. Many NEC trains only have numbers. These are the 15 busiest routes in the Amtrak system, ordered by region followed by ridership.

INDIA TOURISM DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

ITDC came into existence in October 1966 and has been the prime mover in the progressive development, promotion and expansion of tourism in the country.

Objectives

• To construct, take over and manage existing hotels and market hotels, Beach Resorts,Travellers’ Lodges/Restaurants
• To provide transport, entertainment, shopping and conventional services;
• To produce, distribute, tourist publicity material;          
• To render consultancy-cum-managerial services in India and abroad;
• To carry on the business as Full-Fledged Money Changers (FFMC), restricted money changers etc; and
• To provide innovating, dependable and value for money solutions to the needs of tourism development and engineering industry including providing consultancy and project implementation.

The authorised capital of the Corporation is Rs 75 crores and the paid up capital as on 31.3.2005 was Rs 67.52 crores.  89.9748% of the paid up equity capital of the Corporation is held in the name of President of India.The Corporation is running hotels, restaurants at various places for tourists, besides providing transport facilities.  In addition, the Corporation is engaged in production, distribution and sale of tourist publicity literature and providing entertainment and duty free shopping facilities to the tourists.  The Corporation has diversified into new avenues/innovative services like Full-Fledged Money Changer (FFMC) services, engineering related consultancy services etc. The Ashok Institute of Hospitality & Tourism Management of the Corporation imparts training and education in the field of tourism and hospitality.

Presently, ITDC has a network of eight Ashok Group of Hotels, six Joint Venture Hotels, 2 Restaurants (including one Airport Restaurant), 12 Transport Units, one Tourist Service Station, 37 Duty Free Shops at International as well as Domestic Customs Airports, one Tax Free outlet and two Sound & Light Shows.

Aims

1. Main aims of the Department of Tourism are as follows :-  
2. To do proper publicity about such places which, because of their historical importance, may attract tourists.
3. To maintain the historical, religious and cultural traditions of india and to promote them.
4. To provide cheap, clean and satisfactory facilities to tourists in matters of transport, accommodation, food and recreation.
5. To get factual and informative literature printed which highlight tourist spots and monuments, their cultural importance and other details, and make such literature available to tourists which will serve as a guide and provide necessary information to them in order to help them to explore India.
6. To enhance and encourage the participation of the private sector in efforts of the Government for providing necessary facilities to domestic and international tourists.
7. To organize cultural shows on occasion of different fairs festivals and seminars with a view to attracting more and more tourists.

HISTORY OF HOTEL INDUSTRY

From the ancient time the place providing both safe food and safe accommodation to the customers is the meaning of Hotel or Hotel Industry

Food, Accomodation and Dress are the 3 most essential things which every one need. And Hotel Industry alone provide 2 basic things :- Food and Accomodation.

There are just three front side of the Hotel Industry Earnings:- In providing Rooms, Banquets and Restaraunts.

Types of Hotels in Hospitality Hotel Industry

• Commercial Hotels
• Airport Hotels
• Conference Centers
• Economy Hotels
• Suite or All-Suite Hotels
• Residential Hotels
• Casino Hotels
• Resort Hotels

Earnings for Hospitality Hotel Industry

• Hotel Industry get Revenue in providing Rooms
• Hotel Industry get Revenue in providing Banquet Halls
• Hotel Industry get Revenue in Restaraunts
• Additional Hotel Industry get revenue as
• For telephone call services in hotels
• For laundry services in hotels
• For travel services in hotels
• For internet services in hotels

Department of Hotels that are available for guest 24 X 7:-

• Hotel industry kitchen department
• Hotel industry Food Production department
• Hotel industry Engineering department
• Hotel industry Front desk department
• Hotel industry Housekeeping department
• Hotel industry Food & Beverage Service department
• Hotel industry Gym/ Health Club/ Sports department
• Hotel industry Parking/ Shops department
• Hotel industry Parking/ Shops department

Hotel Industry Kitchen/ Food Production: Kitchen & food production is a department of hotel that responsible for food . Even hotels having Coffee Shop provides 24 hour services to the guest.

Hotel Industry Engineering:- If any problems come in room, bulb fuse, A/C not working , then we have to contact Hotel Engineers, they are also available 24 hours.

