According to a report by the Indian Industry body FICCI and services firm KPMG, the travel and tourism sectors together generated 25.9 million jobs in 2017, contributing $75.8 billion to the country’s GDP in 2017.
According to the report the travel and tourism sector contributed to 25.9 million jobs and has become one amongst the largest employment generators in the country.
The report also stated that travel and tourism with hospitality were among the key sectors in the Indian economy and had registered a steady growth rate of 15.6 percent in Foreign Tourist Arrivals in 2017.
The travel industry is heading for a revolution with Mobile applications, social media, Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and virtual/augmented reality (VR/AR), which are likely to shape the future of the travel industry, the report said
The report predicted that online travel booking sales were likely to go up at a compound annual growth rate of almost 15 percent from 2017 to 2021.
It also said that India had the potential to be the sixth largest business travel market in the world by the end of 2019.
The travel and tourism industry is seeing an upsurge due to the growing disposable incomes and the rise of millennials as primary wage earners
As travel and tourism companies are using technology and the rising smartphone and internet penetration, India is moving towards becoming a digitally enabled and tech savvy tourist destination said the report.
The report added that India was projected to have accounted for 3.7 per cent of the global digital travel sales in 2017, making it the third largest market by value in the Asia Pacific region.
India has great potential in the travel and tourism domain and there is a lot of untapped potential in the industry. With technology-enabled growth the travel and tourism industry will certainly see a surge in number, profits and growth alike.
