International Journal of Current Research and Modern Education (IJCRME) Impact Factor: 6.725, ISSN (Online): 2455 - 5428 (www.rdmodernresearch.com) Volume 2, Issue 1, 2017 117 HILL STATION TOURIST SATISFACTION IN UDHAGAMANDALAM Dr. B. Mythili* & K. Jayaprakash** * Associate Professor, Department of Commerce (CA), Sree Saraswathi Thyagaraja College, Pollachi, Tamilnadu ** Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce (CA), Sree Saraswathi Thyagaraja College, Pollachi, Tamilnadu Cite This Article: Dr. B. Mythili & K. Jayaprakash, “Hill Station Tourist Satisfaction in Udhagamandalam”, International Journal of Current Research and Modern Education, Volume 2, Issue 1, Page Number 117-121, 2017. Copy Right: © IJCRME, 2017 (All Rights Reserved). This is an Open Access Article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract: The present study is undertaken to explore the satisfaction of tourist to visiting Udhagamandalam. The objective of this study was to offer an integrated approach to understanding tourist satisfaction by examining the causal relationships among the components of tourism product and overall tourist satisfaction of tourist. The research was conducted with 200 tourists visiting Udhagamandalam. The collected data have been analyzed with the help of percentage analysis and descriptive statistics. This analysis provides a useful background to the tourism planner and government in the planning of future tourist marketing strategies. Key Words: Destination Facilities, Destination Attraction, Tourist Satisfaction & Tourism in Udhagamandalam Introduction: Geographical area of the tourism destination playing a pivotal role in the development of tourism, it gives an overall image of tourist destination by its attractions, accessibility, climate, environment and other aspects. To assess the level of satisfaction of tourists it is essential to know the views and experience of tourists about various facilities offered to them at the tourism destination. Here, the tourist and native people of the destination play a major role in this regards because mostly these two parties frequently come into contact. Good conduct of both these parities increases the popularity of the tourism destination. Study region Udhagamandalam is a famous hill station in Tamilnadu. It the Nilgiri district is spread over a total area of 2549.00. sq.km. The geographical location of the district lies between 100 38’ and 110 490’N latitude and 750 44’ and 770 87’ E longitude. As the climate is one of the major pulling factors of the Niligiri, April, May and June are the hottest months with a variance of 18º C minimum and 43º C maximum temperature. December and February are the cool months varying temperature as high as 35º C and as low as 17º C. Every hill station is a magnificent place to visit. The Nilgiris District is one of the hilly districts and it celebrated as summer asylum for the tourist, which in turn accelerate the economic development of the district. Udhagamandalam generally called as Ooty, capital of the district, is the queen of hill stations in India. The Nilgiris has 30 tourist places, which attract tourists from other parts of the state and country, of which the famous places are Botanical Garden, boat house, the Rose Garden and the Doddabetta peak in Udhagamandalam. Sim’s park, Kateri falls, Pasture Institute, Dolphin’s nose and Lamb’s rock are the Important Tourist sports in Coonoor. In Kotagiri block Kodanadu view point and St. Catherine’s falls are the two main tourist attractions. In Gudalur block the main tourist attraction in Mudumalai wild Life Sanctuary and Natural forest wealth are the key factors for the beauty of the district. In Udhagamandalam, tourism industry is growing exponentially. In this town a tremendous growth in the tourist arrival and overall tourist activity have taken place. In recent, there has been huge development in infrastructure and recreational facilities in the town. Literature Review: Brahmankar (1998) has found that the major factors which attract tourists to India include beautiful natural scenery, attractive customs and way of life, wildlife sanctuaries, backwaters and rivers, mountains, beautiful creations of man, traditional art and dance forms and typical festivals. The negative features include red tape in ticketing, checking, language difficulties, poor communication facilities, lack of personal safety, unsanitary conditions, difficulties in transport and traffic, unsatisfactory accommodation, beggars and tipping, problems in meeting people, over charging by taxi drivers and private transport operators. Braun O. L., etl, (1999) stated that the choice for or against a destination is influenced by the factors such as attractiveness (e.g. nature, landscape, places of cultural interest), available facilities (of importance to tourists, such as accommodations) and accessibility (e.g. good means of transportation); and also climate and weather are important factors in choice of destination. Kozak (2001) highlighted that there are many scientific studies have focused on impact of tourists satisfaction and intention to revisit to the destination. Nicolau, Mas (2005) analyzes a multistage tourist choice process: taking a vacation, visiting foreign vs. domestic destinations, taking multi- vs. single-destination vacations. „The empirical application carried out on the sample reaches the following conclusions: the dimensions which appear to have an effect on the decision to