Forex Earnings From Tourism Touch Rs 134,543 Crore In 2022, A Significant Jump From 2021 Earnings

Recovering from the impact of Covid, India has earned Rs 134,543 crore as foreign exchange earnings from tourism sector in 2022, a notable increase from Rs 65,070 crore in 2021.

However, the total forex earnings during January-December 2022 is still behind from 2019 earnings of Rs 211,661 crore.  

Tourism sector has emerged as one of the fastest growing economic sectors and has a significant impact on trade, job creation, investment, infrastructure development and social inclusion.

Tourism sector is showing a sign of faster recovery, Tourism secretary Arvind Singh said and added it will grow further in the days to come.

Encashing the G20 meet, the Ministry is organising a series of events across the country. The second Tourism Working Group (TWG) meeting of G20 is going to be held at Siliguri/Darjeeling in West Bengal in the first week of April, 2023.

India has a diverse portfolio of niche tourism products which includes cruises, adventure, medical, wellness, sports such as golf and polo, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions), ecotourism, film, rural and spiritual tourism .

Tourism secretary added that the five priorities of TWG — Green tourism, digitalization, skills, tourism MSMEs, destination management — were introduced in the first TWG meeting and were endorsed by all the G20 members, invitee countries and international organizations.

He said that during the second TWG meeting, all the G20 Members, invitee countries and international organizations will be discussing deeper and broader aspects of the five priorities of the group.

India is hosting a side event on ‘Adventure Tourism as a vehicle for achieving Sustainable Development Goals’.

Seven North-eastern states will give presentations on adventure tourism in this event.

Currently, 100 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the tourism and hospitality sector is allowed under automatic route.

In the last eight years (from 2014-2022), India has received FDI inflows worth USD 9.2 billion in the hotel and tourism sector, whereas India had received FDI inflows worth USD 7.2 billion from 2000-2014.

States are also actively working on policies and providing incentives and concessions to attract private investments for homestays, MICE infrastructure, wellness tourism, eco-tourism etc.