Strategic Formulation for Emerging Tourism Destinations: A SWOT-TOWS Analysis of Nandurbar District, Maharashtra

Abstract Nandurbar district, situated in the northwestern corner of Maharashtra, India, possesses unique geo-cultural, ecological, and heritage assets that position it as a high-potential emerging tourism destination. Despite featuring the pristine Satpura landscape of Toranmal and a vibrant indigenous tribal culture, the district remains largely under-commercialized due to historical economic vulnerabilities and systemic infrastructure blocks. Geographically bounded by Gujarat to the west and Madhya Pradesh to the north, Nandurbar is characterized by the rugged topography of the Satpura Mountain Range. This paper uses a structured SWOT-TOWS strategic framework to identify the internal capabilities (Strengths and Weaknesses) and external dynamics (Opportunities and Threats) of Nandurbar tourism ecosystem. This region has a great scope for tourism development, but there are some drawbacks and weaknesses in the development of the Nandurbar district. This study builds a systematic strategic planning model by operationalizing secondary data sets from the Socio-Economic Review of Nandurbar, census figures, and the Maharashtra State Tourism Policies. Through an empirical environment audit, This paper identifies foundational internal assets—including the pristine ecosystems of the Toranmal hill station, the sacred “Dakshin Kashi” shrines of Prakasha, the therapeutic geothermal features of Unapdev and Kundaleshwar, and the globally recognized Sarangkheda indigenous horse bazaar—compared against restrictive infrastructure deficits, fragmented institutional governance, and high seasonal economic vulnerability. The paper concludes by advancing a structural blueprint for a single-window decentralized destination management organization capable of catalyzing socio-economic elevation while enforcing strict environmental and cultural preservation across the district's six tehsils.