TOURISM IN INDIA

 The travel industry in India is significant for the nation's economy and is developing quickly. The World Travel and Tourism Council determined that travel industry produced ₹16.91 lakh crore (US$240 billion) or 9.2% of India's GDP in 2018 and upheld 42.673 million positions, 8.1% of its absolute employment. The area is anticipated to develop at a yearly pace of 6.9% to ₹32.05 lakh crore (US$450 billion) by 2028 (9.9% of GDP).In October 2015, India's clinical the travel industry area was assessed to be worth US$3 billion, and it is projected to develop to US$7–8 billion by 2020. In 2014, 184,298 unfamiliar patients made a trip to India to look for clinical treatment.

Over 10.93 million unfamiliar sightseers showed up in India in 2019 contrasted with 10.56 million of every 2018, addressing a development of 3.5%. Domestic traveler visits to all states and association domains numbered 1,036.35 million out of 2012, an expansion of 16.5% from 2011. In 2014, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were the most mainstream states for tourists. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra and Jaipur were the five most visited urban communities of India by unfamiliar vacationers during the year 2015. Around the world, Delhi is positioned 28th by the quantity of unfamiliar traveler appearances, while Mumbai is positioned 30th, Chennai 43rd, Agra 45th, Jaipur 52nd and Kolkata 90th.

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2019 positioned India 34th out of 140 nations generally. India improved its positioning by 6 puts over the 2017 report which was the best improvement among the top 25% of nations positioned. The report positions the value seriousness of India's travel industry area thirteenth out of 140 nations. It makes reference to that India has very great air transport foundation (positioned 33rd), especially given the nation's phase of improvement, and sensible ground and port framework (positioned 28th). The nation likewise scores high on characteristic assets (positioned fourteenth), and social assets and business travel (positioned 8th). However, some different parts of its travel industry foundation remain fairly underdeveloped. The country has numerous lodgings per capita by worldwide correlation and low ATM penetration. The World Tourism Organization revealed that India's receipts from the travel industry during 2012 positioned sixteenth on the planet, and seventh among Asian and Pacific countries.

The Ministry of Tourism plans public approaches for the turn of events and advancement of the travel industry. All the while, the Ministry counsels and teams up with different partners in the area including different focal services/organizations, state governments, association domains and private area delegates. Deliberate endeavors are being made to advance specialty the travel industry items like provincial, journey, clinical and eco-tourism. The Ministry of Tourism keeps up the Incredible India crusade zeroed in on advancing the travel industry in India. 

Visa strategy of India 

Principle article: Visa strategy of India 

Visa strategy of India 

India 

Free development 

Without visa 

e-Visa 

Visa on appearance 

Visa required 

Government freedom needed ahead of time 

India requires residents of most nations to hold a legitimate identification and apply for a movement visa at their nearby Indian government office or department, before their visit. Voyagers can apply straightforwardly via mail or face to face, or through their nearby travel administrations organization. India has as of late actualized an online strategy for residents of 168 nations to apply for an e-Tourist Visa. 

Nationals of Bhutan, Maldives and Nepal don't need a movement visa to enter India. Residents of Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, DPR Korea, Jamaica, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, South Africa and Uruguay are not needed to pay an expense while acquiring an Indian visa. 

A Protected Area Permit (PAP) is needed to enter the conditions of Nagaland and Sikkim and a few pieces of the conditions of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal. A Restricted Area Permit (RAP) is needed to enter the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of Sikkim. Uncommon grants are expected to visit the Lakshadweep islands.

e-Tourist Visa 

As a measure to help tourism, the Indian Government actualized another visa strategy in November 2014, permitting vacationers and business guests to get a "visa on appearance" at 28 global air terminals, by obtaining an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) online before appearance, without visiting an Indian department or visa center. In April 2015, the "visa on appearance" plot was renamed "e-Tourist Visa" (or "e-TV") to keep away from confusion.

The e-Tourist Visa office requires a vacationer to apply online on a protected Government of India site, at any rate four to thirty days before the date of movement. Whenever endorsed, the guest should print and convey the affirmed visa with their movement archives. The visa permits holders of an ETA to enter and remain anyplace in India for a time of ninety days with the exception of residents of US, UK, Japan and Canada. Residents of these nations can remain for as long as 180 days at a time. An ETA can be gotten twice in a solitary schedule year.

India previously presented its "visa on appearance" office on 27 November 2014, to residents of the accompanying nations: Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vanuatu and Vietnam.[14] On 30 July 2015, the office was stretched out to China, Macau and Hong Kong. On 15 August 2015, the office was additionally reached out to residents of Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Belgium, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, East Timor, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Malta, Malaysia, Mongolia, Monaco, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela. The office ought to in the end be extended to around 180 nations. 

