New Delhi (India), February 10: By 2028, India's tourism and travel industry will grow from $178 billion in 2021 to $512 billion, registering a 34% rise in CAGR terms and underlining India's position as one of the most inviting places to visit in the world. Remarkably, it is going to get even better. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has predicted that India will likely rank among countries with the fastest-growing tourism industries over the next decade.
While such a boom is expected to help India generate massive revenue and shine a light on the country's trajectory toward becoming an influential global player, the challenges it comes with require more attention.
Without understanding the insights on the density of tourists in a given area, activities travellers indulge in, cluster tourist routes, their behavioural attributes and a variety of digital footprints they publicly make available on the internet, it's challenging to make decisions for future growth. An in-depth, data-driven understanding is also valuable to urban planners, traffic engineers, and tourism authorities for better planning and execution.
Big data plays a crucial role in making sense of tourism in the country. While India has adopted a smart integrated data analytics platform using various digital infrastructures, it needs to evolve continuously and align with changing technology. Big data not only aggregate data provided by various tourism stakeholders, visitors and social networks, but it also has the capacity to intelligently analyze the data to identify patterns and anomalies, which help in data-driven policy decisions and implementations.
One of the reasons behind India’s rapid technological growth is the increasing participation of the private sector.
Retd. Major Vijay, president of ACSG Corp., a critical infrastructure protection company, says big data analytics can single-handedly transform India's tourism ecosystem. "The dynamic and real-time nature of big data analytics platform helps in running a successful tourist life cycle management, which in turn can potentially enhance the experience of a tourist. A concerted effort by stakeholders, like tourist industry professionals, data scientists, technology experts and policymakers, is aiding in India's rise as a favoured tourist destination." ACSG Corp. has developed various data analytics and automation frameworks that are easy to use and can be applied to critical emerging sectors such as Tourism.
Such solutions are now becoming indispensable as India is ambitiously trying to boost the Tourism sector. Indian Ministry of Tourism has smartly categorized tourism into different sectors, making it more attractive and feasible for travellers to indulge in their respective interests. India's vast coastline and islands provide ample opportunities for Beach tourism. Adventure tourism is for those who seek an adrenaline rush, mountains, snow and plateaus. India has a rich cultural heritage and an element of mysticism, giving rise to cultural tourism. Tourists from all over the world have been thronging India to avail cost-effective but superior-quality healthcare. Eco-tourism is also emerging as a key driver, entailing sustainable preservation of a naturally endowed area or region. Spiritual & yoga tourism and wildlife are some of the other attractions.
Because of its immense potential, tourism boards and companies are reaping great benefits, including pinpointing marketing campaigns, offering packages tailored to visitors' likely interests, and deciding which countries to focus on winning customers in.
These insights are invaluable in the decision-making process and improve how the tourism industry operates. Informed decisions based on analytics and number-driven data are made efficiently. They can identify targeted groups of potential customers at every stage in the process of planning trips. They can also increase efficiency and the quality of services, along with the ability to predict which new products might work well in their market.
What we can expect from the future is that cities and tourism players will increasingly use big data to their advantage, revolutionizing what cities offer visitors and residents alike. With initiatives around the country, intelligent travel is the way of the future for tourism in India.