ABSTRACT:
INDIA is a multi-destination country with a variety of tourist attractions and facilities. India’s rich religious and cultural past has created distinctive architectural styles, temple towns and famous monuments. With Himalayas as back drop, India’s mountain hideaways offer some of the best places in the world to literally chill out and rejuvenate the body and soul…. The stunning beaches that line India’s vast coast line; offers unique experience. In year 2005, Conde Nast listed India as the 10th chosen destination in the world. Surprisingly in the year 2006 India has moved to the fourth position. India received an estimated 3.5 million foreign tourists and 366 million domestic tourist sin the year 2005, a rise of almost 30 percent over the next five years. It is the third largest foreign exchange earner after gems, jewelry and readymade garments. TOURISM create more jobs than any other sector for every rupee invested. For every Rs.10lakh of investment in manufacturing, there is employment generation for 12.6 people; in tourism it I four times higher at 47.5, even higher than in agriculture, which is 44.7. In India direct employment from tourism contributes 4.59 per cent of the total employment while indirect employment bumps that figure up to 8.27 per cent or around 40 million. The forecast by the World Travel and Tourism Council pegs industry growth in India at 9.7 per cent, which translates in to the creation of nearly seven million jobs over the next 10 years.