National Tourism Day is a glorious day in India’s history. Our country has a special place all over the world because of its beautiful tourist destinations. The terrain, language, and the way of living changes here every few kilometers. That’s why National Tourism Day is celebrated every year on 25th January in India to acknowledge this beautiful diversity.
The objective is to make people aware of the importance of tourism and its role in the Indian economy.
National Tourism Day Theme
This year, the theme of National Tourism Day is ‘Dekho Apna Desh’. Owing to the deadly coronavirus, tourism was deeply impacted by the lockdown that was put in the country to curb COVID-19’s rampant spread. This time, this day will be observed virtually. From January 21 to February 22, the Ministry of Tourism has been organizing seminars pertaining to the theme. With that, they want to showcase the diverse culture of our country.
Significance of National Tourism Day
National Tourism Day is celebrated to create awareness among the global community on the importance of tourism and its political, cultural, social, and financial value.
Tourism in India
The revenue target from tourism has been targeted at 100 billion dollars by the year 2023. It is more than France and Spain. In 2017, there were 1.4 crore foreign tourists in India, while the same figure was 76.8 lakh in 2014. In this respect, India registered an annual growth of 14 percent on the tourism front, much higher than the global average of 6.8 percent and the Asian average of 5.7 percent.
The statistics on tourism in India has been strengthened. According to the WEF report, “India has moved up six places to rank 34th on world travel and tourism competitiveness index, driven by the rich natural and cultural resources and strong price competitiveness.”
The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated ₹16.91 lakh crore (US$240 billion) or 9.2% of India’s GDP in 2018 and supported 42.673 million jobs, 8.1% of its total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 6.9% to ₹32.05 lakh crore (US$450 billion) by 2028 (9.9% of GDP)
