Destination India has certainly caught the attention of the world in a big way.

Neither the recent global recession nor the guns and bombs of terrorists have really suppressed the upswing that set in during the early years of the 2000s. Except for a very brief lull last year, the arrival of foreign tourists has maintained a steady upward trend, and foreign exchange earnings from the sector were an impressive 11.7 billion US dollars in 2008. Add to this the growing aspirations, curiosity, surplus income and new found wanderlust among our own people and you have a sector that is perhaps the fastest growing tourism sector in the world, a sector that accounts for 5.92 % of Indias GDP, provides employment to 49.8 million of her people and has the potential to bring prosperity to rural and backward areas. New frontiers have opened up within the sector that was traditionally focused on heritage, culture and pilgrimage. Tourists are flocking to Indian hospitals, wellness centres, centres of yoga, ayurveda and other alternate systems of medicine. The demand for eco tourism, rural tourism, adventure tourism, wildlife tourism are also growing rapidly. The government has already brought in concepts like caravan tourism and heliport tourism. Visa on arrival has been introduced for travelers coming from some five countries. The government is making all out efforts to market "Incredible India", which is indeed today a brand to reckon with. Its buoyancy notwithstanding, there is still a lot that needs to be set right with regard to the tourism sector in India. While we have the resource base needed for tourism to thrive, the available infrastructure in most places is barely rudimentary. There are problems of access to locations, problems of accommodation with modern amenities, lack of people trained in hospitality to take care of the various needs of the tourists, uncoordinated and unsynchronized growth of locations. There are questions about sustainable growth of tourism in the country growth that is compatible with the environment and can sustain itself without compromising the health of the latter. There are questions about equitable distribution of the benefits arising from the sector among all stakeholders.