Need to harness potential of tourism with care: Expert

Tourism is set to be one of the major growth drivers of the Indian economy but due care needs to be taken so that the fragile ecosystem is not affected while harnessing its potential, ITC Hotels COO Dipak Haksar has said.
"Tourism is an important driver of the economy and is expected to do well. However, it can have a very bad effect on the fragile ecosystem if due care is not taken. We have to be very careful while exploiting biodiversity of forests, beaches and rivers," said Haksar.
Tourism in India has shown rapid strides due to increase in the number of domestic tourists and rise of inbound travellers, he said.

"We need to take a sustainable approach," Haksar said, adding that adequate infrastructure is also required.
Haksar, who is also Chairman, National Council of Tourism and Hospitality of industry body Assocham said tourism can create 78 jobs on every one million investment as compared to 45 jobs compared to the manufacturing industry.
Presently, only 0.6 per cent inbound tourists travel to India, which is roughly around 6.8 million.
"We aspire to increase it (inbound tourist travel) to one per cent by 12th five year plan (11.6 million) by 2016. The domestic sector visits are also expected to grow on account of the middle class," he added.

Domestic market is expected to see 1,495 million tourists by 2016 from the current level of 1,027 million tourists.