Because of the new visa strategy, 56,477 sightseers showed up on an e-Tourist Visa during October 2015, contrasted and 2,705 traveler appearances during October 2014 (not long before the office was presented), addressing a 1987.9% increment. During the time frame from January to October 2015, an aggregate of 258,182 vacationers showed up on an e-Tourist Visa, a 1073.8% increment on the 21,995 traveler appearances during a similar period in 2014 (preceding the e-Tourist Visa was available).

Statistics

Foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings

Foreign tourist arrivals in India (1997–2019) Year Arrivals (millions) % change 1997 2.37 3.8 1998 2.36 −0.7 1999 2.48 5.2 2000 2.65 6.7 2001 2.54 −4.2 2002 2.38 −6.0 2003 2.73 14.3 2004 3.46 26.8 2005 3.92 13.3 2006 4.45 13.5 2007 5.08 14.3 2008 5.28 4.0 2009 5.17 −2.2 2010 5.78 11.8 2011 6.31 9.2 2012 6.58 4.3 2013 6.97 5.9 2014 7.68 10.2 2015 8.03 4.5 2016 8.80 9.7 2017 10.04 14.0 2018 10.56 5.2 2019 10.93 3.5

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism in India (1997–2019) Year Earnings (US$ million) % change Earnings (₹ crores) % change 1997 2,889 2.0 10,511 4.6 1998 2,948 2.0 12,150 15.6 1999 3,009 2.1 12,951 6.6 2000 3,460 15 15,626 20.7 2001 3,198 −7.6 15,083 −3.5 2002 3,103 −3.0 15,064 −0.1 2003 4,463 43.8 20,729 37.6 2004 6,170 38.2 27,944 34.8 2005 7,493 21.4 33,123 18.5 2006 8,634 15.2 39,025 17.8 2007 10,729 24.3 44,362 13.7 2008 11,832 10.3 51,294 15.6 2009 11,136 −5.9 53,754 4.8 2010 14,193 27.5 66,172 23.1 2011 16,564 16.7 83,036 25.5 2012 17,737 7.1 95,607 15.1 2013 18,445 4.0 107,563 12.5 2014 20,236 9.7 120,367 11.9 2015 21,071 4.1 134,844 12 2016 22,923 9.1 154,146 14.3 2017 27,310 19.1 177,874 15.4 2018 28,586 4.7 194,881 9.6 2019 30,058 5.1 211,661 8.6

Source countries for foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2019

Rank	Country	Number	Share in %
1	Bangladesh	2,577,727	23.58
2	United States	1,512,032	13.83
3	United Kingdom	1,000,292	9.15
4	Australia	367,241	3.36
5	Canada	351,859	3.22
6	China (mainland)	339,442	3.11
7	Malaysia	334,579	3.06
8	Sri Lanka	330,861	3.03
9	Germany	264,973	2.42
10	Russia	251,319	2.3
Total of top 10		7,330,325	67.06
Other countries		3,600,030	32.94
Grand total		10,930,355	100

Foreign and domestic tourist visits by State

Share of top 10 states/UTs of India in number of foreign tourist visits in 2017 Rank State/Union Territory Number Share in % 1 Maharashtra 5,078,514 18.9 2 Tamil Nadu 4,860,455 18.1 3 Uttar Pradesh 3,104,062 13.3 4 Delhi 2,379,169 10.2 5 Rajasthan 1,489,500 6.4 6 West Bengal 1,475,311 6.3 7 Kerala 977,479 4.2 8 Bihar 923,737 4.0 9 Karnataka 636,502 2.7 10 Goa 541,480 2.3 Total of top 10 states 20,620,863 88.4 Others 2,705,300 11.6 Total 23,326,163 100

Share of top 10 states/UTs of India in number of domestic tourist visits in 2017

Rank	State/Union Territory	Number	Share in %
1	Tamil Nadu	345,061,140	20.9
2	Uttar Pradesh	233,977,619	14.2
3	Karnataka	179,980,191	10.9
4	Andhra Pradesh	165,433,898	10.0
5	Maharashtra	119,191,539	7.2
6	Telangana	85,266,596	5.2
7	Madhya Pradesh	78,038,522	4.7
8	West Bengal	79,687,645	4.8
9	Gujarat	48,343,121	2.9
10	Rajasthan	45,916,573	2.8
Total of top 10 states		1,380,896,844	83.6
Others		271,588,513	16.4
Total		1,652,485,357	100

Absolute of top 10 states 1,380,896,844 83.6 

Others 271,588,513 16.4 

Total 1,652,485,357 100 

World Heritage destinations 

Principle articles: List of World Heritage locales in India and Tourism in India by state 

There are 38 World Heritage destinations in India that are perceived by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as of August 2019.These are spots of significance of social or characteristic legacy as portrayed in the UNESCO World Heritage site's.