Introduction

The Indian tourism and hospitality industry has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth among the services sector in India. Tourism in India has significant potential considering the rich cultural and historical heritage, variety in ecology, terrains and places of natural beauty spread across the country. Tourism is also a potentially large employment generator besides being a significant source of foreign exchange for the country. During January-April 2018 FEEs from tourism increased 17.4 per cent year-on-year to US$ 10.62 billion.

India is the most digitally-advanced traveller nation in terms of digital tools being used for planning, booking and experiencing a journey, India’s rising middle class and increasing disposable incomes has continued to support the growth of domestic and outbound tourism.

Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs) to the States/Union Territories (UTs) grew by 15.5 per cent y-o-y to 1.65 billion (provisional) during 2016 with the top 10 States/UTs contributing about 84.2 per cent to the total number of DTVs, as per Ministry of Tourism. The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) increased 10.8 per cent year-on-year to 3.88 million The travel & tourism sector in India accounted for 8 per cent of the total employment opportunities generated in the country in 2017, providing employment to around 41.6 million people during the same year. The number is expected to rise by 2 per cent annum to 52.3 million jobs by 2028. International hotel chains are increasing their presence in the country, as it will account for around 47 per cent share in the Tourism & Hospitality sector of India by 2020 & 50 per cent by 2022.

The contribution of travel and tourism industry in the world GDP stands at about 10.4% and in most nations with advanced travel & tourism, this industry contributes more than 13% to their respective GDPs. According to World Travel & Tourism Council, India is also on a high growth trajectory’ projected to grow by an estimated CAGR of 7.1% in terms of GDP contribution over next decade.

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, India ranked 7th amongst 185 countries in term of travel and tourism sector’s total contribution to GDP in 2017. Tourism industry in the year 2017 contributed 9.4% of the GDP and generated 8% of the total employment in the country, thus making it a one of the largest industries in service sector.

Arrivals (FTAs) in India crossed the 10 million mark for the first time, standing at 10.1 mn with a growth of 15.6% over 2016. The Government of India has set out a target to increase India’s share of FTAs in international tourist arrivals to 1% of global tourist arrivals by 2020 and 2% by 2025.