India’s travel and tourism sector has ranked seventh in the world in terms of its total contribution to the country’s GDP, according to a new report by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). According to the new data, travel and tourism generated INR 14.1 trillion in 2016, which is the world’s seventh largest in terms of absolute size, the sum is equivalent to 9.6 per cent of India’s GDP.
Additionally, the sector supported 40.3 million jobs in 2016, which ranks India second in the world in terms of total employment supported by travel and tourism. The sector accounts for 9.3 per cent of the country’s total jobs.
India’s travel and tourism sector was also the fastest growing amongst the G20 countries, growing by 8.5 per cent in 2016. A further 6.7 per cent growth is forecast for this year.
The country’s strong travel and tourism figures are predominantly generated by domestic travel, which accounts for 88 per cent of the sector’s contribution to GDP in 2016.
Visitor exports, money spent by foreign travellers in India, only represents 12 per cent of tourism revenues and in 2016 totalled INR 1.5 trillion. This is 5.4 per cent of the country’s total exports, compared to a global average of 6.6 per cent. Data from the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) shows that India received only nine million international arrivals in 2016, placing it 40th in the world.
However, WTTC sees a lot of potential for India to grow its visitor exports. Over the past few months India has already starting to address this gap and made significant changes to visa facilitation, which is expected help to boost international arrivals. WTTC data suggests that visitor exports will grow by 5.4 per cent in 2017.
David Scowsill, president and CEO, WTTC, said, “India is a tremendous travel and tourism economy and I am pleased to see the sector GDP is growing. However, we believe that these numbers could be even higher, and that the positive impact of our sector could be more wide-ranging. India has a huge potential to increase its international visitors and, in doing so, it can create more jobs and drive economic growth.”
“We encourage the Indian government to continue to adopt policies that encourage travellers, such as the new visa regime, enable investment in vital infrastructure, and allow companies to do business. India is a beautiful and diverse tourism destination, with the right policies in place it will no doubt continue to grow towards ranking even higher in terms of its tourism economy,” he added.