Now, hospitality sector is also happening industry in India. MBA graduates are being inducted in this industry too. Following general awareness article will help you to understand this industry and may be useful in WAT/Essay/GD and PI also.
Read: Hospitality Industry in India
Hospitality industry gets its customers for two reasons – first is business travel and the second one is leisure travel – the real tourism. Being fastest sector, it has contributed overwhelmingly Indian economy thus giving impetus to employment and foreign exchange with annual growth rate of 14%
As per data available, total market size of tourism and hospitality industry in India stood at US$ 117.7 billion and is anticipated to touch US$ 418.9 billion by 2022 and this boosts this sector to have inborn potential to grow further in future too.
The tourism policy of Government of India aims at speedy implementation of tourism projects, development of integrated tourism circuits, special capacity building in the hospitality sector and new marketing strategies.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report 2013, India ranks 11th in the Asia pacific region and 65th globally out of 140 economies ranked on travel and tourism Competitiveness Index. It’s definitely not a great show by India considering its potential.
If there is one area other than agriculture, where India has not realized its full potential, it is indeed tourism. One wonders, how come India lacks behind, when countries like Singapore despite having no natural and historical sites, have been very successful in tourism? The answer lies not in tourism sector, but in its complementary area which is hospitality sector.
Foreign Tourist Arrivals and Foreign Exchange Earnings During the years 2000-2012 ( Available )
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Year | Foreign Tourist Arrivals (in nos.) | Percentage Change Over Previous Year | Foreign Exchange Earnings in Crore | Percentage Change Over Previous Year | Foreign Exchange Earnings (Million US$) | Percentage Change Over Previous Year |
2000 | 26,49,378 | 6.7 | 15,626, | 20.6 | 3,460 | 15.0 |
2001 | 25,37,282 | -4.2 | 15,083 | -3.5 | 3,198 | (-)7.6 |
2002 | 23,84,364 | -6.0 | 15,064 | -0.1 | 3,103 | 3.0 |
2003 | 27,26,214 | 14.3 | 20,729, | 37.6 | 4,463 | 43.8 |
2004 | 34,57,477 | 26.8 | 27,944 | 34.8 | 6,170 | 38.2 |
2005 | 39,18,610 | 13.3 | 33,123, | 18.5 | 7,493 | 21.4 |
2006 | 44,47,167 | 13.5 | 39,025 | 17.8 | 8,634 | 15.2 |
2007 | 50,81,504 | 14.3 | 44,360 | 13.7 | 10,729 | 24.3 |
2008 | 52,82,603 | 4.0 | 51,294 | 15.6 | 11,832 | 10.3 |
2009 | 51,67,699 | -2.2 | 53,700* | 4.7 | 11,136* | (-)5.9 |
2010 | 57,75,692 | 11.8 | 64,889# | 20.8 | 14,193# | 27.5 |
2011 | 63,09,222 | 9.2 | 77,591# | 19.6 | 16,564# | 16.7 |
2012 | 66,48,318 | 5.4 | 94,487# | 21.8 | 17,737# | 7.1 |
# Advance Estimates *Revised Estimates |
Source: Ministry of Tourism, Annual Report 2012-13
Generally, experts believe that Hospitality sector, as is the case with industries that depend on discretionary spending; its fortunes are intrinsically knit with the economic growth. But the argument is disproven when we see South East Asian tourism industry doing very well despite global slowdown. The secret of its success is that they have a very robust hospitality industry supported by the government.
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Singapore developed hospitality industry much before artificial tourist sites. It was done to aid the business travel as Singapore was becoming a financial hub. When hospitality Industry achieved maturity, it was supplemented by artificial tourist sites like Dolphin park, sea tunnel etc. It reignited the hospitality industry as people started traveling to Singapore not only for business purpose but also for leisure and entertainment.
Europe also used to attract a lot of tourists. But its tourism is declining steadily. One big reason is the introduction of costlier currency Euro replacing cheaper ones in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. This decline has resulted in tourists diverting to south-east Asian countries. India failed to capitalize.
India is a land of multiple cultures, cuisines, customs, castes, creeds, costumes and contexts (7 C’s). India has not been able to replace Europe as a preferred tourist destination despite these 7C’s. South-East Asian countries has occupied that void created by Europe after a costlier common currency Euro was introduced making travel costlier in countries like France, Portugal, Spain and Italy among others. India grossly missed out this opportunity as it failed to create a robust hospitality industry. India needs to do much more than ever before.
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