Indian Tourism Industry: Some Key Facts
Mark Twain had said, “So far, as I am able to judge, nothing has been left undone by man or nature to make India the most extraordinary country that the sun visits on his rounds”. The importance of tourism as a creator of job opportunities can be understood from the fact that in India every one million invested in tourism creates 47.5 jobs directly and around 85-90 jobs indirectly. In comparison, agriculture creates only 44.6 jobs and manufacturing a mere 12.6 jobs. Moreover tourism is the third largest foreign exchange earner after gems and jewellery and readymade garments.
The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report ranks India 52nd out of 141 countries overall. The report ranks the price competitiveness of India’s tourism sector 8th out of 144 countries. It mentions that India has quite good air transport (ranked 39th), particularly given the country’s stage of development, and reasonable ground transport infrastructure (ranked 42nd) [3]. Some other aspects of its tourism infrastructure remain somewhat underdeveloped, however. For example, the nation has very few hotel rooms per capita by international comparison and low ATM penetration.
Being one of the oldest civilization of the world, a country so rich in terms of flora and fauna and five seasons, abode of 32 world heritage sites, India’s vast potential in tourism cannot be ignored. Inbound tourism means tourist visiting India from other countries of the world for various purposes like holiday, spas, medical, yoga and meditation, business, meeting etc.
Strengths:
India as geographical location is a culmination of forests, deserts, and mountains ands beaches. Diversity of culture i.e. a blend of various civilizations and their traditions. A wealth of archeological sites and historical monuments.
Weaknesses:
Lack of adequate infrastructure. A xenophobic attitude among certain sections of the people. No proper marketing of India as tourism abroad. Foreigners still think of India as a land of snake charmers.
Opportunities:
More proactive role from the government of India in terms of framing policies. Allowing entry of more multinational companies into the country giving us a global perspective. As well as growth of domestic tourism is one of the factors of the development of the tourism industry.
Threats:
Economic conditions and political turmoil in other countries affects tourism. Aggressive strategies adopted by other countries like Australia, Singapore in promoting their tourism affects Indian tourism.
