Zubin Saxena, SVP and Regional Head, South Asia, Hilton, said, “From the visa-on-arrival process to the check-in at the hotel, every touchpoint needs to feel connected. The experience of India must flow effortlessly from one step to another. And that can happen only when the public and private sectors work in harmony.” He further added that public-private partnership will define India’s journey to becoming a trillion-dollar experience economy by 2047.

Akanksha Garg, Founder & CEO, Waxpol Hotels & Resorts, speaking recently at the TravTalkThinkTank in New Delhi, emphasised the role of social media. “Instagrammable matters! And like it or not, TikTok moves markets in countries where Instagram is not even used. If we want the young, we must show up where they live.”

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Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO, IHCL, who has closely tracked the surge in branded hotels, sees domestic demand far outpacing supply. He pointed out, “Ten years ago, India had just 1,00,000 branded hotel rooms. Today, we are at 2,00,000 rooms but to put that into perspective, that is still less than Dubai and Singapore combined, and even less than one state in the US. That is the size of the opportunity.” It is this gap that fuels IHCL’s Accelerate 2030 vision. Chhatwal predicts the next phase of growth will come twice as fast. “What took India ten years to double — from 1,00,000 to 2,00,000 — will take half the time to get to 3,00,000. The runway for growth is massive, and we are just getting started.”

According to the HVS-ANAROCK Northeast India report, midscale hotels dominate Northeast India’s branded supply at 41%, followed by upscale (25%) and upper upscale (17%), while economy (9%) and luxury (8%) remain modest. The region’s branded hotel pipeline aims to add over 3,000 keys by 2030. Assam leads with nearly 2,000 keys, followed by Arunachal Pradesh 660, Sikkim 250+, and Tripura 180. Rising investments indicate growing demand for mid-to-high-end hospitality in key tourism hubs.  

IATO is integrating AI into tourism skill development to keep the industry future-ready. Ravi Gosain, President, IATO, said, “We think it’s a moving forward thing for the tourism business. We are rolling out our skill training programmes, and AI training is one of them. A full-day, classroom-style AI programme will travel to cities like Mumbai, with 40–50 participants per batch.”

India’s aviation sector has grown rapidly, becoming the world’s third-largest domestic market with airports rising from 74 in 2014 to 163 in 2025, as per the government’s Aviation Vision 2047 and IATA data. Domestic traffic grows 10–12% annually, with passengers projected to hit 1.1 billion by 2040. The fleet will expand to 2,359 aircraft, supporting 25 million jobs and positioning India as Asia’s key aviation hub.

Somalia topped the list of fastest-growing source markets for India in 2024, recording a 144% rise in FTAs over 2019, followed by Cambodia (81%) and Kazakhstan (72%), as per the India Tourism Data Compendium 2025. Other high-growth markets included Vietnam, Bhutan, and Uganda, reflecting expanding tourism ties beyond traditional Western and Asian markets.

TourFox launches its brand-new Swiss Package Builder — a revolutionary platform that is the result of nearly one year of dedicated development, during which the team handpicked a top-tier IT team to engineer a system with lightning-fast response times — under 10 seconds — a process that normally takes 2 hours. Toovey Abraham, CEO, TourFox, says, “Our experienced in-house product team has been the driving force behind every feature, ensuring the platform is not just fast, but smart, intuitive, and built for real travel needs.” “For this, we have collaborated with 75+ tourism partners across Switzerland to deliver rich, authentic, and seamless Swiss travel experiences available at www.tourfox.com. With this, agents can build customised Swiss holiday packages in just 10 seconds. It offers live, dynamic pricing with day-by-day itinerary flexibility and is the world’s first to connect directly with SBB and other rail APIs.”

India earned US$ 35 billion from international tourism in 2024, with visitors staying an average of 18.12 days, reflecting stronger travel engagement, as per the India Tourism Data Compendium 2025. The country welcomed 20.57 million international arrivals, including 9.95 million foreign tourists. Top source markets were the USA, Bangladesh, and the UK.