India’s domestic travel market grew by $83 billion between 2008-17

The domestic contributions to travel and tourism reached 87 per cent in India, according to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) annual economic impact data. Ranking fourth in domestic visitor spending, it is worth noting the rapid development of the domestic travel and tourism market in India, which grew by US$83 billion and rose from the eighth to the fourth largest domestic market between 2008 and 2017. Unsurprisingly, the largest developed countries dominate the top spots in terms of absolute size of domestic spending.
Domestic travel is the main driving force behind travel and tourism in major economies. Strong domestic tourism in most of these countries is driven by a growing or sizeable middle-class population, an increase in spending power among domestic consumers, the sheer size of the countries, governments’ initiatives in promoting new locations, and strong or improving transportation infrastructure and economic links between different internal regions. For instance, the Indian government plans to build 100 new airports with a budget of US$60bn over the next 10 to 15 years to accommodate and stimulate the demand for domestic travel.