Incredible India

India is a land of rich history, cultural and geographical diversity. Being the home of one of the Seven Wonders of the World, India also has huge plethora of flora and fauna spread across its national territories. Such appealing features about the Indian culture and its diversity make India one of the best international tourist destinations. India presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business and sports tourism.

Indian Tourism Industry

If we talk about the tourism industry as a whole we find that it is the largest service industry prevailing in the Indian economy and contributes as high as 6.23% to the national GDP. Apart from this, the industry plays a huge role in the employment of the people of India and contributes almost 9% to the total employment in India.

If we talk in terms of the revenue generated from the industry we see that the country generated as high as 200 billion US dollars in 2008 from the industry, which is expected to increase to 375.5 billion US dollars by the end of year 2018. This expectation would result in a growth of almost 9.5% annually for the industry. Apart from this India has one of the largest and fastest grow­ing medical tourism sectors as well. Thanks to the ancient medical science like the Ayurveda and Unnani system of medicines which prevails in the nation.

Read more about Medical Tourism Companies in India.

According to World Travel and Tourism Council, India will be the one of the most hot-spot for tourism from the year 2009 to 2018, having the highest 10-year growth potential. Tourism revenue is expected to surge by almost 42% by the end of 2017 as compared to the year 2007 irrespective of the fact that the industry faces major setbacks during peak times due to the shortage of hotel rooms and infrastructure.

In current time, when the world economy is becoming more globalized with every passing day, it is still a long way to go for the Indian economy to achieve sustainable tourism.

Problems Of India’s Tourism Industry

Some of the major road blocks or hurdles for the proper development of the industry are:

1. Lack of proper infrastructure which includes non availability of good roads and poor connectivity to the tourist destinations.
2. Lack of aggressive online and other marketing strategies to promote India as a must-visit location
3. Too many points of differentiation available but not cashed upon (such as rare animal sanctuaries, religious pilgrimage tours and extreme Himalaya tours)
4. Lack of funds due to which a long list of heritage monuments that are still sitting in squalid environments etc.

On the other hand, India is at the thresh­old of looming opportunities. Tourism in India is one of those sectors which are currently witnessing widespread growth. Thanks to the increasing inbound tourism by the burgeoning Indian middle class. Rising inflow of foreign tourists into the Indian Territory along with successful government campaigns for promoting ‘Incredible India’ stature has done a lot to develop the Indian tourism industry.

 Improving Infrastructure & Funds Availability – The need of the hour

It is needless to say that development in Infrastructure holds the key to success for any industry and the economy as a whole. Infrastructure has a major role to play in the Indian Tourism industry. Ministry of Tourism has made consistent efforts to develop quality tourism infrastructure at tourist destina­tions and circuits. The Government has allowed 100 per cent foreign invest­ment under the automatic route in the Hotel and Tourism related industry, to improve the quality of tourism and help the industry grow at rapid pace.

Mr Subodh Kant Sahay, Minister of Tour­ism said, “Government is embarking upon the policy of developing integrated perspective investment plans for key circuits and des­tinations in each state and Union Territo­ry.”

According to him these plans would identify components requiring investments through the Center, the state governments, public private partnership and private sec­tor.

Thus it won’t be wrong if we say that Tourism Industry in India has grown at rapid pace but in order to achieve a sustained growth a lot needs to be done and there exists plenty of ideas, plethora of opportunities for one to make the most of it.

Also Read on GWI Top Online Travel Agencies,Portals,Sites in India List and Review.

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