Today is World Tourism Day.

Today is ‘World Tourism Day’. It is celebrated every year on 27th September. Since 1980, the United Nations World Tourism Organization has celebrated World Tourism Day on this day with different themes every year. At its Twelfth Session in Istanbul, Turkey, in October 1997, the UNWTO General Assembly decided to designate a host country each year to act as the Organization's partner in the celebration of World Tourism Day. The theme of this year’s World Tourism Day (WTD) is “Tourism and the Digital Transformation”, and this year’s host country is Hungary.

The purpose of World Tourism Day is to raise awareness on the role of tourism within the international community. Many people around the world celebrate the United Nations’ (UN) World Tourism Day. The day aims to foster awareness among the international community of the importance of tourism and its social, cultural, political and economic values.

The United Nations’ World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) invites people worldwide to participate in World Tourism Day every year. The UNWTO Secretary-General annually sends out a message to the general public to mark the occasion. Many tourism enterprises and organizations, as well as government agencies with a special interest in tourism, celebrate the event with various special events and festivities.

Different types of competitions, such as photo competitions promoting tourism, as well as tourism award presentations in areas such as ecotourism, are held on World Tourism Day. Other activities include free entries, discounts or special offers for the general public to any site of tourism interest. Government and community leaders, as tourism business representatives, may make public announcements or offer special tours or fares to promote both their region and World Tourism Day on or around 27th September.

Tourism has experienced continued growth and deeper diversification to become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the world. ‎Modern tourism is closely linked to development and includes more new destinations for tourists. These dynamics turned tourism into a key driver for socio-economic progress.‎ Tourism has become one of the major players in ‎international commerce and represents at the same time one of the main income ‎sources for many developing countries.

About the theme “Tourism and the Digital Transformation” - We know that a digitally advanced tourism sector can improve entrepreneurship, inclusion, local community empowerment, and efficient resource management, amongst other important development objectives. This year’s WTD will help countries and businesses to further explore the opportunities provided to tourism by technological advances including big data, artificial intelligence, and digital platforms.

About the Host County - Hungary is a modern European country steeped in history, with a beautiful capital city and rich in exceptional natural resources and sites. Whether it is the country’s strong folk culture, spas, lakes and thermal baths, the cowboys of the “puszta”, the beautiful Parliament building, the spicy and hearty cuisine favouring paprika and the sparkling life of the capital, Budapest, in Hungary you are guaranteed to find authentic, impulsive and profound experiences. In 2017 Hungary welcomed almost 16 million international tourist arrivals, 50% more than in 2010, demonstrating the steady growth of tourism in the country backed by consistent policy support. The Hungarian Tourism Agency is responsible for the national management and coordination of tourism.

Coming to India - Tourism is important to our country's economy.  And the good news is that it is growing rapidly. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated ₹15.24 lakh crore (US$210 billion) or 9.4% of India's GDP in 2017 and supported 41.622 million jobs, 8% of its total employment. The sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 6.9% to ₹32.05 lakh crore (US$450 billion) by 2028 (9.9% of GDP). In October 2015, India's medical tourism sector was estimated to be worth US$3 billion, and it is projected to grow to US$7–8 billion by 2020. In 2014, 184,298 foreign patients traveled to India to seek medical treatment.

Over 10 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2017 compared to 8.89 million in 2016, representing a growth of 15.6%. Domestic tourist visits to all states and union territories numbered 1,036.35 million in 2012, an increase of 16.5% from 2011. In 2014, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh were the most popular states for tourists. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra, and Jaipur were the five most visited cities of India by foreign tourists during the year 2015. Worldwide, Delhi is ranked 28th by the number of foreign tourist arrivals, while Mumbai is ranked 30th, Chennai 43rd, Agra 45th, Jaipur 52nd, and Kolkata 90th.

The Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report for the year 2017, ranked India 40th out of 136 countries overall. The report ranks the price competitiveness of India's tourism sector 10th out of 136 countries. It mentions that India has quite good air transport (ranked 32nd), particularly given the country's stage of development, and reasonable ground transport infrastructure (ranked 29th). The country also scores high on natural and cultural resources (ranked 9th).