For the Indian tourism sector, the year 2017 ended on a good note with the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) crossing the 10-million mark, which pushed the country’s tourism earnings to over 27 billion dollars.
The tourism sector is aiming to ramp up tourist arrivals this year with new and niche projects. Union tourism minister KJ Alphons said in Kochi, “I think our sector is doing very well. But am I happy with the numbers? I want these numbers to increase dramatically because India is an incredible place and we have everything for everybody. So we are trying to bring in lot more people.”
The minister also said that the tourism sector is contributing 6.88 per cent to India’s GDP and had a 12 per cent share of jobs in the total employment figures in 2017.
Ministry sources attributed the improvement of tourism to the government’s renewed focus on developing infrastructure besides promoting theme-based and religious circuits under the Swadesh Darshan scheme.
The government is ‘Looking East’ in the tourism sector to promote India’s north-eastern states. As part of the government’s efforts to introduce new concepts to engage the larger world, India’s golf courses have found mention in the ministry’s ‘Incredible India’ campaign besides the heritage monuments.
Officials said that while they plan to invite foreign tourists to witness India’s manicured golf courses, the effort is also to push niche products — women’s Polo — by popularizing for tourists visiting India.
