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Vinod Zutshi, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Nagesh Singh, Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, inaugurated the three-day International Conference on Rurality, Ruralism and Rural Tourism – Challenges and Coping Strategies at Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi. Organised by the Department of Tourism & Hospitality Management, Jamia Millia Islamia, the ongoing conference is being attended by delegates from eminent tourism institutes from India and 25 other countries. “Rural tourism is at a nascent stage but there is a lot of scope and potential to promote rural destinations in India. It is an untapped market and we need to identify more and more destinations across the country,” said Zutshi during the conference sponsored by Ministry of Tourism. MP Bezbaruah, Former Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; S K Misra, Chairman, Indian Trust for Rural Heritage and Development and Ex-Secretary, Ministry of Tourism; Sujit Banerjee, Secretary General ,WTTC India attended the event while Manish Sisodia, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Tourism, Government of Delhi is set to preside over the valedictory function. This conference will help bring various stakeholders on a single platform to discuss future tourism trends, ideas, implications and methodologies, theoretical and practical approaches for rural tourism development. The objective is to discuss the contemporary research in the area of rural tourism. The event will showcase rural life, art, culture, and heritage at rural locations and in villages, which have core competence in art and craft. Handloom, textiles, and also an asset base in the natural environment.

A recent report by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) suggests that total contribution of tourism to global GDP will grow to USD 12,450.1 billion (11.7% of GDP) by 2028. Further, according to the report, total employment contribution of tourism sector accounts for 9.9 per cent of global employment in 2017, supporting twice as many jobs as financial sector. Travel & Tourism investmentA recent report by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) suggests that total contribution of tourism to global GDP will grow to USD 12,450.1 billion (11.7% of GDP) by 2028. Further, according to the report, total employment contribution of tourism sector accounts for 9.9 per cent of global employment in 2017, supporting twice as many jobs as financial sector. Travel & Tourism investment in 2017 was $882.4 billion, or 4.5 per cent of total investment. It is projected to rise by 4.3 per cent per annum over the next ten years to $1,408.3 billion in 2028 (5.1% of total). Tourism contribution to global GDP (10.4 per cent in 2017) is higher than many other sectors.

The world’s top ten cities in terms of job creation through tourism are Jakarta, Beijing, Mexico City, Shanghai, Bangkok, Chongqing, Delhi, Mumbai, Ho Chi Minh City, Shenzhen, according to World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Annual Cities Report released recently at the WTTC Asia Leaders Forum in Macau. The world’s top ten cities in terms of tourism market size are: Shanghai (US$35bn), Beijing ($32.5bn), Paris ($28bn), Orlando ($24.8bn), New York ($24.8bn), Tokyo ($21.7bn), Bangkok ($21.3bn), Mexico City ($19.7bn), Las Vegas ($19.5bn) and Shenzhen ($19bn). The report covers 72 of the world’s most important tourism cities, which together generated over $625bn contribution to GDP last year (24.3% of global travel and tourism GDP). Gloria Guevara, President & CEO, WTTC commented, “With 54 per cent of the world’s population living in urban areas, cities have become global economic hubs, driving growth and innovation. They attract huge quantities of people who travel to experience their culture, do business and live. This growth has also resulted in a rise in city tourism – a trend which is forecast to maintain momentum. Our report highlights the crucial importance of cities to travel and tourism worldwide, and likewise how vital this sector is to the economy. Over half a billion trips are made to cities annually representing 45 per cent of global international travel.” Of particular note, Chinese cities have matured rapidly over the past decade, and are forecast to continue dominating the growth charts between 2017 and 2027. Shanghai, for example, went from being the eighth largest city in terms of travel and tourism GDP in 2007 to become the largest in 2017 – a position it is expected to maintain until 2027.

