Tourism

Topic: Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Activities · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Tertiary and Quaternary Activities"

Meaning

Tourism is travel for recreation (rest, fun and sightseeing), not for business. It is a tertiary activity, which means a service activity, not the making of goods. NCERT calls it the world's single largest tertiary activity, by registered jobs (250 million) and by revenue. For India it creates local jobs, earns foreign exchange and brings roads and services to remote hill and coastal areas. But too many visitors can damage fragile places.

Explanation

How tourism works: pull → visitors → local economy

• Why people go (the four pulls):
• Climate:
  • People from cold lands (northern and western Europe) want sun and warmth.
  • The Mediterranean region (roughly 30°–45° N) is warmer than northern Europe and has long hours of sunshine. It also gets little rain in the peak summer season, because Mediterranean lands have dry summers and wet winters.
  • Winter tourists want one of two things. Some want warmth on Mediterranean or tropical beaches. Others want snow for skiing, as in the Alps.
• Landscape: mountains, lakes, spectacular sea coasts and land not wholly changed by people.
• History and art: ancient towns, archaeological sites, castles, palaces and churches. In India, UNESCO World Heritage Sites play this role. These are places UNESCO lists as having "outstanding universal value" for all humanity.

• Culture and economy: ethnic and local customs such as food, dress, festivals and crafts. Low cost also pulls budget tourists, which is one reason South and South-East Asia draw backpackers.

• What tourists spend money on:

• Direct local jobs in accommodation (hotels, lodges, home-stays), meals (restaurants, dhabas), transport (taxis, guides, boats), entertainment and souvenir shops.
• Wider growth: tourism also helps infrastructure (roads, airports, power, water), retail trade and craft industries (handicrafts, handlooms) grow.
• Foreign exchange: money spent by foreign tourists counts as a service export. In 2024 it earned India ₹2,93,033 crore [2].

How big it is: correcting the old figures

• NCERT's GDP figure is out of date.
• NCERT says tourism makes up "40 per cent of the total GDP". This figure is old and too high.

• WTTC (World Travel & Tourism Council) puts travel and tourism at about one-tenth of world GDP and of world jobs.

• World arrivals have recovered:

• The world had about 1.4 billion international (inbound) tourist arrivals in 2024 [3].

• The UN Secretary-General described international arrivals in 2025 as being at an all-time high [4].

• India's numbers (2024):

Indicator (2024)	Value
International Tourist Arrivals (ITAs): foreigners plus NRIs	20.57 million [2]
Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs): foreigners only	9.95 million; up 4.52% on 2023 but still 8.95% below 2019 [2]
Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs)	2,948.19 million [2]
Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs)	₹2,93,033 crore [2]
Foreign tourists who came for medical treatment	6,44,387, about 252% more than in 2020 [2]

• Domestic travel is far bigger. Indians made about 300 times more domestic visits than the number of foreign tourists who came [2].

Types and patterns

• Seasonal tourism means tourist numbers rise and fall with the seasons. It happens where holidays depend on good weather.
• Hill stations crowd in summer, and ski resorts crowd in winter.

• So workers lose income in the off-season, and towns are over-crowded in the peak season.

• Year-round tourism: cities, pilgrim centres and heritage towns draw visitors in every season.

• Home-stay means tourists pay to live with a local family instead of in a hotel.
• Tourists experience local food and culture.
• The family earns money from rooms it already has, so little new building is needed.
• NCERT calls home-stay a profitable business.

Limits: carrying capacity and overtourism

• Carrying capacity is the largest number of visitors a place can hold without lasting damage to its nature, its services (water, waste, roads) or the lives of its residents.
• Overtourism means a place gets more tourists than its carrying capacity.
• Cause: cheap flights, social media, short holidays and easy road access.
• Process: crowds overload water, sewage, traffic and housing. Rents rise, and locals are pushed out.

• Result: damage to nature, a poorer life for residents and anger against tourists.

• Why mountains suffer most:

• The Himalayas are young, still rising and prone to earthquakes.
• Steep slopes, heavy monsoon rain and cloudbursts are common there.

• So extra building and traffic quickly lead to landslides and floods.

• Responses: entry fees, daily caps and permits, carrying-capacity studies for hill towns, and spreading visitors to less-known sites and to the off-season.

Where it occurs

Type of tourist region	What draws people	World examples	Indian examples
Warm coasts and beaches	sun, sea, sand	Mediterranean coast (Spain, France, Italy, Greece)	West coast: Goa, Konkan and Kerala's Malabar coast
Mountain winter-sport regions	snow for skiing	Switzerland in the Alps (NCERT Fig. 6.5)	Gulmarg (J&K), Auli (Uttarakhand)
Scenic landscapes and national parks	wild, unspoilt nature	Alps, Rockies	Himalayas, Western Ghats, Kaziranga
Historic towns	monuments, heritage, cultural events	Rome, Athens	Delhi, Agra, Jaipur, Varanasi

• New World Heritage Sites in India:
• Maratha Military Landscapes of India became India's 44th site in July 2025, at the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee in Paris. It has 12 forts: 11 in Maharashtra (for example Raigad, Shivneri and Sindhudurg) and 1 in Tamil Nadu. They include hill forts, a coastal fort and island forts, built or expanded by the Marathas between the late 17th and early 19th centuries [5].
• The Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh) became India's 45th site on 25 July 2026, at the 48th session in Busan, Republic of Korea. Sarnath is where the Buddha gave his first sermon. The site includes the Dhamek, Dharmarajika and Chaukhandi stupas, in the area called Deer Park [6].

