Dr. Bharti Gupta
bharti.ttm@cujammu.ac.in
“Tourism is not a side option. It is a profession, a policy tool, and a pathway to national progress”
Every year, National Tourism Day, observed on 25 January, reminds us that tourism is not merely about travel and leisure-it is about livelihoods, cultural exchange, education, and nation-building. In the Indian context, tourism has emerged as one of the most powerful engines of economic growth and employment generation. Yet, its true potential can only be realized when tourism is understood, managed, and promoted through professional education and skilled human resources.
Tourism is a national asset in terms of its economic contribution to the country. Globally, tourism contributes nearly 10% of world GDP and supports almost one in every ten jobs. In India, tourism contributes around 6-7% of GDP, making it one of the largest service-sector industries in the country. States such as Jammu & Kashmir, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand depend heavily on tourism for income generation, employment, and regional development. Jammu & Kashmir offers a compelling illustration. Tourism contributes nearly 7% to the region’s GDP and supports tens of thousands of direct and indirect jobs. In 2024 alone, the region recorded approximately 2.36 crore tourist visits, reaffirming tourism’s role as a key economic driver. Beyond numbers, tourism sustains local handicrafts, preserves cultural traditions, empowers women, and promotes community development.
Let us understand why tourism demands skilled professionals, given the nature of tourism. Tourism is often misunderstood because it does not produce a tangible product like manufacturing. Instead, it is a composite, service-oriented, and experience-based industry that brings together transport, accommodation, food services, attractions, events, and local communities into a single system.
What tourists ultimately consume is not a physical good, but an experience-a shikara ride on Dal Lake, a pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi, a homestay in Gurez, or a winter ski session in Gulmarg. These experiences are highly people-centric, making human skills, service quality, and destination management more critical than infrastructure alone. Tourism also plays a crucial role in cultural diplomacy, a form of soft power where culture becomes a bridge between nations. India’s tourism initiatives-from Buddhist circuits and wellness tourism to international yoga events-project the country’s cultural richness globally. Jammu & Kashmir contributes uniquely to this narrative through its Sufi and Shaivite traditions, handicrafts, pilgrimage sites, and pluralistic culture. Events such as the G20 Tourism Working Group meeting in Kashmir highlighted how tourism can reshape global perceptions and strengthen cultural dialogue. Tourism professionals are central to this process, acting as storytellers and ambassadors of India’s diversity.
Tourism is also highly sensitive to safety perceptions, seasonality, environmental conditions, and global events. This complexity makes tourism one of the most professionally demanding industries, requiring trained planners, managers, marketers, and sustainability experts.
Career Prospects in Tourism: One of the greatest strengths of tourism is its diverse employment opportunities. It creates opportunities for individuals across educational levels and skill sets. On this National Tourism Day, it is essential to recognize tourism not merely as an industry, but as a career of purpose and possibility. Tourism offers a wide spectrum of career opportunities across multiple sectors, making it one of the most inclusive and employment-intensive industries in India.
In the travel and tour operations sector, professionals work as travel consultants, tour executives, itinerary planners, destination management executives, tour coordinators, and operations managers, designing and managing travel experiences for domestic and international tourists.
The hospitality and accommodation sector, that is inseparable from tourism sector, provides roles such as front office executives, guest relations officers, hotel and resort managers, revenue managers, food and beverage managers, and homestay entrepreneurs, all of whom ensure quality service delivery and visitor satisfaction. Further, the aviation and airport services sector creates employment as airline customer service executives, airport ground staff, cabin crew, airport operations executives, and airline sales professionals, supporting the growing demand for air travel.
Tourism also generates specialized careers in events, MICE, and wedding tourism, including event coordinators, conference and convention managers, MICE executives, exhibition managers, and destination wedding planners.
In destinations rich in natural resources, adventure and eco-tourism provide opportunities as adventure tour leaders, trekking and mountaineering guides, ski and rafting instructors, eco-tourism coordinators, and nature interpretation guides.
Heritage, cultural, and pilgrimage tourism employs heritage guides, museum educators, cultural interpretation officers, pilgrimage tour coordinators, and heritage site managers, playing a vital role in cultural preservation and storytelling. Beyond the private sector, tourism offers stable careers in the government and public sector as tourism officers, destination planners, tourism development officers, policy analysts, and project consultants. For academically inclined professionals, opportunities exist in tourism planning, research, and education as tourism researchers, sustainable tourism planners, environmental impact assessors, consultants, and university faculty members. With the rise of technology, digital tourism and media-based careers have expanded rapidly, including destination marketing executives, digital marketing managers, travel content creators, social media managers, tourism data analysts, and travel technology product managers.
Companies such as MakeMyTrip, EaseMyTrip, Yatra, and Ixigo employ professionals as travel consultants, destination product managers, itinerary planners, pricing analysts, airline and hotel contracting executives, corporate travel managers, and customer experience executives. OYO, Treebo, and FabHotels create opportunities for hotel operations managers, revenue and yield managers, property acquisition executives, quality auditors, guest relations managers, and city operations heads. In the mobility segment, Ola, Rapido, and Zoomcar engage tourism graduates as mobility operations executives, fleet managers, destination transport coordinators, route planning analysts, and sustainability managers. Cultural and craft-based startups such as Craftsvilla and Jaypore employ heritage product managers, craft sourcing executives, cultural content creators, and destination storytelling professionals, linking tourism directly with local livelihoods.
Collectively, these diverse opportunities highlight tourism as a dynamic career field that combines employment, entrepreneurship, cultural engagement, and sustainable development-particularly relevant in the Indian context and regions like Jammu & Kashmir.
Indian tourism startups and unicorns clearly demonstrate that tourism is no longer a seasonal or informal sector-it is a technology-driven, entrepreneurial, and future-ready industry. When aligned with NEP-2020, tourism education can empower youth-especially in regions like Jammu & Kashmir-to transform destinations into sustainable enterprises and local culture into global opportunity.
Tourism education is for a Sustainable tourism future for India-and particularly in Jammu & Kashmir-lies not in mass tourism, but in well-managed, high-value, and community-centric tourism. This requires destination diversification to reduce overcrowding, scientific carrying capacity assessments, promotion of community-based tourism and homestays, adoption of smart tourism technologies, strict environmental regulations, and continuous capacity building through education and training. Tourism education provides the intellectual foundation for these strategies. It transforms tourism from an unplanned activity into a strategic development tool. Investing in tourism education is investing in sustainable development, cultural preservation, and inclusive growth. Therefore, it can be confidently said that the future of Indian tourism depends not only on destinations-but on educated minds that manage them responsibly.
(The author is Professor, Department of Tourism and Travel Management, Central University of Jammu)
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