WTTC’s Power and Performance ranking has placed India at the third spot when it comes to domestic spending, after China and USA respectively. The report revealed that the absolute growth of domestic spending was 2.6 times higher than that of visitor exports over the seven years to 2017. At the global level, domestic spending has grown on average by 4 per cent per year between 2011 and 2017. Over half of the absolute growth in domestic Travel & Tourism spending over the past seven years has come from China alone. In well-established international tourism markets such as Spain, Turkey and UAE, the share of domestic spending has fallen over the years from 2011-17. Iraq and Rwanda took the top two spots in performance rankings for domestic tourism spending across the seven years. Domestic spending is the money spent by residents of a country for both business and leisure trips that take place in that country. Nearly three-quarters of all Travel & Tourism spending (72.3 per cent) is from domestic tourists. While money from domestic tourism is not new money to a country, its use in terms of informing residents of countries’ natural and cultural attributes and engendering a source of pride is essential for social harmony. Domestic tourism is also important in spreading visitor spending to shoulder and off-season months and in dispersing visitors to less internationally-promoted regions and attractions.

India has been ranked at the third place in WTTC’s new Power and Performance report, which looks at the performance of 185 countries over the last seven-year period (2011-2017) – after the financial crisis ended and when most countries commenced their journeys to recovery. At the first position in this list of Top 30 is China followed by USA. The countries have been ranked using WTTC’s annual economic impact data across four main indicators— total contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), visitor exports (international tourism spend), domestic spending and capital investment. Countries were ranked in terms of absolute size of growth and speed of growth to create two separate types of rankings – power and performance rankings. China took the first place, driven by the strongest absolute growth out of all countries in three indicators – GDP growth, domestic spending and investment growth. The USA (with the largest total Travel & Tourism GDP) and India comfortably took the second and third place. Mexico, a well-established Travel & Tourism economy, came fourth, driven by a strong performance across all four indicators.

India is ranked as the world’s third most powerful country for travel and tourism, according to World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) new T&T Power and Performance Report. China, the USA and India take the top three spots in the new Power Ranking which ranks the performance of 185 countries combining growth over the past seven years in tourism’s contribution to GDP, international visitor spend, domestic tourism spend and capital investment. Gloria Guevara, President and CEO, WTTC commented, “World Tourism Day is the global celebration of a sector that contributes 10.4 per cent of the world’s GDP and generates 313 million jobs. WTTC’s new report outlines power and performance rankings which showcase countries that have been most successful in growing their tourism sectors across the board.”

In 2018, visitor exports are expected to grow by 8.8 per cent, and India is expected to attract 18,655,000 international tourist arrivals, according to a report by WTTC. Visitor exports are a key component of the direct contribution of Travel and Tourism. In 2017, India generated Rs 1,777.1 billion in visitor exports. By 2028, international tourist arrivals are forecast to total 30,469,000, generating expenditure of Rs 3,316.4 bn, an increase of 5.5 per annum, the report said.

According to a report by WTTC,  domestic travel spending is expected to grow by 7.3 per cent in 2018 to Rs 12,999.5 billion, and rise by 7.4 per cent per annum to Rs 26,427.8 billion in 2028. The domestic travel spending has generated 87.2 per cent of direct Travel and Tourism GDP in 2017 compared with 12.8 per cent for visitor exports (ie foreign visitor spending or international tourism receipts), the report said. Visitor exports are expected to grow by 8.8 per cent in 2018 to Rs 1,934.1 billion, and rise by 5.5 per cent per annum to Rs 3,316.4 billion in 2028.

The GDP in Delhi in terms of travel and tourism is set to experience double-digit growth over each of the next 10 years (10.8%), according to a recent report by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). Its share of overall city GDP will remain relatively unchanged from the current 3.6 per cent as other industry sectors also gain prominence. The sector’s share of Delhi’s employment is also set to remain steady at 8.3 per cent over the years to 2026. The Capital generated US$3.2 billion from travel and tourism in 2016, just over one third coming from international visitors. Delhi has much less source market dominance than in other Asian Pacific cities, however, with the largest market, the US, contributing just 11% of inbound traffic.

Domestic expenditure reached Rs 12.11 trillion (US$ 186.03 billion) in 2017 and is expected to reach Rs 26.43 trillion (US$ 405.84 billion), implying a compounded annual growth rate of 7.29 per cent between 2012-28, according to World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC’s) Economic Impact 2018 report. Domestic expenditure on tourism is expected to rise due to the growing income of households. A number of niche offerings such as medical tourism and ecotourism are expected to create more demand.