05/11/2020
How India can take the lead in reviving tourism in South Asia
While the Covid-19 pandemic has affected all sectors of the economy, the travel and tourism (T&T) sector is among those expected to suffer the most prolonged impact. Owing to restrictions on free and confident movement of people, the tourism ecosystem, which employs 300 million people globally, has been disrupted. However, the pandemic provides an opportunity for India to take the lead in promoting regional tourism, an important metric of soft power.
In South Asia, tourism was one of the fastest-growing sectors in the last decade, with double-digit growth leading to a contribution of $234 billion or 6.6% of the region’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2019. However, according to the World Bank estimates, South Asia’s T&T sector has lost more than 10 million jobs and is further expected to incur losses of over $50 billion in GDP. This makes the countries most economically dependent on tourism, such as Bhutan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka, particularly vulnerable.
News courtesy - Hindustan Times