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Indians are world leaders when it comes to spending on leisure tourism and travel and have beaten Mexico, Thailand, Spain, Turkey, US and China, among others, to emerge as global leaders according to the World Travel and Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Economic Impact 2019 report.

The WTTC Economic Impact, which represents the global private sector of travel and tourism, measured country-wise contribution of travel and tourism to GDP and found that while India spent 94.8% of its total GDP contribution to travel and tourism on leisure, countries like US and China were far behind at 71.3% and 81.4%, respectively. Mexico, Thailand, Spain and Brazil are the next biggest spenders on leisure after India.

In contrast, India spend just over 5% on work-related or business travel.

In 2018, travel and tourism contributed 9.2% of India’s GDP, with a total value of $247.3 billion.

In 2018, travel and tourism contributed 9.2% of India’s GDP, with a total value of $247.3 billion. The bulk of India’s leisure spending, however, was on domestic travel at 87%, while the remaining 13% was on international leisure travel.

The WTTC Economic Impact report for 2019 also says the Indian travel and tourism sector outpaced the global and regional growth rates in 2018. While the global sector averaged a growth rate of 3.9%, Asia grew by 6.4% and India by 6.7%. The travel industry also created 4.27 crore jobs for the Indian economy.

India, the WTTC report said, is home to the thirdlargest travel economy in Asia, behind only China and Japan, and is also the largest in South Asia. India’s largest inbound international markets were the US and Bangladesh, which accounted for 9% of all tourist arrivals in the country, followed by 7% from UK, and 2% from Canada and Sri Lanka.

At a time of falling employment levels in the country, tourism has also emerged as one of the biggest employment generators. The travel sector alone is responsible for 8.1% of employment in India, which translated to over 4 crore jobs in 2018.

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WTTC president and CEO Gloria Guevara said, “Over the last decade, the Indian travel and tourism sector has experienced tremendous growth with the sector now almost double the size it was in 2008 in terms of contribution to the GDP.

“The government’s ETourist Visa on Arrival (ETVoa) has had a very positive effect on increasing international tourism arrivals and could be made even more competitive with other destinations in the region in terms of pricing.”

Guevara also said India is among the world’s fastest growing aviation markets.