National Strategies Formulated for Rural, Ecotourism, and Wellness Tourism to Enhance India’s Tourism Sector

The Ministry of Tourism took the following initiatives to make Aatmanirbhar Bharat in Tourism sector by improving the domestic Tourism and Hospitality Industry:-

• Dekho Apna Desh initiative launched with the objective to encourage citizens to travel within the country.
• Ministry of Tourism has formulated National Strategies for Development of Rural Tourism, Promotion of Rural Homestays, Ecotourism, Adventure Tourism, Medical and Wellness Tourism, Sustainable Tourism and MICE industry.
• Revamped Swadesh Darshan Scheme as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 (SD2.0) with the objective to develop sustainable and responsible destinations following a destination centric approach. The Ministry has sanctioned 29 projects for an amount of Rs.644.00 Crore under SD2.0 Scheme.
• Formulated guidelines for ‘Challenge Based Destination Development’ as a sub scheme of Swadesh Darshan 2.0 Scheme to enhance tourist experience and to transform tourist destinations as sustainable & responsible destinations.
• Launched National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD) Scheme for the development of tourism infrastructure and tourist amenities at identified pilgrimage/ heritage destinations in the country.
• Launched the Incredible India Tourist Facilitator (IITF) Certification Programme – a Pan-India online learning program accessible from different digital devices. The programme aims at enhancing the overall experience of tourists by making available a pool of local, trained professionals at tourist sites across the country.
• Conducting Programmes under the ‘Capacity Building for Service Providers’ (CBSP) Scheme to train and upgrade manpower to provide better service standards.
• The Ministry approached Ministry of Civil Aviation for inclusion of several tourism routes for providing better air connectivity to important tourist places. 53 tourism routes were operationalized by Ministry of Civil Aviation under the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-UDAN).
• To ensure the quality of services and experience for different classes of both domestic and international tourists, Ministry of Tourism, under its voluntary scheme of classification and approval, classifies accommodation units, as well as Travel agents, Tour Operators, Tourist Transport Operators, Food & Beverage Units, Online Travel Aggregators and Convention Centers. Under this system, the hotels are given a rating, from One Star to Three Star, Four and Five Star with or without alcohol, Five Star Deluxe, Heritage (Basic), Heritage (Classic), Heritage (Grand), Legacy Vintage (Basic), Legacy Vintage (Classic), Legacy Vintage (Grand) and Apartment Hotels. The Ministry also has voluntary schemes for approval/registration in categories such as Timeshare Resorts, Operational Motels, Guest Houses, Bed & Breakfast/Homestay Establishments, Tented Accommodation, as well as Online Travel Aggregators, Stand-alone Air Catering Units, Convention Centres, Standalone Restaurants. The approval/classification/registration of these units received from the Ministry give them more credibility and their services are preferred by travellers, including international tourists.

 

The efforts by Government in the last decade have helped in improving the country’s GDP through the Tourism sector’s contribution in the pre-covid as well as post covid period. Details of the share of Tourism in the GDP of India is below:-

 

Share in GDP (in %) during 2015-16 to 2021-22
Year	Total Tourism Share in GDP (%)	Direct Share (%)	Indirect Share (%)
2015-16	5.09	2.65	2.44
2016-17	5.04	2.62	2.42
2017-18	5.03	2.61	2.42
2018-19	5.01	2.61	2.4
2019-20	5.18	2.69	2.49
2020-21 (Covid Year)	1.5	0.78	0.72
2021-22 (Covid year)	1.77	0.92	0.85
Source: Third Tourism Satellite Account, 2015-16 and National Account Statistics (NAS) 2023.

 

However, Jobs due to tourism have remained largely stable and are showing a positive trend. FTAs have reached 85% of the pre-pandemic level. Domestic tourist Visits have surpassed the pre-covid level.

Details of Direct + Indirect jobs due to tourism (in million) are below:

2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23
69.44	68.07	70.04	76.17
Source:  Third Tourism Satellite Account, 2015-16 and respective rounds of Periodic Labour Force Survey

 

Details of Foreign Tourist Arrivals to India (in Million) are below:

Source: Bureau of Immigration;   (P) – Provisional

 

Details of Domestic Tourist Visits (in million) are below:

2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 (P)
2321.98	610.22	677.63	1731.01	2509.63

 

Source: State/UT Tourism Departments;  (P) – Provisional