• With 45 sites, India ranks 6th in the world and 2nd in the Asia-Pacific region [6].

• Home-stay examples (NCERT):

• heritage homes in Goa;

• Madikeri in Coorg (Kodagu) district, Karnataka, a coffee-growing hill area in the Western Ghats.

• Overtourism hotspots in the world:

• Venice (Italy): has charged a day-tripper entry fee since 2024.
• Barcelona (Spain): residents have protested against mass tourism and short-term rentals.

• Amsterdam (Netherlands): has limits on overnight stays and cruise ships.

• Overtourism hotspots in India:

• Manali and Shimla (Himachal Pradesh) face traffic jams, water shortages and unplanned building on steep slopes.
• Joshimath (Chamoli district, Uttarakhand) is the gateway to Badrinath and Auli. It saw land subsidence (the ground sinking) in January 2023.
  • The town stands on loose, old landslide debris.
  • Heavy building, poor drainage and big projects added load and water to that weak ground.
  • Houses and roads cracked, and people had to leave.

• Char Dham Yatra (Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, all in Uttarakhand) brings huge crowds of pilgrims and vehicles onto fragile mountain roads.

• India's promotion schemes (Ministry of Tourism):

• Incredible India is the national tourism brand.
• Swadesh Darshan was launched in 2015 to build theme-based tourist circuits (for example Buddhist, Ramayana, coastal and tribal). 75 projects under it have been completed [7].
• Swadesh Darshan 2.0 shifts the focus from circuits to sustainable, destination-centred tourism.
• Dekho Apna Desh ("See Your Own Country") encourages Indians to travel within India. PRASHAD develops pilgrimage sites.

Don't confuse with

• Business travel vs tourism: tourism is travel for recreation. A trip made for work is not tourism in NCERT's meaning.
• ITAs vs FTAs: ITAs (20.57 million) include NRIs. FTAs (9.95 million) count foreigners only. So ITAs are about double FTAs [2].
• Seasonal vs year-round tourism: seasonal tourism depends on weather (hill stations in summer, ski resorts in winter). Year-round tourism is found in cities, pilgrim centres and heritage towns.
• Swadesh Darshan vs Swadesh Darshan 2.0: the first (2015) builds theme-based circuits [7]. Version 2.0 builds sustainable, destination-centred tourism.

Prelims Hooks

• NCERT calls tourism the world's largest tertiary activity, with 250 million jobs. Its "40% of GDP" figure is outdated, and WTTC puts the real share at about one-tenth of world GDP.
• India 2024: ITAs 20.57 million but FTAs only 9.95 million, and FTAs are still 8.95% below 2019 [2]. Trap: ITA and FTA are not the same count.
• The Mediterranean (about 30°–45° N) draws tourists for warmth, long sunshine and dry summers, because its rain falls in winter.
• NCERT's home-stay examples are Goa heritage homes and Madikeri, Kodagu (Coorg), Karnataka.
• Maratha Military Landscapes became the 44th site (2025), with 12 forts: 11 in Maharashtra, 1 in Tamil Nadu [5]. Sarnath (Uttar Pradesh) became the 45th (2026, Busan), and India now ranks 6th in the world [6].
• Joshimath is in Chamoli, Uttarakhand (subsidence, January 2023). Venice's day-tripper fee began in 2024.

Mains Points

• Tourism as a development tool (GS-I/III):
• It gives labour-intensive local jobs in stays, food, transport and crafts.
• It earns foreign exchange (₹2.93 lakh crore in 2024 [2]) and brings infrastructure to remote hill and coastal regions.

• Home-stays (Goa, Kodagu) spread the income to households with little new building.

• Geography decides where tourists go (GS-I):

• Climate, landscape, history and culture explain the Mediterranean, Alpine and heritage-town regions.
• India has all four pulls: west coast beaches, Himalayan snow, national parks and 45 World Heritage Sites [6].

• Even so, foreign arrivals are still below 2019 levels [2], while domestic visits are far larger.

• Overtourism and carrying capacity (GS-III, environment and disasters):

• Joshimath's subsidence, crowded Manali and Shimla, and Char Dham traffic show the risk. Unplanned building and traffic on young, unstable Himalayan slopes raise the danger of landslides and floods.
• Responses: carrying-capacity studies, entry fees, daily caps and permits (as in Venice and Char Dham registration), and spreading visitors to other sites and seasons. Sustainable, destination-centred tourism (Swadesh Darshan 2.0), home-stays and eco-tourism are better than large hotels.

Related concepts

• Tourist regions
• Tourist attractions
• Home-stay
• Overtourism

Read more

• Tourism: regions, attractions and limits