Syllabus: Indian Economy and issues relating to growth, development and employment
Performance Indicators
- India received 5.6 million foreign tourists till August 2025, despite vast cultural diversity.
- Singapore recorded 11.6 million arrivals by August 2025, despite a much smaller population.
- Thailand earned over $60 billion from tourism, while India earned roughly one-third.
- These figures reveal a strategic gap between tourism potential and actual performance.
Core Challenges
- Image Deficit
- Global perception shaped by safety concerns, scams, sanitation issues, and bureaucratic hurdles.
- Many foreign travellers view India as unsafe for women travelling alone.
- Branding campaigns remain insufficient against negative international media narratives.
- Proposed segmentation includes Spiritual India, Adventure India, and Luxury India.
- Infrastructure Constraints
- Tourist experience begins at airports, immigration counters, taxis, and digital connectivity.
- Last-mile connectivity to remote destinations remains inconsistent and unreliable.
- Clean public toilets, signage, Wi-Fi, and heritage maintenance remain uneven.
- Mid-range and luxury travel costs remain higher than Southeast Asian competitors.
- Service Culture and Workforce Gaps
- Hospitality sector faces a 40% shortfall in trained tourism staff.
- Graduates prefer stable office employment over unpredictable guest-facing service roles.
- Presence of touts, scammers, and harassment undermines tourist confidence.
- Immigration and Visa Challenges
- India ranks lower on ease-of-travel indexes compared to Asian competitors.
- E-visas improved access, but procedural delays still deter repeat visitors.
- Reports of foreigners denied entry for past criticisms damage international image.
- Proposal includes Visa on Arrival for low-risk countries.
Strategic Reform Measures
- Promote tourism circuits like Golden Triangle, Himalayan trail, and coastal belt.
- Expand public-private partnerships through the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ scheme.
- Strengthen tourist police, multilingual support, and verified digital guide platforms.
- Launch a nationwide ‘Clean Tourism’ campaign with waste management standards.
- Encourage eco-tourism and community-based tourism for sustainability.
Economic and Strategic Significance
- Tourism generates more jobs per investment unit than manufacturing.
- Sector supports unskilled and semi-skilled employment, reducing youth unemployment risks.
- Hospitality shapes India’s global image and soft power projection.
- Current GST structure denies input tax credit, weakening hotel sector competitiveness.
Conclusion
- India’s tourism challenge reflects a need to refine governance, service delivery, and global positioning.
- Addressing image, infrastructure, and experience can transform tourism into a strategic growth engine.