India will add around 10 million jobs in the Travel & Tourism sector by 2028 according to a major new report by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).

WTTC forecasts that the total number of jobs which are dependent in some form on Travel & Tourism will increase from 42.9 million in 2018 to 52.3 million in 2028.

India is currently the seventh largest Travel & Tourism economy in the world. Overall, the total contribution of the sector to the economy was INR15.2 trillion (US$234 billion) in 2017, or 9.4% of the economy once its direct, indirect and induced benefits are taken in to account. This is forecast to more than double to INR32 trillion (US$492 billion) by 2028.

Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC, said “Travel & Tourism creates jobs, drives economic growth and helps build better societies. This is particularly clear in India which is forecast to be one of the fastest-growing tourism economies in the world over the next decade adding 10 million jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars to the economy by 2028.

“There are some extremely proactive steps which have been introduced by the Government to increase the number of international visitors and to position itself as a destination of choice among travellers worldwide. Particularly, we recognise the introduction of e-Visa for 163 countries and the launch of Incredible India 2.0 Campaign with major improvement in the marketing and PR strategy.

“Looking to the future, India can strategically lead travel facilitation within the SAARC region by introducing a standard technological solution, modern technology and biometrics. This will enhance the travel and tourism economies in the region.

“While the country-wide change to GST is a welcome move, the Indian Government could consider looking again at the level of GST in the hospitality sector to make it more competitive with other countries in the region.

“The Indian aviation market is expanding with rapid advancement in connectivity within India. Indian airlines have booked 900 plus new aircrafts to add capacity and expand operations over next couple of years. However, airport capacity remains an issue, so we would recommend greater adoption of secondary airports across cities with multimodal connectivity between the existing and secondary ones for better passenger facilitation.

“We would also urge the public and private sectors to work together to prepare crisis management plans so the country is fully prepared with proper systems and processes in place, that can be deployed, should there be a crisis.