A bigger India: The economics behind building tourism beyond the Taj Mahal

Delhi and Udaipur. This being part of the ‘Golden Triangle’, the plane usually had a fair number of tourists, many from France. Seated somewhere near on the plane, I would hear them catalog the ways in which “this could be such a great place if only…”. In French, of course, oblivious to the possibility that anyone around would understand.

While I seethed, my nationalist instincts primed. I wanted to ask them how much they paid for their room in a haveli near the lake, and three square meals among the bougainvilleas? Where else could they buy so much beauty so cheap?

All that came back to me with the recent stories in the Economist and Le Monde on why India does so badly on tourism: India gets about 10 million foreign tourists a year, while France, a tenth in area and less than a twentieth in population, gets 100 million. France has the Mona Lisa, but we have the Taj Mahal. France is easy for European tourists but we are next to China, the biggest spender in the world on international tourism.

Global tourism is growing fast, after the massive Covid dip. Our neighbours, Dubai, Thailand and Malaysia, are booming, while we remain below our 2019 levels.

This is partly because we don’t get along with our neighbours: until very recently, we had no direct flight to China. But also, according to the Economist, because we are dirty, polluted and expensive, at least relative to our competitors: the room in the haveli might have a working toilet now, but it no longer costs $15, and 25 years of ‘development’ has robbed