DRIt was on October 30, 2001, in the Chief Ministers’ Conference, that the then Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee had stated: “Tourism is a major engine of economic growth in most parts of the world… Tourism has great capacity to create large-scale employment of diverse kind from the most specialised to the unskilled… and all of us know the generation of massive productive employment opportunities is what India needs the most.”
The future Tourism Policy of India has to consolidate India’s competitive strengths and promote USPs where India currently outsmarts other countries of the world
This was the first time since Independence that our policymakers had acknowledged that tourism can be a major economic driver and employment generator in India. The National Tourism Policy 2002 (which is still in force) accordingly positioned tourism as a major engine of nation’s development.
Travel & Tourism Industry contributed $7.6 trillion to the global economy recording 10.2 per cent of Global GDP and generated 292 million jobs in 2016. For the sixth consecutive year, growth of the industry has outperformed that of the global economy, showcasing its resilience in the face of global geo-political uncertainty and economic volatility.
India’s performance has also been on similar lines. Today, tourism sector in India contributes 7 per cent towards national GDP and generates 12.36 per cent employment (direct and indirect). Foreign Tourists Arrivals (FTAs) are growing at an incredible rate of 15 per cent, outsmarting the cumulative average growth rate of 7 per cent recorded the world over. The high growth rate of FTAs has taken the foreign exchange earning level to Rs. 1,75,000 crore (estimated) in 2017.
On the domestic tourism front also India has recorded a phenomenal growth during the last few years clocking a growth rate of more than 13 per cent. Domestic tourist visits are expected to touch the two billion mark by the end of 2018. Although the realisation of the critical role of the tourism sector in the nation’s economic development has come relatively late, the recognition of this fact in the Tourism Policy 2002 is now paying dividends. The redeeming feature is that the Draft Tourism Policy 2015, which is expected to come out any time soon, as the New Tourism Policy of India, has further laid substantial emphasis on the future role of our tourism sector:
• By positioning tourism as a priority on the national, political and economic agenda
• Developing and promoting tourism economically, socially, culturally and environmentally, in a responsible, sustainable and inclusive framework
Although the essentiality of Sustainable Tourism was highlighted for the first time in the Tourism Policy 2002, which considered sustainability as a guiding principle, the real thrust on developing tourism in India in a sustainable manner figured in the Draft Tourism Policy 2015. The declaration of 2017 as ‘International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development’ by the UN, endorses this point.
Sustainable tourism development for inclusive growth in India needs to be founded on the objective of ‘Tourism for All’
• By evolving a system for people’s participation in tourism development, promoting pro-poor tourism and laying focus on sustainable local action adapted to local needs and resources
• By spreading tourism widely to different unexplored regions and diversifying the range of tourism products
Thanks to the global efforts towards bringing the concept of Responsible Tourism (RT) to the centre stage and showcasing of the success of Kerala Model, RT in India is gradually taking deeper roots and expanding into many other regions of the country. India is now mobilising all stakeholders to work towards driving RT and making tourism a catalyst for positive change. Necessary policy changes and mid-course corrections are, however, required to maximise social, economic and environmental benefits to the local communities by conserving natural resources, protecting heritage, undertaking IEC methods and pushing sensitisation campaigns. The future policies need to lay greater emphasis on it and evolve a road map, for ensuring Responsible Tourism as a way of life and also define the role of all stakeholders towards Responsible Tourism.
To ensure integrated development of tourism, India’s futuristic Tourism Policy has to be broadly driven by the following ‘Three Key Pillars’ (3Es), under the umbrella of Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Tourism:
• Economic – How to benefit and contribute to the economic well being of the people and the country?
• Employment – How to leverage the potential of tourism in creating employment opportunities?
• Environment – How to minimise harm caused to the environment?
Tourism is a competitive sector and therefore, India has to compete globally to place itself as one of the most-preferred destination countries. The integrated development of tourism sector in India over the last four years has seen India rise from 65th rank to 40th rank (out of 136 countries) in the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) Report 2017, published by the World Economic Forum (WEF). The WEF, biennially benchmarks the Travel & Tourism competitiveness of world economies on a set of 14 pillars and policies (components) that enable development and competitiveness of the sector.
An in-depth analysis of India’s performance as per the 2017 edition of TTCI Report leads to the following observations:
• India has ranked high in the components Price Competitiveness; Cultural Resources and Business Travel; Natural Resources; Air Transport Infrastructure; International Openness and Ground & Port Infrastructure
• India has scored very low in the components ICT Readiness; Safety & Security; Prioritisation of Travel & Tourism; Environmental Sustainability; Tourist Service Infrastructure and Health & Hygiene
• India’s performance has been lower than average in the components Business Environment and Human Resources & Labour Market
The Futuristic Tourism Policy of India must therefore identify the components where India has not found itself competitive and formulate a roadmap and action plan to make a breakthrough in these pillars. Similarly, the components where India has a distinct edge over other countries need to be strengthened to augment and sustain India’s competitive advantage.
It would be worthwhile delving deeper on some of the weaker pillars, where India needs to induce fresh policy initiatives:
• Safety & Security of Tourists – To ensure hassle-free experience for tourists, a comprehensive National Strategy on Safety & Security of tourists, including ‘Tourism Police’ needs to be developed. Such a strategy will coordinate with existing policing mechanisms in different states. Special efforts and campaigns have to be undertaken to correct the perception of the people abroad about India.
• Tourism Infrastructure – India needs huge Investments in building world-class tourism infrastructure to fill the gap between supply and demand. While the Government spends its resources on core infrastructure and public tourism infrastructure, the future Tourism Policy of India should incorporate ways and means to bring investments, both from foreign and domestic investors into tourism infrastructure and fill the current and future gap between demand and supply of tourism products and services.
• Health & Hygiene – India ranked 104th out of 136 countries in this pillar. As health and hygiene affects travel and tourism sector the most, the industry should make the best of the ‘Swachh Bharat’ campaign.
INDIA’S USPs
• India’s competitive strength lies in its ancient civilization and the one-billion-strong population; in its four world’s greatest religions; beautiful natural and rural landscape; heritage of ancient past and modern structures; rich cultural diversity with many languages, cuisines, traditions, customs, festivals, music, dance, arts and crafts. India is also a global leader in spirituality, wellness and yoga.
• India has 7500 km of coastal belt and large number of islands – Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Water-based tourism is one of the potential strengths of India that can promote Cruise Tourism, development of islands as tourism spots on the lines of Maldives and Mauritius, Beach Tourism and Adventure Water Sports. With 73 per cent of the Himalayan ranges, the Paradise on Earth (Jammu & Kashmir) and Unexplored Paradise (North–East region), Eco, Adventure and Golf Tourism are the sunrise sub-sectors of tourism in India.
• The liberal e-Visa regime of the Government of India has opened gates for business and medical travellers who can now visit India with great ease through e-Business and e-Medical visas. MICE Tourism and Medical Tourism are therefore two strong pillars where India is destined to be a global leader. The TTCI Report 2017 has further added Price Competitiveness, International Openness and Air, Ground and Port Infrastructure to India’s competitive strength.
• The future Tourism Policy of India has to consolidate India’s aforesaid competitive strengths and promote these Unique Selling Propositions (USPs) where India currently outsmarts other countries in the world and where India has the potential to become a global leader in the near future.
