Incredible India Incredible Potential

TOURISM IS an economic activity which contributed 9.2% to India’s GDP with a total value of US$ 247.3 billion in 2018. India has great tourism products. Unfortunately, they have not been developed and marketed. We can achieve a target of US$ 275.2 billion by 2025 and create additional total contribution of 5 million jobs from the current 42 million to about 47 million by 2025 thus reducing unemployment.

We have 10.56 million foreign tourist arrivals and 1,855 million domestic visitors. We can achieve approximately 22 million FTAs and 2,466 DTVs by opening up new destinations and by creating new products and hotels. India’s tourism economy is the clout of the domestic traveller who needs more attention. 

It is time to introspect the way we have been managing our National Tourism Policies, creating products and marketing them which did not produce the desired results. We need to keep pace with the needs of New Gen Travellers by adopting new technology like Artificial Intelligence and Digitalisation. Development of new destinations, more people-friendly hill stations, eco-friendly beach resorts, ski resorts, Spa and Wellness centres, inter-active museums hi-tech Convention, Conference and Exhibition centres in all States is essential. All these developments should be done in stages and in a time-bound manner.

Adoption of the Virtual Reality technology, used by the National Museum of Singapore replacing the real world with a simulated one, would redefine the conventional museum experience. Emergence of Digital and Future Technology to replace the current conventional audio-visual presentations would increase museum visitations. 

Most important is hotel accommodation. The presently inadequate 300,000 hotel rooms in the approved and unapproved category, by 2025 would need to be at the 600,000 additional rooms’ strength to cater to the 22 million FTAs and the 2,466 million DTVs. Policies for building of hotels need to be revamped. Creation of Tourism Parks is suggested in all places of tourist interest and earmarking of land on lease in PPP mode, with simplification of approvals for building hotels. All States need to give Industry status to Tourism. Financial institutions and Banks should provide loans at a lower rate of interest.

Use of latest technology can turn historical places into being an “unforgettable experience,” help in promotion of India’s rich culture with the opening of more cultural centres in all States and highlighting musical forms and dance styles.

India has the largest number of cuisines in the world. These need to be promoted so that India becomes the leading culinary destination internationally.

Gen X is drawn towards gaming and Amusement parks and Adventure parks. We need to develop ski resorts and also Adventure activities. Advantage should be taken of the proximity of ski resorts in the Himalayas as compared to the costlier distant European alternatives. The ski resorts need to be better exploited in South-East Asian countries through marketing. 

Popularisation of Cruise Tourism by developing more sea ports and river ports is another prospect. Wellness and Yoga centres of class need to be promoted by encouraging the private sector to open such centres managed by renowned gurus, as was done by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Government should promote such centres. Incentives to private entrepreneurs to invest in Medical Tourism by opening more super-speciality Hospitals and Ayurvedic/Nature therapy centres has immense potential. 

We need many more institutes of Travel, Tourism, Hotel Management and skill development Centres of Excellence with hi-tech and online learning systems to meet the demand of an additional 5 million professionals. The Government should prioritise privatisation of educational institutes in PPP mode.

New Age technology has enabled Millennials to use Smart phones for instantaneous comparison and booking for Taxis, Airlines, Trains, Hotels, Amusement parks, Restaurants, Museums, bypassing intermediates. Experiential travel is thriving in social media platforms, giving rise to a new eco-system of marketing and customer outreach which we need to adopt. 

Yet to arrive on a mass-user scale are future disrupters in hotels. There will be Facial Recognition Technology and hotels will soon have online seamless Booking Check-in & Check-out systems. Guests will check in at a Smart kiosk and enter their rooms without using a key. All guest requests in Room service will be met by Alexa and service will be done by Robots. In future robots will be cooking food and serving it in restaurants, cafes, canteens and Chat Bots will be for servicing guests.

We need to embrace technology and adopt Artificial Intelligence where machine learning will equip a computer to take decision-making for a given situation without human intervention. Big data will empower computers to do this, helping users with effective web search, dynamic pricing, speech recognition and many other things. Bluetooth item tracker helps locate lost items like keys, luggage, wallet or even the household pet.

India has great potential which needs to be exploited and well managed in a time-bound manner. Creation of a Tourism Board at the Central and State levels under the Ministry of Tourism comprising professionals along with competent and committed team of officers is essential. This system is followed by Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, enhancing their international tourist arrival numbers on a year-to-year basis. The Government should privatise all hotels, airlines, conference, exhibition centres and be a facilitator, not an operator. 

All these measures, if they are acted upon immediately, could enable us to meet our target of 22 million FTVs and 2,466 DTVs.