World Tourism Day

The Uneasy Balance Between Tourism Growth and Sustainability

In 2025, India has already clocked 56 lakh Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) by August, but outbound tourism — at 84.4 lakh travellers — far outpaces this figure. The country, aiming for a $32 trillion economy by 2047, highlighted “Tourism and Sustainable Transformation” on this year’s World Tourism Day. Yet, the sector’s hard numbers tell a story of imbalance: while tourism contributes ₹15.73 lakh crore to the GDP and 13.34% to employment, India continues to rank a middling 39th on the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index 2024. The gap between potential and performance remains disquietingly wide.

Schemes, Budgets, and the Vision of a 'Viksit Bharat'

India’s tourism sector has received multiple structural pushes in recent years. The Swadesh Darshan Scheme, dating back to 2014-15, typifies the targeted approach: ₹5,290.30 crore has been sanctioned to develop 76 thematic tourism circuits, almost all of which are physically complete. Similarly, the PRASHAD Scheme, launched the same year, focuses on rejuvenating pilgrimage centres to enhance accessibility, hygiene, and infrastructure.

More recently, in the 2025 Union Budget, the government announced the creation of 50 world-class tourist destinations in partnership with state governments, framed as a competitive ‘challenge mode’. The Ministry of Tourism also introduced the SASCI Scheme this July to globally position iconic heritage sites. E-visa reforms, visa-fee waivers, and MUDRA loans for homestays are additional steps aimed at simplifying tourist flows and stimulating employment. Aspirational goals abound. But the implementation is where visions meet resistance.

The Case for Tourism-Focused Expansion

Tourism is not just about sightseeing; it is woven into the fabric of India’s economic development, cultural diplomacy, and heritage preservation. Most strikingly, the industry’s ₹15.73 lakh crore contribution to GDP in 2023-24 underscores its role as the largest service sector in the economy. With over 84 million people directly or indirectly employed, this is a jobs machine at a time when India struggles to generate enough formal employment for its youth bulge.

India’s positioning as a cultural superpower gains heft through tourism. With 44 UNESCO World Heritage sites and countless pilgrimage centres, it attracts global visitors while leveraging soft power. Notably, the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ campaign has sparked a surge in domestic tourism — an impressive 303.59 crore visits so far in 2025 — strengthening interstate cultural ties and boosting local economies.

Then there’s foreign exchange. As of June 2025, the sector brought in ₹51,532 crore in earnings. Focused investments, such as turning destinations into sustainably managed global icons under SASCI, aim to amplify this inflow. Uttar Pradesh, consistently leading in domestic tourism, provides an instructive model with anchor attractions like the Taj Mahal. In 2023, the Taj alone touched 6.78 million visits in a single year. Imagine scaling such success nationwide.

The Case Against: Structural Gaps and Overlooked Trade-Offs

Despite its immense promise, India's tourism sector suffers from glaring inefficiencies. The outbound-to-inbound tourism imbalance — 84.4 lakh outbound travellers against 56 lakh FTAs — highlights a missed foreign exchange opportunity. This gap points to a lingering inadequacy in how India positions itself as a global destination. The rank of 39th on the WEF index exposes how far India lags behind peers like Spain or Thailand, which rank within the top 10 and top 20, respectively.

Infrastructure bottlenecks exacerbate the problem. Many tourist circuits lack last-mile connectivity or adequate on-site facilities, which heavily undercuts the visitor experience. Overcrowding at key monuments like the Taj Mahal also raises questions about tourism’s carrying capacity. Without better destination management, India risks undermining its iconic attractions.

A sharper critique targets environmental degradation. Unchecked tourism in ecologically vulnerable areas — for instance, hill stations and fragile coastlines — results in habitat damage, pollution, and severe resource strain. This contradicts the sustainability framing of World Tourism Day’s 2025 theme. A similar disconnect exists in the safety and hygiene narrative: recurring reports of tourist scams, poor sanitation facilities, and instances of harassment damage the country’s global image and deter high-value travellers.

What India Can Learn from Spain

Spain, ranked 2nd on the WEF index, offers lessons in marrying cultural richness with a tourism-first economy. With 70-80 million tourists annually, it generates $84 billion in economic value. Crucially, Spain has perfected sustainable destination management. Urban attractions like Barcelona enforce tourist caps to combat overcrowding, while the Balearic Islands levy sustainability taxes to fund resource conservation.

India could adopt similar measures, most notably a tourist levy at overcrowded landmarks like the Taj Mahal to fund preservation. Spain also thrives by simplifying visa procedures and offering experiential tourism, such as culinary trails and heritage biking circuits. India’s nascent SASCI scheme could benefit from mirroring these micro-level innovations across its circuits.

A Mixed Picture: Potential and Pitfalls

Tourism in India is at a crossroads. Its contribution to the GDP and employment is undeniable, and the outlay on schemes like Swadesh Darshan shows promise. Yet the sector is constrained by poor competitive positioning, infrastructure weaknesses, and environmental degradation. Significantly higher public-private coordination, sustainable funding, and a granular focus on tourist experiences are needed to unlock India’s latent potential.

The larger question lingers: Does India see tourism merely as a soft-power tool or as a structural pillar of its $32 trillion economic ambition? Recent reforms move in the right direction, but execution risks — from underfunding to unsustainable practices — could stymie progress. Much will depend on state-level adaptations and community participation, both of which remain inconsistent.

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