Boost Tourism Through Disruption

Table of Contents

Boost Tourism Through Disruption- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 3: Indian Economy- Issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment; Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.

The Government of India recently announced financial support for more than 11,000 registered tourist guides/travel and tourism stakeholders.
- It also said once international travel resumes, the first five lakh tourists will be issued visas free of charge.
Initiatives before pandemic: such as providing e-visas under various categories for people from particular countries, Global Media Campaigns, the Heritage Trail and the Paryatan Parv celebration.

Revenue generation potential: As per the estimates of the erstwhile Planning Commission, an investment of ₹1 million generates 78 jobs in the tourism sector.
- In the manufacturing sector, it results in just 18 jobs and in the agriculture sector, 45.
The tourism sector, unlike many other sectors, can grow with smaller capital investments and that too without any industrial gestation period.
The tourism Sector has multiplier effects on income generation as it is employment-intensive with less capital investment.

Low International Tourist Arrival: Even though India improved its competitiveness in travel and tourism, from 65th position in 2013 to the 34th position in 2019, as per the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report of 2019.
- International arrivals have remained comparatively low, at around 9 to 10 million.
Fragmented Travel and Tourism Industry in India: hindering the ability of the sector to achieve its potential.

Need for disruptive innovation strategy: It has the potential to create employment opportunities and increase revenue through private sector growth.
Promote Innovative Startups: through support from the government for ideation and access to finance.
Train Tourism Workforce in India: so that workers can develop the skills to perform jobs in the travel and tourism sector.
Need to highlight the significance of public-private partnership to improve infrastructure and tackle the problem of end connectivity.
Embrace digital revolution in Tourism Sector: to promote public-private initiatives, medium and small and sized enterprises’ growth.

The government and regulators need to collaborate and design innovative mechanisms to address the challenges of these new disruptive technologies, for smooth growth of the tourism sector.