Indian tourism on the verge of greatness

The year 2023 will see Indian tourism being set up for creating global leadership in the years to come. The country has the inherent potential to become a global leader and one of the top five countries in the tourism sector by leveraging its unique strengths in historical, geographical, cultural and spiritual aspects. 

Tourism can become a magnate for jobs and capital creation, Pan-India through both the inbound and the domestic aspects of tourism across all its segments and value chain, be those in leisure, corporate, conventions and exhibitions, spiritual, medical, sports and special interest tourism among others.

At FAITH, all association leaders believe that we have an immense inherent potential in our tourism industry. FAITH has developed a vision statement to support and partner Government’s long-term goals in the same direction and help create up to 10 crores additional jobs Pan-India, target up to 100 million foreign tourists, 100 billion domestic tourism visits and thereby triple tourism’s GDP contribution by the 100th anniversary of Indian Independence. To be able to do that, key enablers have to be put in place through coordination between various arms and institutions of the Central and state governments on diverse policy initiatives. 

Among the most critical ones is recognising tourism’s export status, granting hospitality infrastructure status, having a robust forex earnings incentives scheme for Indian tourism, creating a domestic travel tax credit policy, putting tourism in concurrent list, setting up a natural and cultural heritage restoration fund, developing a national seamless tourist transportation policy, enhancing the corpus for global tourism branding, creating an underwriting fund for travel agents and tour operators and abolishing TCS and very critically making the GST on tourism more competitive with full setoffs. 

All of these can be enabled by having a National Tourism Council headed by our Hon’ble Prime Minister and all state Chief Ministers. This is India’s century and Indian tourism will have the ring side view to it. This will boost employment Pan-India, capital creation, tax growth and forex earnings, through tourism’s direct and indirect impact. 

“To other countries, I may go as a tourist, but to India, I come as a pilgrim.¨ – Martin Luther King, Jr.

AUTHOR BIO: Nakul Anand is Executive Director - ITC Ltd and Chariman, FAITH