Hotel Industry Front desk:- Front desk is 1st impression on guest, if guest like this section then only he will go for other option like restaurant, laundry, etc. Front desk consists of young and energetic staff who is always (24 x 7) be there to help guest, they are also responsible for Business Centre, Internet Access. He is also responsible for making C-Form for Foreigner Clients, providing safety lockers to the guest. Taking Reservation by Telephone, E-Mails, and Fax from the guest. Also providing guest Money Exchange Services.

Hotel Industry Housekeeping:- Housekeeping are available 24 X 7 for guest, making their bedroom, bathroom, etc. Providing guest Laundry services, also do day to day room cleaning for guests.

Hotel Industry Food & Beverage Service:- They include providing guest the services whether in rooms, Restaurants or Banquets, or in Conference rooms.

Hotel Industry Travel Desk:- They are responsible for arranging day to day travels for the guest. They also do the ticket confirmation work, and also provides the information for sightseeing to the guests.

Gym/ Health Club/ Sports:- Medium and large hotels are providing Gyms, Swimming Pool, Health Club, Beauty Parlour, Saloon, games like Billiards, Pool, etc facilities to their guests. Most of the Hotels are providing these facilities complimentary with the rooms.

Parking/ Shops:- Few Star hotels providing big parking space, shops in the restaurant itself for the guest conveyance, so that they can get the things in hotel itself. 

MARKETING

Marketing is the process by which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.

Marketing is used to identify the customer, to keep the customer, and to satisfy the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, it can be concluded that marketing management is one of the major components of business management. The evolution of marketing was caused due to mature markets and over-capacities in the last 2-3 centuries. Companies then shifted the focus from production to the customer in order to stay profitable.

The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions. It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors.

FURTHER DEFINITIONS

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association (AMA) as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. Seen from a systems point of view, sales process engineering views marketing as "a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions, whose methods can be improved using a variety of relatively new approaches."

The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably." A different concept is the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to contribute to increasing shareholder value. In this context, marketing is defined as "the management process that seeks to maximise returns to shareholders by developing relationships with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage."

Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included advertising, distribution and selling. However, because the academic study of marketing makes extensive use of social sciences, psychology, sociology, mathematics, economics, anthropology and neuroscience, the profession is now widely recognized as a science, allowing numerous universities to offer Master-of-Science (MSc) programmes. The overall process starts with marketing research and goes through market segmentation, business planning and execution, ending with pre and post-sales promotional activities. It is also related to many of the creative arts. The marketing literature is also adept at re-inventing itself and its vocabulary according to the times and the culture.

Evolution of marketing

An orientation, in the marketing context, relates to a perception or attitude a firm holds towards its product or service, essentially concerning consumers and end-users. Throughout history marketing has changed considerably as consumer tastes are changing faster.

EARLIER APPROACHES

The marketing orientation evolved from earlier orientations namely the production orientation, the product orientation and the selling orientation.

Orientation	Profit driver	Western European timeframe	Description
Production	Production methods	until the 1950s	A firm focusing on a production orientation specializes in producing as much as possible of a given product or service. Thus, this signifies a firm exploiting economies of scale, until the minimum efficient scale is reached. A production orientation may be deployed when a high demand for a product or service exists, coupled with a good certainty that consumer tastes do not rapidly alter
Product	Quality of the product	until the 1960s	A firm employing a product orientation is chiefly concerned with the quality of its own product. A firm would also assume that as long as its product was of a high standard, people would buy and consume the product.
Selling	Selling methods	1950s and 1960s	A firm using a sales orientation focuses primarily on the selling/promotion of a particular product, and not determining new consumer desires as such. Consequently, this entails simply selling an already existing product, and using promotion techniques to attain the highest sales possible. Such an orientation may suit scenarios in which a firm holds dead stock, or otherwise sells a product that is in high demand, with little likelihood of changes in consumer tastes diminishing demand.
Marketing	Needs and wants of customers	1970 to present day	The 'marketing orientation' is perhaps the most common orientation used in contemporary marketing. It involves a firm essentially basing its marketing plans around the marketing concept, and thus supplying products to suit new consumer tastes. As an example, a firm would employ market research to gauge consumer desires, use R&D to develop a product attuned to the revealed information, and then utilize promotion techniques to ensure persons know the product exists.

Contemporary approaches

Recent approaches in marketing is the relationship marketing with focus on the customer, the business marketing or industrial marketing with focus on an organization or institution and the social marketing with focus on benefits to the society. New forms of marketing also uses the internet and are therefore called internet marketing or more generally e-marketing, online marketing, search engine marketing, desktop advertising or affiliate marketing. It tries to perfect the segmentation strategy used in traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precisely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one marketing.

