Employment generation is one of the biggest challenges, which India faces these days. On the other hand, Tourism is one of the sun-rising sector with tremendous opportunities to create jobs in India. It contribute larger share in employment generation. It also creates income without damaging ecological balance. Tourism augments country’s foreign exchange reserve. It play sustainable role in country’s economic growth. Tourism industry play crucial role in India’s economic development. Rich cultural and natural heritage, historical and religious places attracts international tourist arrivals (ITAs) towards India. Tourism industry in any country flourishes on the competitive availability of infrastructure, accommodation, transportation, hospitality, governance, visa policy and other facilities which provided by government instead of rich tourism endowment of a country. However, Tourism sector in India is underutilized. India’s tourism sector is growing rapidly over the time period. India’s tourism economy is 4th largest in the world and it ranked at 40th position in The World Travel & Tourism Council WT& TC) report 2017. The WT & TC has calculated that tourism generated INR 14, 018.5 bn, recorded 9.6% of GDP in 2016. It generated 40,343,000 thousand jobs, and contributes 9.3% in total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an average annual rate of 7.9% from 2013 to 2023. This will give third rank among countries with the fastest growing tourism industries over the next decade. For that, the government policies and programs provide a framework to promote sector and facilitate growth. They set guideline and strategies to boost tourist arrivals as well as for other stakeholders engaged in industry. The government of India sets the target of 1% of international tourist arrivals (ITA). For this, government launched various facilities and schemes like- visa on arrival, mobile app for list of tour operators and classified hotels, e-management, SWADESH DARSHAN based on circuits, national mission on pilgrimage rejuvenation and augmentation drive, PRASAD scheme for beautification of pilgrimage sites etc. This paper would analyse the trends, opportunities, challenges and future prospects of tourism in India. It would study the impact of GDP on tourism and tourism contribution in GDP of India. It will also examine the impact of tourism on employment generation in India. We would also study the relationship between foreign tourist arrival (FTA) and foreign exchange earnings (FEE). The study is based on secondary data and study would be based on explorative, trends analysis, and SWOT analysis covering the time period of 1991 to 2017. The Data is collected from Ministry of Tourism, GoI, the WT & TC, and World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).
