India as a country is known for its unique culture, heritage, temple style, variety of rivers and wildlife. The country is surrounded by the mighty Himalayas, deep Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean. The Indians civilization and culture inherit the tradition of Atithi Devo Bhava (The Guest is like God) from the time immemorial. India also boasts for substantially diverse physical, political and multi-lingual society and offers a lot to explore through its voluminous vivid recreation and adventure activities. Because of its diverse attractions and geographic location, India attracts a large number of tourists from all around the globe besides a large number of domestic tourists. India is therefore considered as an important tourist hotspot offering an array of experiences to the tourists.
The intensifying influence of tourism as an economic powerhouse and its potential as a tool for regional development are indisputable. It is growing progressively and contributing immensely to the inclusive economic development of the nation at one end and employment generation for the stakeholders on the other end. On the basis of its tourism resources and attractions, tourism in India can broadly be classified into cultural and heritage tourism, eco and sustainable tourism, religious/pilgrimage tourism, wildlife and nature-based tourism, medical tourism, leisure and beach tourism, MICE and event tourism, creative tourism, etc.
Tourism development also leads to several undesired impacts over the host population and destination settings. Therefore, close tab on the tourism development efforts needed to be there by the policymakers, planners, residents and other stakeholders. If India is to appreciate the enormous tourism potential, it must position its exclusive world-class tourism products and destinations to compete for a larger share of the global tourism market. Therefore, an effort to provide new insights into the existing body of knowledge of tourism in India on emerging consumer behaviour trends, tourism education, local food experiencescape, marketing and destination marketing/branding strategies are the vital need of the day.