While the industry has been experiencing buoyant demand backed by robust domestic travel despite geopolitical conflicts, the largest opportunity for the country lies in attracting its fair share of foreign tourists, Puneet Chhatwal, chairman, The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), said in an interview. He said India must ramp up international marketing and promotions to realise its tourism potential.
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As per the industry body’s estimates, tourism has the potential to contribute $3 trillion per year to the economy by 2047, up from $250 billion in 2025. It can potentially generate more than $450 billion by forex earnings in 2047, a sharp rise from $31.69 billion in 2025.
“Employment generation is important for a young population,” said Chhatwal, also the managing director and CEO of Indian Hotels Company. “This sector creates 8-12 jobs in other sectors globally. Tourism has a huge multiplier effect. The gross economic added value of every rupee spent in the sector is estimated to equate to ₹3.2 to ₹3.5.” He said the government’s “sustained” infrastructure-led investments such as airport expansions in the key gateway cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi have aided growth of the tourism sector. In addition, improved road and rail networks with the opening of key expressways and highways are helping connect major cities to tourist hotspots and emerging destinations.
“In recent years, with India’s economic growth and its positioning among global economies, we have also seen a lot of international business delegations coming in,” he said. “However, the largest opportunity for India is attracting its fair share of international foreign tourists.” Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) fell 16.3% to 9.15 million in 2025, compared to 2019, and 8.1% over 2024, according to tourism ministry data. India received about 534,000 foreign tourists in April, a 31% drop from April 2019, and 14.3% from a year earlier.
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“Despite 3 million places of worship, 43 UNESCO sites, and over 7,500 kms of coastline, we get less than 10 million foreign tourist arrivals, while a city like Paris alone gets 25 million,” he said. “Considering the size and the opportunity, and excluding the Indian diaspora arrivals, we are getting very few international foreign tourists.”
Chhatwal also stressed on the need for developing 50 new fully integrated tourist ecosystems on an urgent basis. “India is a spiritual destination,” he said. “It is a healing destination and also a skiing and a beach destination. Over 75% of leisure tourist traffic is concentrated in 15-20 destinations.” FM Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the budget last year that the top 50 tourist sites in the country will be developed in partnership with states through a Mission Mode.