There is a reason to rejoice for Indians according to a report by a global council. The recently released report suggests that by the year 2028, Indian Economy will thrive along with creating employment opportunities for would be youth in the future due to the Tourism Sector.
India is set to witness the fourth highest growth in the sector of tourism in the world between the year 2018 and 2028. The forecast was done by the World Travel and Tourism Council. The council consists a group of CEOs in the travel and tourism sector working around the world.
The statistics pertaining to the growth according to the Council goes such: Contribution of tourism to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the country will rise from 3.7 percent in 2017 to 3.9 percent in the year 2028. According to it, the sector will directly contribute at least Rs 5,943.3 billion in 2017, while it is expected to contribute Rs 12,677.9 billion to the economy in the year 2028.
The Council report also predicts that the Tourism Sector will create more job opportunities in the year 2028 compared to the present situation. In the year 2017, the sector directly supported 5 percent of the total employment. The present percentage is going to rise to about 5.3 percent by the year 2028. Apart from that a similar increase is also predicted in total contribution to employments which also consists of jobs that are indirectly generated by the tourism sector. The total employment was 8 percent due to tourism sector in the year 2017 and this figure is expected to rise to 8.4 percent in the year 2028.
Indirect contribution of tourism to GDP means the investments spending (for other sectors like construction of hotels, purchase of new aircraft), government collective spending and also the purchase of goods and services by a number of hotels, travel companies, etc.,
The report covers tourism at both domestic and international level.
But after the glad news comes the bad news with some worrying aspects to it. Although tourism’s contribution to employment in India is the considered second highest in the world (after China), in terms of contribution to GDP, it has the rank eight globally. The disparity is even starker when we check the contribution in percentage terms. While India is ranked 58th in the world in terms of percentage of contribution to employment, it ranks 91st in terms of percentage of contribution to GDP. Neighbouring Sri Lanka is only one place ahead of India in terms of employment but is 33 places ahead in terms of contribution to national GDP.
But these seems to be a change in the situation. According to the 2017 annual report of the tourism ministry, the total contribution of tourism to GDP increased marginally from 6.77 percentage in the year 2009-10 to 6.88 percentage in the year 2012-13. The total contribution of tourism to employment showed a more substantial increase, rising from 10.17 percent in the year 2009-10 to 12.36 percent in 2012-13.
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