The Ministry of Tourism has been actively engaging with World Bank to establish long term financing arrangements to support various states in their tourism initiatives. Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, the Tourism Minister, said on Thursday that this financial partnership is crucial for enhancing touristic activities across the country.
The ministry also works with the Ministry of External Affairs in order to grant visas-on-arrival to “source markets” which are important for inbound tourism into India.
“I am in discussions with the World Bank about a long-term financing arrangement to support states. For Jammu and Kashmir, we have worked out a scheme with the World Bank, the Government of India, and the J&K state government to develop three new tourist destinations with a project worth INR 5,600 crorw,” Shekhawat said.
“Work has already begun on this initiative to market India as a destination for travelers around the world,” he said.
He was speaking at the 54th annual convention of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI).
Data from the Reserve Bank of India showed that 40 scheduled banks lent INR 80.570 billion to the tourism, hotel, and restaurant sector as of August 20,24. This is a 9 % increase from August 2023 but a 2 % decline from August 2012.
Currently, citizens from Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates are eligible for a Visa on Arrival. According to the Ministry of Tourism the number of foreign visitors to India between January and June 2024 will be 4,778,374, up from 4,380,239 in the same period of 2023. This is a slight decrease from the 5,296,025 that was recorded in 2019. This represents a growth rate of 9.1 percent compared to 2023, but a decline of 9.8 percent compared to 2018. Inbound tourism to India is dominated by Bangladesh, the USA and the UK. Canada, Australia, and Canada are also major contributors.
Hotelivate reported that in 2023 over 230 million international visitors will arrive in the Asia Pacific region, with India accounting only for 7.2 millions. Shekhawat said India’s major source markets remained the same over the last decade, despite the fact that the number of tourists from countries with significant non-resident Indians has increased.
The association stated that before the suspension of eVisas due to the Coronavirus Pandemic in March 2020, the facility was made available to nationals of 171 different countries who greatly benefited from it. The e-Visa facility is now available to nationals of 156 different countries. However, the UK, Canada and a few other countries are still left out. Their nationals make up the majority of foreign tourists.
The Minister also stressed the need to decongest popular tourism spots and develop new products. “I have worked closely with states in order to submit proposals for large-ticket projects. In addition to these efforts, he said, we should focus on developing new tourist destinations, especially in rural and under-explored regions, so that our tourism offerings can be more diverse.
“Yesterday marked the deadline for submissions. Projects worth more than INR 8000 crores have been proposed. All but West Bengal have submitted projects. Once these projects become operational, tourism will increase in number,” the minister said.
According to Pradeep Shetty of FHRAI, a robust regulatory environment is necessary to support this growth. This framework will benefit not just large cities and popular locations, but also unexplored areas and remote regions. It will create opportunities, especially for women, youth and marginalized groups, to ensure that the benefits of tourism are spread widely throughout the sector.
He also said that the sector was still unmapped and there were a lot of unorganized inventories. In response, the minister said that the government is creating a data database to identify a nation’s tourism potential.
“We’re talking to states about creating a system of data aggregation.”
“If we do that then India can be ranked among the top 10 destinations internationally.”
