Travel & Tourism- A Sunrise Sector

The Indian Tourism and Hospitality Industry has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth among the services sector in India. Travel and tourism has become one of the pillars in the growth of GDP of the country. Tourism in India is a potential game changer. It is a sun rise industry, an employment generator, a significant source of foreign exchange for the country and an economic activity that helps local and host communities. Travel & Tourism sector contributes 7% to the Indian GDP & 8% to the total employment of country. India is a tourism product which is unparalleled in its beauty, uniqueness, rich culture and history has been aggressively pursuing the promotion of tourism both internationally as well as in the domestic market.

Indian tourism industry is thriving due to an increase in foreign tourist arrivals and greater number of Indians travelling to domestic destinations than before. In the past few years the real growth has come from the domestic sector as during 2014 India witnessed foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs)  of 74.62 lakh compared to 68.48 Lakhs FTA in 2013. India is at 41^st rank in terms of international tourism across the globe.

Travel and tourism sector’s contribution to capital investment is projected to grow at 6.5 per cent per annum during 2013-2023, above the global average of five per cent. The Ministry of Tourism promotes the country’s various tourism products through its tactile campaigns under the Incredible India brand- both for international as well as domestic markets. The budget allocated for the Domestic Promotion & Publicity and Overseas Promotion & Publicity including Marketing Development stood at INR 1.1 billion (USD 17.73 million) and INR 3.5 billion (USD 56.41 million) for the financial year 2013-14.

To quote figures about hospitality industry, 1.30 lakh hotel rooms are needed to cater to the projected 5m tourists this year, while the country today has only 84,000 operational rooms. Overall out of aviation, tourism & hospitality industry, hospitality sector has maximum job opportunities followed by aviation & tourism sector respectively. 

for more information visit travel and tourism institute