Tourism Satellite Accounts of India, 2009–10

Abstract

Tourism is an increasingly popular global activity and contributes significantly to the GDP and employment of an economy. However, its contribution to an economy is difficult to quantify as it does not fall in the system of national accounts (SNA) due to the demand-driven nature of activity. Where core national accounts cannot provide the required information, SNA suggests the development of satellite accounts within the framework, concepts and definitions of SNA highlighting the particular aspect of the economy, which in this case is tourism. Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) is the most comprehensive way to measure the economic importance of tourism in national economies. This article presents a summary of the study on India’s second TSA for 2009–10. It reveals that tourism’s direct share in India’s GDP is around 3.7 per cent and in employment is 4.4 per cent. Taking the indirect effects into account, these shares escalate to 6.8 and 10.2 per cent, respectively. JEL Classification: L830, C670, D570