Moving Beyond Cliché Tourism

India’s recovery of foreign tourist inflows after the Covid shock has been steady rather than spectacular. International arrivals have broadly returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the real policy challenge now is not recovery; it is direction. The choices India makes in the coming decade will determine whether tourism growth is resilient, regionally balanced and high-value—or merely a return to old patterns under new constraints.

Post-Covid data shows that foreign tourists continue to concentrate in a few familiar destinations. Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Varanasi, Goa and Mumbai together account for a dominant share of arrivals. These locations are culturally irreplaceable, but they also reveal a structural vulnerability. Many lie in regions that experience severe seasonal air pollution, often during peak tourist months. In a world where visitors increasingly consult air-quality indices alongside hotel ratings, environmental comfort has become part of destination choice, not an afterthought.

This is where regional comparison matters. Countries such as Vietnam and Thailand are not pollution-free, yet many of their key tourist destinations offer more predictable outdoor conditions and better spatial dispersal of visitors. Vietnam’s post-pandemic tourism surge has been aided by deliberate expansion of accommodation capacity, upgraded coastal and cultural circuits, and closer alignment between ports, airports and hinterland connectivity. The lesson for India is not imitation, but intent: tourism growth follows preparedness and coherence.

Accommodation is a revealing indicator. India’s branded hotel room stock has expanded rapidly in recent years, but remains unevenly distributed. Metros and a few leisure hubs are well supplied, while many high-potential regions remain under-served. If India is to look ahead to 2036 with ambition, hotel room growth must be spatially intelligent—aligned with destination strategy rather than driven solely by urban real estate logic.

Cruise tourism offers a parallel opportunity. India’s cruise passenger volumes are still modest, but growing. Globally, cruise tourism acts as a dispersal mechanism, delivering visitors directly to secondary destinations and cultural circuits. India’s long coastline and island territories make this segment strategically valuable, provided cruise ports are integrated with inland tourism planning rather than treated as isolated infrastructure projects.

This is particularly relevant for Buddhist tourism, an area where India holds an unparalleled civilisational advantage, yet has not fully converted it into a high-quality visitor experience. While Bodh Gaya and Nalanda are internationally recognised, the eastern Buddhist landscape is far richer than commonly appreciated. Odisha’s Lalitgiri–Ratnagiri–Pushpagiri complex, among the earliest centres of Buddhism in South Asia, along with Dhauli, associated with Emperor Ashoka’s moral transformation, and Jirang, representing living Tibetan Buddhist traditions, together form a powerful but under-developed circuit.

What is required here is not piecemeal beautification, but holistic upgradation: high-quality access, conservation-grade visitor facilities, multilingual interpretation, clean last-mile transport, and accommodation standards suited to international pilgrims. Treated as an integrated circuit, these sites can appeal strongly to visitors from East and Southeast Asia, Japan, and Korea —markets where Buddhist heritage tourism is both culturally significant and economically valuable.

Cruise tourism can reinforce this strategy. Paradip Port can function as a maritime gateway to Odisha’s Buddhist and heritage circuits. Port Blair can be positioned as a spiritual–nature gateway linking island tourism with mainland Buddhist trails through combined sea–air itineraries. Such linkages encourage longer stays and higher per-visitor spending, rather than fleeting visits.

Beyond Buddhism, India’s larger opportunity lies in marketing its cleaner, less-travelled regions. The North-Eastern states, West Bengal, Odisha, parts of Madhya Pradesh, island territories and selected hill regions enjoy better ambient air quality, lower congestion and strong experiential appeal. These areas align well with post-Covid preferences for space, wellness, culture and nature. Promoted thoughtfully, they can complement—not replace—India’s iconic destinations.

Gateway diversification is essential to this shift. India’s overwhelming dependence on Delhi as the default international entry point magnifies pollution-related first impressions. Strengthening Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar as alternative gateways would allow tourists to land closer to cleaner destinations, reduce pressure on Delhi, and distribute tourism benefits more evenly across regions.

Looking ahead to 2036, a healthy and realistic scenario could see India welcoming 20–25 million foreign tourists from the present level of 10 million, provided growth is steady, capacity is aligned, and destination management is disciplined. This does not require mass tourism. It requires purposeful growth—grounded in clean air, smarter gateways and curated experiences.

What India needs now is strategic coherence. By aligning accommodation growth, cruise tourism and gateway planning with clean-air destinations and upgraded Buddhist circuits, India can turn post-Covid recovery into a durable competitive advantage. Tourism today rewards countries that think spatially and plan patiently. India has that opportunity.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a former Secretary to the Government of India