Introduction

The Indian tourism and hospitality industry has emerged as one of the key drivers of growth among the services sector in India. The third-largest sub-segment of the services sector comprising trade, repair services, hotels and restaurants contributed nearly US $187.9 billion or 12.5 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2014-15, while growing the fastest at 11.7 per cent Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) over the period 2011-12 to 2014-15. Tourism in India has significant potential considering the rich cultural and historical heritage, variety in ecology, terrains and places of natural beauty spread across the country. Tourism is also a potentially large employment generator besides being a significant source of foreign exchange for the country.

The industry is expected to generate 13.45 million jobs! across sub-segments such as Restaurants (10.49 million jobs), Hotels (2.3 million jobs) and Travel Agents/Tour Operators (0.66 million). The Ministry of Tourism plans to help the industry meet the increasing demand of skilled and trained manpower by providing hospitality education to students as well as certifying and upgrading skills of existing service providers.

India has moved up 13 positions to 52nd rank from 65th in Tourism & Travel competitive index@.

Market Size

• The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) has grown steadily in the last three years reaching around 7.103 million during January–November 2015 (4.5 per cent growth).
• The number of FTAs in November 2015 was 815,000, registering an increase of 6.5 per cent over November 2014.
• Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism during January-November 2015 were Rs 1,12,958 crore (US $16.94 billion), registering a growth of 1 per cent over same period last year.
• The number of tourists arriving on e-Tourist Visa during the month of October 2015 reached a total of 56,477 registering a growth of 1987.9 per cent or ~21 times as compared to 2,705 tourists in October 2014.
• Online hotel bookings in India are expected to double by 2016 due to the increasing penetration of the internet and smart phones#.

Investments

The tourism and hospitality sector is among the top 15 sectors in India to attract the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). During the period April 2000-September 2015, the hotel and tourism sector attracted around US $8.48 billion of FDI, according to the data released by Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP).

With the rise in the number of global tourists and realising India’s potential, many companies have invested in the tourism and hospitality sector. Some of the recent investments in this sector are as follows:

• Fairfax-owned Thomas Cook has acquired Swiss tour operator Kuoni Group's business in India and Hong Kong for about Rs 535 crore (US $80.3 million) in order to scale up inbound tour business
• US-based Vantage Hospitality Group has signed a franchise agreement with India-based Miraya Hotel Management to establish its mid-market brands in the country.
• Thai firm Onyx Hospitality and Kingsbridge India hotel asset management firm have set up a joint venture (JV) to open seven hotels in the country by 2018 for which the JV will raise US $100 million.
• ITC is planning to invest about Rs 9,000 crore (US $1.35 billion) in the next three to four years to expand its hotel portfolio to 150 hotels. ITC will launch five other hotels - in Mahabalipuram, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad and Colombo - by 2018.
• Goldman Sachs, New-York based multinational investment banking fund, has invested Rs 255 crore (US $38.3 million) in Vatika Hotels.
• Japanese conglomerate SoftBank will lead the Rs 630 crore (US $94.5 million) funding round in Gurgaon based OYO Rooms.
• MakeMyTrip will acquire the travel planning website Mygola and its assets for an undisclosed sum, and will together look to focus on innovating the online travel segment.

Government Initiatives

The Indian government has realised the country’s potential in the tourism industry and has taken several steps to make India a global tourism hub. Some of the major initiatives taken by the Government of India to give a boost to the tourism and hospitality sector of India are as follows:

• The Union Cabinet has approved the signing of Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Tourism of India and the Ministry of Trade Industry and Tourism of Colombia in order to boost cooperation in the field of tourism between the two countries.
• The Central Government has given its approval for signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Cambodia for cooperation in the field of tourism with a view to promote bilateral tourism between the two countries.
• Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned Rs 844.96 crore (US $142 million) to States and Union Territories for developing tourism destinations and circuits during FY 2014-15, which includes projects relating to Product/Infrastructure Development for Destinations and Circuits (PIDDC), Human Resource Development (HRD), Fairs and Festivals & Rural Tourism.
• The Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) action plans for eight missions cities including Varanasi, Mathura, Ajmer, Dwaraka, Badami, Vellankini, Warangal and Amaravati have been approved by HRIDAY National Empowered Committee for a total cost of Rs 431 crore (US $64.7 million).
• Government of India plans to cover 150 countries under e-visa scheme by the end of the year besides opening an airport in the NCR region in order to ease the pressure on Delhi airport.
• Under ‘Project Mausam’ the Government of India has proposed to establish cross cultural linkages and to revive historic maritime cultural and economic ties with 39 Indian Ocean countries.

Road Ahead

India’s travel and tourism industry has huge growth potential. The medical tourism market in India is projected to reach US $3.9 in size this year having grown at a CAGR of 27 per cent over the last three years, according to a joint report by FICCI and KPMG. Also, inflow of medical tourists is expected to cross 320 million by 2015 compared with 85 million in 2012. The tourism industry is also looking forward to the expansion of E-visa scheme which is expected to double the tourist inflow to India. Rating agency ICRA ltd estimates the revenue growth of Indian hotel industry strengthening to 9-11 per cent in 2015-16. India is projected to be the fastest growing nation in the wellness tourism sector in the next five years, clocking over 20 per cent gains annually through 2017, according to a study conducted by SRI International.

Exchange Rate Used: INR 1 = US $0.015 as on December 17, 2015

References: Media Reports, Ministry of Tourism, Press Releases, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Press Information Bureau (PIB)

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