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Indian tourism sector to contribute 10% to India's GDP by 2030: Shekhawat
India's tourism sector should contribute 10 per cent to the country's economy by 2030 in line with global benchmarks, said Minister for Tourism and Culture Gajendra Singh Shekhawat at the CII Annual Business Summit on Friday.
'India will align with global standards, with 10 per cent of GDP coming from tourism. As our economy grows, parallelly our aspirational class will grow, and those people that have emerged from below the poverty line will commonly go for spiritual tourism,' the minister said.
'We're working on this with a vision to grow various aspects, including spiritual and religious tourism, and the government has created policies to enable overall tourist experience,' he said, noting that destinations like Ujjain's Mahakal Corridor have attracted over 10 lakh visitors in a month.
India's domestic tourists have the potential to become a larger contributor to the country's tourism sector — a shift from earlier trends where there was greater reliance on international or foreign tourists.
With a transitional shift post-Covid towards a rise in both domestic and international travel, the minister noted that the Centre has asked states to come up with strategies to promote experiential tourism at its monument sites, as travellers are increasingly looking for new experiences. 'We've asked the states to come up with new proposals,' he said.
He also urged the industry to work together with the government to build an end-to-end roadmap for travellers coming to India and for domestic tourists, to promote ease of doing travel in India — which he said would segue into ease of doing business in the country.
The minister asked industry and corporates to conduct their events and meetings within India to encourage the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) pillar of tourism. He added that the government would do its part towards building infrastructure and facilities, alongside the policy push already provided for developing the next 50 tourism destinations.
'The infrastructure status is going to give a major boost to private investments coming into the sector,' he added.
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