Peaks And Valleys in Indian Travel Market: Expected to grow at 6.9% annual rate from 2019 to 2028

Indian Travel Market: A report by the Ficci industry chamber.

NEW Delhi: The Indian travel market is expected to grow to $125 billion by FY27, up from $75 billion in FY20. In 2020, India’s tourism industry employed 31.8 million people, a figure that is expected to rise to 53 million by 2029, with international tourist arrivals reaching 30.5 billion by 2028. All of these are the findings of a new report by the Ficci industry chamber.

According to the latest UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, cited in the Ficci report, international tourism increased 182% year on year in January-March, with destinations around the world welcoming an estimated 117 million international arrivals, up from 41 million in Q1 2021.

India has a sizable travel and tourism industry. It provides a wide range of niche tourism products, including cruises, adventure, medical, wellness, sports, MICE, eco-tourism, film, rural, and religious tourism. India has been designated as a spiritual tourism destination for both domestic and international visitors. Tourism, like many other countries, is an important source of foreign exchange in India. Foreign exchange earnings increased at a CAGR of 7% from 2016 to 2019 but fell in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The tourism sector’s growing influence as an economic powerhouse and its potential as a development tool is undeniable. The tourism industry not only promotes economic growth, but also improves the quality of people’s lives through its ability to generate large-scale employment of various types, support environmental protection, promote diverse cultural heritage, and strengthen global peace.

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Before the pandemic

The Indian travel and tourism industry was expected to grow at a 6.9% annual rate from 2019 to 2028, reaching $460 billion, or approximately 9.9% of India’s GDP in 2028.

In 2019, the total contribution of travel and tourism to India’s GDP was 7% of the total economy, or $15,792 billion. then 2020, this fell to 4.3%, or $9,167 billion. In 2021, the figure rose to 5.8%, or $13,161 billion.

The industry employed 40.10 million people in 2019, which fell to 29.14 million in 2020 before rising to 32.10 million in 2021.

International visitor spending, on the other hand, is expected to fall from 2532.6 billion in 2019 to 653.5 billion in 2021. Domestic tourism, on the other hand, remained stable from 2019 to 2021. The contribution decreased from approximately 11,515 billion in 2019 to 7,170 billion in 2020. In 2021, this figure is expected to rise to 11,166.6 billion. This information was obtained from the ‘WTTC 2022 Annual Research: Key Highlights,’ according to the Ficci report.