Managing Tourism in North East India using Fuzzy Linear Programming

Abstract

The best allocation of limited resources to activities with the aim of accomplishing the desired goal, such as maximization of profit or minimization of cost, is the focus of linear programming. The relationships between activities in linear programming models satisfy
the proportionality and additivity requirements since they are linear interactions. This feature of linear programming is extended to the tourism industry which is one of the major industries in the global economy with respect to invested capital and earnings of
foreign currencies. In todays era of design thinking, automation, and met averse, there is a very close margin between solutions to similar real-world problems. This is where the need and demand for fuzzy and imprecise linear programming arises. The membership functions provide the model developer the freedom to grade the imprecision as per his/her preference, thereby enabling a unique solution for each problem. While considering the tourism problem a number of factors like natural resources, people, history, culture, security, accommodation, entertainment, political stability, cost of services, tour operator, tour information, and advertisement play an important role in enhancing the sector to a large extent. Combined and classified they come under the following categories like leisure tourism, therapeutic/spa tourism, conference tourism, political tourism, sports/recreational tourism, cultural tourism, social tourism, conference tourism, recreational tourism, sports tourism, religious tourism, health tourism, etc. Each of these sectors requires careful investment on the part of the Government and other stake holders for development purpose. i.e. only a proper marketing mix will ensure a better return for the state. Taking this aspect into consideration the authors decided to introduce a hypothetical LP maximization model for the tourism industry in North East. Cost and space allocation are the constraints in the model. Among the various categories, three tourism forms (heritage, eco-tourism, and pilgrimage tourism) are considered which are used to optimize the allocation of the States marketing budget in tourism in such a way that the appropriate sector provides the greatest likelihood of producing the strongest return on investment. The maximization of profit has been done using various methods, like Werner’s, Verdegay’s, and Zimmermans. The authors have concluded the results based on the sensitivity analysis that has been done in the process of maximizing profit along with a maximal satisfaction level.