India’s 5000 years of history, its length, breadth and the variety of geographic features make its tourism basket large and varied. It presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business and sports tourism. India has a growing medical tourism sector. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi are expected to significantly boost tourism in India.

Beaches in India

Tourism is the largest service industry in India, with a contribution of 6.23% to the national GDP and 8.78% of the total employment in India. India witnesses more than 5 million annual foreign tourist arrivals and 562 million domestic tourism visits. In the year 2009, 5.11 million foreign tourists visited India. Majority of foreign tourists come from USA and UK and Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh were the top four states to receive inbound tourists. Domestic tourism in the same year was massive at 650 million. Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu received the big share of these visitors.

According to World Travel and Tourism Council, India will be a tourism hotspot from 2009–2018, having the highest 10-year growth potential. The Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Report 2007 ranked tourism in India 6th in terms of price competitiveness and 39th in terms of safety and security. Tourism in India need to be understood in the global context of competing destinations. It may be thought of as multiple Indias with a multitude of competing destinations

Goa, Rajasthan,Kerela, Assam, Kashmir under the India umbrella. India’s 5000 years of history, its length, breadth and the variety of geographic features make its tourism basket large and varied. It presents heritage and cultural tourism along with medical, business and sports tourism. India has a growing medical tourism sector. The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi are expected to significantly boost tourism in India.

India offers a wide range of tropical beaches with silver/golden sand to coral beaches of Lakshadweep. States like Kerala and Goa have exploited the potential of beaches to the fullest. However, there are a lot many unexploited beaches in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. These states have very high potential to be develop them as future destinations for prospective tourists. Some of the famous tourist beaches are:

  • Beaches of Vizag, Andhra Pradesh
  • Beaches of Puri, Orissa
  • Beaches of Digha, West Bengal
  • Beaches of Goa
  • Kovalam Beach, Kerala
  • Marina Beach, Chennai
  • City Beach, Puducherry
  • Beaches of Mahabalipuram
  • Beaches in Mumbai
  • Beaches of Diu
  • Beaches of Midnapore, West Bengal
  • Beaches of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
  • Beaches of Lakshadweep Islands

Wildlife in India

Royal Bengal Tiger in Sundarbans. The world’s largest mangrove forest as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

India is home to several well known large mammals including the Asian Elephant, Bengal Tiger, Asiatic Lion, Leopard and Indian Rhinoceros, often engrained culturally and religiously often being associated with deities. Other well known large Indian mammals include ungulates such as the domestic Asian Water buffalo, wild Asian Water buffalo, Nilgai, Gaur and several species of deer and antelope. Some members of the dog family such as the Indian Wolf, Bengal Fox, Golden Jackal and the Dhole or Wild Dogs are also widely distributed. It is also home to the Striped Hyaena, Macaques, Langurs and Mongoose species. India also has a large variety of protected wildlife. The country’s protected forest consists of 75 National parks of India and 421 Sanctuaries, of which 19 fall under the purview of Project Tiger. Its climatic and geographic diversity makes it the home of over 350 mammals and 1200 bird species, many of which are unique to the subcontinent.

Some well known national wildlife sanctuaries include Bharatpur, Corbett, Kanha, Kaziranga, Periyar, Ranthambore, Manas and Sariska. The world’s largest mangrove forest Sundarbans is located in southern West Bengal. The Kaziranga National Park,Manas National Park, Sundarbans and Keoladeo National Park is UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Hill Stations

A panaromic view of Ooty, one of the finest hill-stations in India

Main article: List of Indian hill stations

Several hill stations served as summer capitals of Indian provinces, princely states, or, in the case of Shimla, of British India itself. Since Indian Independence, the role of these hill stations as summer capitals has largely ended, but many hill stations remain popular summer resorts.

Most famous hill stations are:

  • Mount Abu, Rajasthan
  • Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh – It is also known as The Queen of Satpura.
  • Araku, Andhra Pradesh
  • Gulmarg, Srinagar and Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir
  • Darjeeling in West Bengal
  • Munnar in Kerala
  • Ooty, Yercaud and Kodaikanal in Tamil Nadu
  • Shillong in Meghalaya
  • Shimla, Kullu in Himachal Pradesh
  • Nainital in Uttarakhand
  • Gangtok in Sikkim
  • Mussoorie in Uttarakhand
  • Manali in Himachal Pradesh
  • Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh
  • Mahabaleshwar in Maharashtra
  • Haflong in Assam