India’s tourism industry is witnessing a strong revival post-pandemic, recording 9.23 million foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in 2023, a significant jump from 6.44 million in 2022. Although the numbers are yet to surpass the pre-COVID peak of 10.93 million in 2019, this growth marks a positive trend. Tourism also remains a key economic contributor, generating INR 2.3 lakh crore in Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) last year. However, industry leaders like Madan Prasad Bezbaruah, General Secretary of the Hotel Association of India (HAI), believe a fresh push, especially a revamped Incredible India campaign, is essential to reach the government’s ambitious target of 100 million tourists by 2027.

Domestic tourism has emerged as a major growth driver. After plummeting during COVID-19, domestic tourist visits soared from 677 million in 2021 to a staggering 2,500 million in 2023, surpassing pre-COVID levels of 1,600 million. Bezbaruah attributes this surge to improved air connectivity through schemes like UDAN and rising disposable incomes. However, he warns that India must create more destinations, improve accommodation, and ensure better infrastructure to retain domestic tourists and attract foreign visitors.

While outbound tourism continues to grow — with 30 million Indians traveling abroad annually — Bezbaruah advises against restricting it. Instead, he advocates for enhancing India’s inbound tourism appeal. He emphasized the need for destination-level development, better connectivity, and quality accommodations. Alarmingly, 50-60% of tourist traffic remains confined to just five or six states, highlighting the need for a broader tourism development strategy.

Bezbaruah also called for government support in infrastructure creation and policy reforms. He suggested granting infrastructure status to the hospitality sector, extending benefits like tax concessions and lower electricity tariffs to the industry. Additionally, he demanded GST rationalisation, proposing an update of the outdated INR 7,500 tariff limit for 12% GST slabs to at least INR 8,000, considering inflation and market realities.

To combat negative global perceptions following incidents like the Pahalgam terror attack, Bezbaruah stressed the need for a proactive Incredible India campaign that focuses on both domestic awareness and international confidence-building. He believes tourism must be recognized as a key pillar of India’s economic development, calling for coordinated efforts between the government and the industry to unlock the sector’s true potential by 2047.