Fuelled by India becoming one of the world’s top travel destinations, the travel and tourism ecosystem in India has registered remarkable growth post the pandemic, according to Sachin Alug, CEO, NLB Services.
Serving as a crucial source of foreign exchange, travel, and tourism contributed INR 15.9 trillion (USD 191.25 billion) to India’s economy in 2022 and was estimated at INR 16.5 trillion for 2023. “The growing synergy of the sector has led to steadfast employment generation across the country both in Tier I and Tier II locations”, he said.
In the pandemic year 2020, the tourism sector accounted for 39 million jobs, constituting 8 percent of the nation’s total workforce. Post the pandemic recovery tenure, this sector was one of the sectors that saw the quickest recovery. Incidentally, talent demand in tourism recorded a 44 percent spike in August 2023, and 1.6 million additional jobs were expected to be added within CY 2023. With the continued growth momentum, the travel and tourism sector is all set to add 58.2 million jobs by 2033 throughout the country, he added
From a location perspective, the top five states attracting domestic tourists so far include Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra. Top cities driving the increase in hiring include Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, and Kochi. In tier 2 cities, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, and Chandigarh. In the coming 9 years, new jobs are also expected across emerging cities/locations like Gujarat, Lakshadweep, and West Bengal.
Prominent job profiles that will continue to be in demand experiencing y-o-y surges include sales (18 percent surge), business development (17 percent surge), chefs (15 percent surge), travel consultants (15 percent surge), tour operators (15 percent surge), travel agents (15 percent surge), hoteliers (15 percent surge), guides (20 percent surge), wildlife experts (12 percent surge), and transportation providers (15 percent surge), etc.
Looking at the experience level, as of March 2024, 50 percent of online job postings in the travel and tourism sector were for freshers or entry-level positions (0-3 years of experience). Intermediate-level roles (4-6 years of experience) and top management positions (15+ years of experience) each represented a 30 percent and 20 percent share of the total demand, respectively.
The travel and tourism sector is also undergoing massive transformation, with many new subsets like destination wedding travel, religious tourism, international tourism, adventure sports tourism, ecotourism, cultural tourism, and rural tourism emerging in the new decade. Another interesting emergence is that of sustainable tourism which has observed substantial global adoption, with a market value reaching USD 180 billion.
Companies are also adopting the gig model to address talent shortages and meet the growing demand from tourists. Since January 2023, there has been a 14 percent increase in gig roles within the travel and tourism sector, encompassing positions such as translators, photographers, and tour guides and this is further expected to increase by 18-20 percent in the next 2 years, Alug said.