Answer: India is a large market for travel and tourism. It offers a diverse portfolio of niche tourism products such as cruises, adventure, medical, wellness, sports, MICE (meetings-incentives-conferences and exhibitions), eco-tourism, films, and rural and religious/spiritual tourism. The travel and tourism industry’s contribution to the GDP of India was around $121.9 billion in 2020. Impact of tourism over other sectors in India:

• Fosters growth of infrastructure industries: To attract tourists, adequate infrastructure is required, such as:
  • Connectivity: It requires well-maintained all-weather connectivity leading to the construction of roads, railways, airways, and shipping. The Indian airline travel market at $20 billion in 2020, is projected to double in size by FY27 due to improving airport infrastructure and growing access to passports.
  • Hospitality infrastructure: Demand for both luxury stays and affordable stays is increasing. In October 2021, firms such as Accor and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts announced to increase their footprints in India. Further, OYO estimates India to present a US$ 26 billion opportunity by 2030.
  • Medical infrastructure: The availability of affordable treatment through modern medicines and development in the streams of alternative medicines like Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, and Homoeopathy, have made India a thriving destination for medical value tourism. The sector is expected to grow at a CAGR of 21.1% from 2020 to 2027.
  • Digital infrastructure: Tourism was one of the first sectors to digitalize business processes, bringing flight and hotel booking online, on a global scale. The government is also facilitating the development of digital infrastructure to promote Ease of Doing Business for the hospitality & tourism sector through schemes such as the National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI) 2.0.
  • Amusement infrastructure: There has been a focus on the development of water sports, cruises, light, and sound shows, wild safari, etc. to provide thrilling experiences to the tourists. For instance, the Ministry of Tourism is planning to develop an international-level infrastructure in Kargil (Ladakh) to promote adventure tourism and winter sports.
• Promotes art and craft: According to the UNEP and UNTWO (2005), it is estimated that tourists spend around 40 percent of their budget on souvenir purchases and other craft products. The government has taken several initiatives to promote local arts and crafts among tourists.

These include:

• • The economy of Kutch, a desert city is highly dependent upon the art, crafts, music, and dance of the region, and gets a boost due to the annual Kutch Rann Utsav that attracts thousands of tourists.
  • The government promotes the craft experience tourism model these days. For instance, the government holds craft safari to promote local handicrafts in Srinagar. Also, Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments have initiated ambitious Craft Tourism Village projects such as at Vellar and at Mamallapuram respectively.
  • ‘Heritage Walks’ such as in Agra, Delhi, Hyderabad, Hampi, Ajanta, etc. also promote the tangible and intangible cultural legacies.

In 2020, the Indian tourism sector accounted for 31.8 million jobs, which was 7.3% of the total employment in the country. By 2029, it is expected to account for about 53 million jobs. Thus, India’s travel and tourism industry has huge growth potential. Keeping that in mind, several branding and marketing initiatives of the Indian government such as ‘Incredible India’ and ‘Atithi Devo Bhava’ campaigns are steps forward in the right direction.