India’s tourism potential remains underused as poor infrastructure, weak governance and inconsistent visitor experiences persist.
Last week, stepping off a plane in Santorini as a first-time visitor to Greece, I felt something rare: genuine welcome. The island was clean, child-friendly, carefully managed, and infused with a quiet understanding that tourists are not cash cows but the foundation of local livelihoods. Warmth and basic hospitality weren’t performance. They were policy. The islands thrive because they treat visitors as guests whose good experience sustains the economy. India claims the same philosophy in the ancient phrase “Athithi Devo Bhava”—the guest is God. Yet the lived reality for many travellers, (even for those visiting the Taj Mahal), is often exhaustion, irritation and utter disappointment. Overcrowding, aggressive touts, overflowing drains near world heritage sites, inadequate toilets, chaotic transport and a general sense that the visitor is an opportunity to be extracted from rather than nurtured. These wouldn’t be isolated complaints and should be seen as systemic issues needing desperate mitigation. This should give us a sense into why a country of staggering historical depth, natural beauty and cultural richness still punches far below its weight as a global tourism destination.
The stark numbers behind the failure
Foreign tourist arrivals remain stuck below the pre pandemic peak of 10.93 million in 2019. They reached 9.95 million in 2024 and slipped further in 2025, weighed down in part by a sharp drop in Bangladeshi visitors. India accounts for barely 1.4–1.5% of global international tourist arrivals. In the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024, the country ranks 39th overall. The interpretation of the ranking points towards strong on natural and cultural resources, weak on tourist service infrastructure, openness, and enabling conditions. Foreign exchange earnings hover around $35 billion, respectable but modest for a nation of India’s scale. Top source markets remain concentrated – the United States, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada. Meanwhile, smaller countries such as Greece routinely welcome 35–38 million international visitors and derive a far higher share of GDP from tourism. Thailand and others in Southeast Asia consistently outperform India on arrivals despite fewer UNESCO sites. The gap is not in assets but in our methods of delivery. Even iconic sites suffer from the surrounding environment. Sewage problems, persistent hawkers, scams, and basic hygiene failures around the Taj Mahal have become recurring embarrassments. Hotels and tourism businesses face labyrinthine approvals that can stretch 36–48 months. Local municipal bodies, which control cleanliness, waste, and street level regulation, often operate with weak accountability. Corruption and indifference compound the friction. The result is an experience that too frequently leaves visitors relieved to leave rather than eager to return or recommend.
The opportunity hiding in plain sight
India possesses the raw material to combine elements of Singapore’s efficiency, Santorini’s managed beauty, Thailand’s accessibility, Rome’s historical immersion and Egypt’s monumental scale. Domestic tourism is already booming. What is missing is consistent, high quality last-mile experience and the governance structures that make it reliable. The Ministry of Tourism under Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has shifted toward a more destination centric approach through Swadesh Darshan 2.0 and the Challenge-Based Destination Development model. Projects have been sanctioned. Yet execution remains uneven, fund utilisation can lag, and the everyday visitor journey, ie clean toilets, hassle-free attractions, child-friendly facilities, reliable help in emergencies, are still too often left to chance.
A practical, out-of-the-box path forward
The solution is not more slogans or endless new circuits. It is disciplined, pilot-driven transformation of the visitor experience itself. Select a limited number of destinations that already combine scenic beauty with a coherent historical or cultural trail, which could be places with existing interest but clear last-mile gaps. Treat these as rigorous pilots with publicly measurable outcomes: visitor satisfaction scores, independent cleanliness audits, complaint resolution times, and safety metrics. For each pilot, create a hybrid Destination Management structure that brings together local municipalities, state tourism departments, private operators, community representatives, and professional hospitality managers. Give this body real operational authority over cleanliness standards, vendor regulation, public toilets, last-mile transport, signage, and emergency response. Tie funding and recognition to transparent performance. Publish the data. Reward success and impose consequences for failure. Define non-negotiable standards that every visitor can expect: structured accommodation options, consistently maintained toilets including childfriendly facilities, controlled touting, licensed guides, organised shopping zones, reliable connectivity, and visible tourist assistance systems.
Independent third-party audits and public dashboards would create accountability that pure bureaucratic systems often lack. This approach deliberately moves beyond traditional ministries and babus. It draws in private expertise, local economic incentives, and community skin in the game. Successful pilots can be scaled; failed approaches discarded. The result would be visible proof points that shift both domestic and international perceptions. India does not need to invent a new philosophy of hospitality. It already has one. What it needs is the political will, institutional design, and operational discipline to live it, starting with a handful of destinations managed to global standards. Get the last mile right, and the reputation change will follow. Get it wrong, and the gap between India’s extraordinary assets and the ordinary experiences of its visitors will remain a selfinflicted wound on the nation’s global standing. The choice is still open. The islands of Greece show what is possible when a place understands that nurturing tourists is not charity but it is survival and prosperity. India has far more to offer. It simply has to decide to deliver.
*Adit Kothari, the Founding Member of Indic Society
