subject: Tourism In India [print this page] In India, tourism is one of the largest service industry and the same is reflected in the Gross Domestic Product of around 7% and it is also creating around 8% employment for the country. Tourists from the United States and United Kingdom attract the most number of foreign tourists to India each year although there are foreign tourists from other part of the world also and this number is exponentially rising. Kerala is the top city that receives the lion share of foreign tourists followed by Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, & Rajasthan. Needless to stay that domestic tourist is also contributing majorly to the tourism industry with Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Maharashtra are top on the list. It is believed that tourism in India will continue to grow rapidly over the coming years, at least until 2018. Indias rich culture, archeological and historical monuments are the major attraction. Nascent sectors like medical tourism, eco-tourism, and rural are also picking up in great numbers and in fact medical tourism is the fastest and largest growing sector currently in India. Best efforts are being made by the Ministry of Tourism to formulate tourism friendly policies and procedures for the growth and development of this sector and safety of the tourists. Ministry of Tourism is also promoting India through various channels and campaigns like Incredible India with promising results. Even though there was short to near medium term hindrances in terms of shortage of hotel rooms, tourism sector still growing at a healthy rate. World travel & tourism council predicts that India will be in the cruising mode for the next 6 to 7 years and is in sixth place in terms of price competitiveness compared to other countries and 39th place when it comes for the safety of tourists. Technology, as everybody is aware, is touching everybodys life in one way or the other and in each industry and in each services. There is a role for technology in tourism of India too, that is, one can sit at home and by way of virtual sightseeing can view the entire country. It is noteworthy to mention that onefiveninedotcom has enabled virtual sightseeing and through which site you can view the entire India by sitting in front of the personal computer and having internet connection, it is indeed such a fabulous thing, thanks to the founder of the site.
