India is emerging as a major tourist destination. The percentage of foreign tourist arrivals in India went up by 8.9 per cent in 2011 over the previous year as compared to 4.4 per cent worldwide. The West Asia region in the same year registered growth of 17 per cent which shows the potential of the region. Talking to AIR on the sidelines of the Arabian travel mart in Dubai, the Union Minister of State for Tourism, Sultan Ahmad said, efforts are on to improve the facilities and infrastructure to give a boost to the tourism sector in the country.
The number of foreign tourists arriving in India in 2011 was 6.7 million and the Government has now set a target of 10 million foreign tourists arrival over the next three years. This requires infrastructure support and investment for which several measures have been undertaken. The Union Minister of State for Tourism, Sultan Ahmad said 100 percent foreign direct investment has been allowed in the tourism and hotel industry. Niche areas like luxury, wellness or medical tourism, wildlife have been identified in addition to nature, heritage and culture tourism. Air connectivity and the availability of accomodation as per the needs has improved. However still there is a gap between demand and supply which needs to be addressed. Last year, the tourism sector alone accounted for foreign exchange worth $16.6 billion which is nearly 17 percent increase over 2010. Hence not only as a major tourist destination, but also as an important source of revenue, there is a need to upgrade the infrastructure, and create world class facilities to woo the foreign tourists in India.