HISTORY OF TRAVELLING BY WATER IN INDIA

INTRODUCTION

Humans have always lived near water. We use it to drink, cook, bathe in, water crops, and for travel. Long ago people realized that they could travel faster and more easily on the rivers and over the sea than on land. On barges and ships, people could carry much more than they could with wagons and animals. With sails, boats could use the power of the wind to move, instead of rowing.

WATER TRAVEL IN INDIA

Western scholars have underestimated India's achievement with regard to commerce, ship-building and navigation, and sea travel. These scholars believed in the Doctrine of Christian Discovery - According to which only Christians could be regarded as discoverers. Hence, the claim that Columbus “discovered” America or that Vasco da Gama “discovered” India). The people already living on the land did not matter. 

India, situated at the central point of the ocean that washes on its coast on three sides, seemed destined very early for a maritime future. In the Rig Veda, a passage represents Varuna having a full knowledge of the sea routes, and another speaks of merchants going everywhere and frequenting every part of the sea for gain. The Ramayana refers to the Yavan Dvipa and Suvarna Dvipa (Java and Sumatra) and to the Lohta Sayara or the Red Sea. The drama Sakuntala, Ratnavali of King Harsha, Sisupalvadha of Magha, relates stories of sea voyages of merchants and others, and the fabulous literature of India is replete with stories of sea voyages by Hindus. Historian R. C. Majumdar states: "The representation of ship on a seal indicates maritime activity, and there is enough evidence to show that the peoples of the Sindhu valley carried on trade not only with other parts of India but also with Sumer and the centers of culture in Western Asia, and with Egypt and Crete." 

There was a time in the past, when Indians were the masters of the sea borne trade of Europe, Asia and Africa. They built ships, navigated the sea, and held in their hands all the threads of international commerce, whether carried on overland or sea.

Indian traders would set sail from the port of Mahabalipuram, carrying with them cinnamon, pepper and their civilization to the shores of Java, Cambodia and Bali. Like the Western world, the Indian world stretches far beyond its border, though India has never used any violence to spread her influence. Noted historian, R. C. Majumdar observed: "The Indian colonies in the Far East must ever remain as the high watermark of maritime and colonial enterprise of the ancient Indians." It has been proved beyond doubt that the Indians of the past were not, stay-at-home people, but went out of their country for exploration, trade and conquest.

Buddhist Jataka stories wrote about large Indian ships carrying seven hundred people. In the Artha Sastra, Kautilya wrote about the Board of Shipping and the Commissioner of Port who supervised sea traffic.

PRESENT OF WATER TRAVEL IN INDIA:

 Today Maritime transportation in India is managed by the Shipping Corporation of India, a government-owned company that also manages offshore and other marine transport infrastructure in the country. It owns and operates about 35% of Indian tonnage and operates in practically all areas of shipping business servicing both national and international trades.

It has a fleet of 79 ships and also manages 53 research, survey and support on behalf of various government departments and other organizations’. Personnel are trained at the Maritime Training Institute in Mumbai, a branch of the World Maritime University, which was set up in 1987. The Corporation also operates in Malta and Iran through joint ventures.

 PORTS:

The ports are the main centres of trade. In India about 95% of the foreign trade by quantity and 70% by value takes place through the ports. Mumbai Port & JNPT(Navi Mumbai) handles 70% of maritime trade in India. There are twelve major ports: Navi Mumbai, Mumbai, Kolkata (including Haldia), Paradip, Vishakapatnam, Ennore, Chennai, Tuticorin, Kochi, New Mangalore, Mormugao and Kandla. Other than these, there are 187 minor and intermediate ports, 43 of which handle cargo.

 WATER WAYS:

India has an extensive network of inland waterways in the form of rivers, canals, backwaters and creeks. The total navigable length is 14,500 kilometers (9,000 mi), out of which about 5,200 km (3,231 mi) of river and 485 km (301 mi) of canals can be used by mechanised crafts. Freight transport by waterways is highly underutilized in India compared to other large countries.

Cargo transport in an organized manner is confined to a few waterways in Goa, West Bengal, Assam and Kerala. The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) is the statutory authority in charge of the waterways in India. It does the function of building the necessary infrastructure in these waterways, surveying the economic feasibility of new projects and also administration and regulation.