Tourism has the highest potential to create jobs: Suman Billa

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Suman Billa, Additional Secretary and Director General (Tourism), on Friday said that govt need to take an entrepreneurial position on tourism because it has the potential to become an engine for economic growth and has the highest potential to create jobs in the country.

Today it supports 78 million jobs. If we work hard, we can generate another 25 million jobs in the next five years, he said.

"Today, the contribution of the tourism sector to the GDP is about five percent, and realistically, we should have the ambition to double it in the next ten years," he added.

Additionally, Ixigo Chairman Aloke Bajpai said that they felt like it was the right thing to do as an Indian when asked about the travel bans to Azerbaijan and Turkey.

"We serve Bharat - in FY25 we had about half a billion Indian users. We felt like it was right thing to do as an Indian. In the good times is when we need to think twice about where our money is going and what causes it is supporting. It was a decision taken to respect the sentiments of millions of our users and also for their safety. I wouldn't feel very safe travelling to countries who have supported our enemy states," said Bajpai.

"We are extremely resilient as a country. For us, our domestic bookings are back at levels similar to before the conflict. I don't think there is a safety or threat perception that people are feeling. But the inbound part could be where the impact and perception may take some time to settle," Bajpai added.