-By Sandeep Dwivedi, Managing Director, Amadeus South Asia
And the opportunity is enormous. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), Travel & Tourism contributed US$263.6 billion to India’s economy in 2025, growing 7.3% year-on-year and supporting 46.2 million jobs. The sector is expected to grow another 8.5% in 2026, reaching US$286.1 billion, while its contribution is projected to almost double to US$527 billion by 2036. India is also forecast to rise from the world’s 10th-largest Travel & Tourism economy to fourth place globally over the next decade. (World Travel & Tourism Council). The Ministry of Tourism recorded 4.29 billion domestic tourist visits in 2025. (World Travel & Tourism Council)
These numbers tell us that India’s travel opportunity is no longer a question of whether the market will grow. It is about how we grow—and what kind of travel ecosystem we build along the way. The bigger opportunity now lies in understanding the individual behind those numbers.
A family travelling for a holiday has different needs from a young professional taking a short break. A business traveller values convenience and flexibility, while an affluent traveller may prioritise exclusivity and unique experiences. The same destination can mean something entirely different to different people. This is where personalisation becomes more than a buzzword. It becomes a commercial opportunity. The travel businesses that understand their customers, anticipate their needs and curate relevant experiences will have a distinct advantage. The question is gradually moving from “Can I offer the best price?” to “Can I offer the best experience for this particular traveller?”
In 2025, international visitor spending accounted for only around 14% of India’s total Travel & Tourism expenditure, compared with 86% from domestic visitors. WTTC sees this as a significant opportunity for India to capture a greater share of global travel demand. (World Travel & Tourism Council) This makes the experience proposition even more important. International travellers have an enormous choice of destinations. India should compete not only for arrivals, but for attention, length of stay, spending and advocacy. The question should not only be, “How do we attract more visitors?” It should also be, “How do we give them more reasons to stay longer, explore more, spend more meaningfully and return?”
Delivering personalised experiences to millions of travellers may sound like a contradiction. Technology is what makes it possible. AI, data, advanced analytics and modern retailing are giving travel businesses the ability to understand preferences, identify patterns and create more relevant offers.
Travel technology investment shows that travel businesses are increasingly investing in technology to improve the traveller experience, increase revenue and make better use of data. Technology is moving from being an operational enabler to becoming an experience differentiator.
For airlines and travel sellers, this can mean moving beyond selling a seat or a room to presenting a broader proposition—relevant services, greater flexibility, experiences and choices that complement the traveller’s needs. NDC and modern retailing are part of this evolution. They enable richer airline content and more opportunities to present relevant products and services around the core journey. Amadeus currently highlights NDC as an important route towards greater choice and personalisation for travel sellers.
The travel advisor of tomorrow will therefore simply not find an available flight or hotel. They will understand the traveller, curate the right options, provide reassurance when plans change and add value through knowledge and relationships. Technology will help them work faster and access richer content. But their real differentiator will remain human: their ability to understand people and turn choices into the right journey.
There is another reason this matters. Loyalty. A competitive price may win a transaction, but a consistently good experience can win a customer. When a traveller feels understood, receives relevant choices and experiences a seamless journey from inspiration through to post-trip engagement, the relationship with the brand becomes stronger. That relationship can translate into repeat business, advocacy and long-term value.
The booking is where the relationship begins. This is particularly important as travellers have more choice than ever before. The brands that can use data intelligently, personalise interactions and reduce friction across the journey will have greater opportunities to build relationships, beyond a single transaction.
Airlines, travel agencies, hotels, airports, payment providers and technology companies all have a role to play in creating a more connected travel ecosystem. The traveller does not experience these businesses as separate entities; they experience one journey.
Our industry must increasingly think beyond individual transactions and work towards connected experiences across the entire travel lifecycle, from inspiration and planning to booking, travelling, experiencing and returning.
The scale of investment in the sector reinforces this opportunity. Globally, Travel & Tourism investment exceeded US$1 trillion in 2025, growing 8.5% year-on-year. India, alongside the US, China and Saudi Arabia, was among four markets that together accounted for almost half of global Travel & Tourism capital investment. (World Travel & Tourism Council). This investment is not simply about building capacity. It is about building the infrastructure, technology and experiences that will support the next generation of travel.
At Amadeus, this is central to how we think about the future of travel. By bringing together technology, data and industry expertise, we want to help our partners create more relevant experiences while improving the efficiency and agility of their businesses.
India’s opportunity is bigger than growth. The numbers tell us that India has already achieved scale. The next measure of our success should be how effectively we convert that growth into better experiences, stronger relationships and greater value for travellers and businesses alike.
The next travel revolution will be about making every journey count for more.
And I believe that is where India can truly lead.
Follow BOTT on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram
Subscribe BOTT Channels on WhatsApp & Telegram to receive real time updates
