India has improved its travel and tourism industry exponentially if the World Economic Forum (WEF) report on Travel and Tourism Competitiveness 2017 is to be believed. It jumped to the 40th position globally, from its previous rank of 52.
According to the report, the Asia-Pacific have economies that have flourished recently and "five out of the 15 most improved countries in the index are Japan (4th), Korea (19th), India (40th), Vietnam (67th) and Bhutan (78th)."
India is, however, ranked below China, which is in the 15th position. The top 10 countries are Spain, France, Germany, Japan, UK, US, Australia, Italy, Canada and Switzerland.
"India continues to enrich its cultural resources, protecting more cultural sites and intangible expressions through UNESCO World Heritage lists, and via a greater digital presence," WEF said in its Global Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2017.
According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) research, between 2016 and 2026, India will top the 10 fastest growing destinations for leisure travel spending. It will be followed by Angola, Uganda, Brunei, Thailand, China, Myanmar, Oman, Mozambique and Vietnam.
India's improved rank can be attributed to its open policies for tourism such as visa on arrival, e-visas, and improvement in ground transport infrastructure, the report said. The tourist footfall in India has increased in the last 15 years and reached the 8 million mark in 2015, according to the WEF.
"While further improvements are needed across these dimensions, India is taking small but important steps in the right direction," WEF said.
According to the tourism ministry of India, the growth in foreign tourist arrivals is 4.5 percent annually. Arrivals by air are 84.5 percent, by land are 14.8 percent and by sea are 0.7 percent, according to the 2015 tourism statistics.
