NEW DELHI: India is expected to establish itself as the third largest travel and tourism economy by 2028 in terms of direct and total GDP, a 2018 economic impact report by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has said.The WTTC report, released globally on Thursday, also said India will add nearly 10 million jobs in the tourism sector by 2028 and that the total number of jobs dependent directly or indirectly on the travel and tourism industry will increase from 42.9 million in 2018 to 52.3 million in 2028. Calling India the seventh largest travel and tourism economy in the world, Gloria Guevara, president and chief executive of WTTC, said India should be working on improving tourist infrastructure.In an exclusive email interview to TOI, Guevara said, “The biggest single area of improvement for travel and tourism in India is infrastructure. Tourism is a competitive business in a global context and India’s near neighbours to the east and west have built world-class tourism infrastructure in the form of airports, sea ports, high-speed rail and roads. WTTC has long welcomed the opportunity of the Regional Connectivity Scheme to open up 350 unserved and underserved airports and airstrips.”Guevara welcomed the government’s ambition to make the country a global cruise destination with the creation of the new cruise port in Mumbai. “There are some extremely proactive steps that have been introduced by the government to increase international visitors. We recognise the introduction of e-visa for 163 countries and the launch of Incredible India 2.0 campaign with major improvement in the marketing and PR strategy,” she said.The WTTC, however, red flagged the sector’s concerns over the three-level implementation of GST in the hospitality sector and said the government must bring in tax reforms to make India’s tourism sector more competitive with other countries in the region.Read this story in Bengali