Economic Survey 2023: Tourism rebound post Covid raised industry’s profitability

The Economic Survey 2023 has stated that India’s tourism sector is showing signs of revival following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions and the waning of the pandemic. It also noted foreign tourist arrivals in India in FY23 have been growing month-on-month with the resumption of scheduled international flights. However, the arrivals are still below the pre-pandemic level.

The survey also points out that the profitability ratios of tourism industry is heading towards a strong rebound in the June 2022 quarter. Travel returned to normal levels in March 2022 given the higher vaccination rate and overall effective management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hotel occupancy rate in November 2022 was around 68% to 70%, reaching the average pre-pandemic level of 2019-20.

The survey further highlighted the fact that medical tourism is on the rise due to the government’s initiatives like Ayush visa for medical tourists, the launch of the National Strategy for Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Traveller Campaign, the introduction of the Swadeshi Darshan 2.0 scheme and Heal in India.