Tourism creates 38.6 million jobs

With the growing recognition of tourism as a source of employment and income generator in the country, improved understanding of what tourism is, its role in the economy and its relationship to other parts of the economy, is important. The Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is a new framework recently adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission that provides an important platform for better understanding of the role of tourism in the economy.

The department of tourism had, with this objective in mind, commissioned a study for development of the first TSA for India through National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER). The major findings of the study are:

• Direct contribution of tourism to the GDP for the year 2002-03 is 2.78 per cent and when indirect effects are considered, the share of tourism to GDP goes up to 5.83 per cent.
  
• Total direct employment in the tourism sector for the year 2002-03 in the country is 21.54 million jobs and when indirect jobs are also added, the employment figure comes to 38.6 million.
  
• The share of tourism in total number of jobs in India comes to 8.27 per cent.
  
• For every 100 jobs created directly in the tourism sector in India, 80 indirect jobs are created.
  
• Comparing the direct contribution of tourism to GDP of major tourist receiving countries in the world India's figure of 2.8 per cent compares fairly well with developed nations like Canada (2.4 per cent), USA (2.2 per cent) and Japan (2.2 per cent). However, it is less when compared to countries like Spain (11.2 per cent), Austrailia (4.5 per cent), Switzerland (3.4 per cent) and Sweden (3.2 per cent).
  
• The direct contribution of tourism in total employment in India is 4.6 per cent. It is more than what has been estimated for countries like New Zealand (4.1 per cent), USA (3.5 per cent), Canada (3.5 per cent) and Japan (2.9 per cent). However, it is lower compared to Australia's 5.4 per cent and Switzerland's 5.2 per cent.

• Contribution to GDP - 5.90 per cent
  
• Tourism sector's share in employment - 8.78 per cent
  
• Additional jobs created in tourism sector in 2003-04 - 3.2 million