India is missing out on billions in tourism revenue. Amitabh Kant explains why

India's decision to slash its overseas tourism marketing budget has hurt foreign tourist arrivals and cost the economy billions in potential revenue, former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said on Monday, arguing that tourism offers one of the fastest ways to earn foreign exchange and create jobs at scale.

Kant said the urgency has increased amid global economic uncertainty triggered by the conflict in West Asia.

"Tourism is one of the fastest ways to earn forex and create jobs at scale," he wrote in an opinion piece in The Economic Times. "Unfortunately, over the last four years, India's overseas tourism marketing budget has been cut to near-zero. Result: In 2024, India recorded 9.9 mn international tourist arrivals, still roughly 10% below its pre-pandemic peak. While every major competitor has stormed back past 2019 levels, this country's still looking for an exit."

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Kant argued that attracting foreign tourists delivers a disproportionately large economic payoff. According to him, a foreign tourist contributes about $3,000 to India's GDP per visit, compared with $75 from a domestic traveller.

He estimated that an investment of $200 million in overseas marketing could attract one million additional foreign tourists, generating $3.6 billion in economic value, $400 million in GST collections and 2.83 lakh jobs.

"That is 18x return on every marketing dollar deployed. A mere 55,000 additional tourists—0.5% of India's current visitor base—would fully recover the marketing outlay. These are not projections. They are what the original 'Incredible !ndia' campaign delivered," he wrote.

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Kant pointed to competing destinations that have continued investing heavily in tourism promotion. Malaysia spent $70 million on tourism marketing in FY24 and recorded a 31% jump in international arrivals to 27.3 million, while tourism revenues rose 37.5% to $22 billion.

Thailand spent $120 million and saw arrivals rise 26% to 35.5 million visitors, with revenues increasing 34% to $48 billion. Brazil spent $90 million and grew arrivals by 22%, while Saudi Arabia welcomed 30 million tourists and generated $41 billion in tourism revenue.

The former NITI Aayog chief said the global tourism industry is increasingly being shaped by digital platforms, where India has failed to maintain a meaningful presence.

"The battlefield has shifted to YouTube pre-rolls, social media algorithms, programmatic display, and influencer networks - channels where spend is measurable, targeting is precise, and ROI is trackable in near real-time," he wrote.

Kant said India's social media engagement remains weak despite having established digital platforms.

"Incredible India's social media presence—1.9 mn FB followers and 785,000 on Instagram—generates embarrassingly low engagement relative to peers. Saudi Arabia, with a similar follower count, generated 27 mn content views in a single month, compared with India's 3,88,000."

"The platform exists. India has been largely absent from global tourism marketing for almost a decade. This is costing the sector heavily," he added.

Beyond marketing, Kant called for sweeping deregulation of the tourism sector, saying hotels, restaurants, homestays, transport operators and adventure providers continue to face overlapping licences and inspections that hurt competitiveness.

He advocated unified licences, risk-based compliance systems, digitised processes and automatic renewals to make India more tourism-friendly.

Kant also urged policymakers to treat creators and influencers as strategic assets for tourism promotion.

"Official campaigns generate awareness; creators generate trust. A credible traveller's video can often achieve what a brochure cannot," he said.

Concluding, Kant argued that India's tourism potential is no longer a problem. The challenge, he said, is execution. "India's tourism proposition has never been stronger or more distinctive. The challenge is not discovering its potential but unleashing it."