Digitalizing Wildlife Tourism in Madhya Pradesh for Sustainable Value Creation

Abstract

Wildlife Tourism has gained significant recognition in last decade from both officials and researchers for the multiplier effect it creates, contributing to employment generation and entrepreneurship for the local community and conservation of biodiversity in local corridors. However the tourism activities remained regionally centred due to low awareness and distances until intervention of ICT tools and infrastructure. The aim of the study is to study the relationship between digitalization and wildlife tourism in generating sustainable value for its stakeholders. The study draws valuable inputs from existing literature and responses from 170 respondents through Google forms and conducting telephonic semi-structured interviews of stakeholders from wildlife tourism to study the intervening role of digitalization on wildlife tourism in Madhya Pradesh. The findings reveal the inevitable role of digital technologies like smart phones, social media, and websites and so on at various stages of decision making from selecting or exploring a destination, preference of channel for booking a holiday, tourism products and satisfaction. The advent of Pandemic covid-19 is anticipated to bring several transformations within the industry creating a spurt in digital and sustainable solutions in tourism industry. The study throws light on changing preferences of consumers post covid-19 discussing opportunities and limitations of wildlife tourism amongst existing dynamism and limited resources. The research aims to provide useful suggestions for integrating digital tools to enhance consumer satisfaction and experience with wildlife tourism addressing the current limitations with strategic resource management and planning bringing managerial effectiveness.