Overview

• Countries marked the September 27 observance under the UNWTO theme “Tourism and Sustainable Transformation,” with official ceremonies reported in Melaka, Malaysia and community events such as visa-awareness drives and college fests in India.
• United Nations figures reiterated tourism’s scale, with the sector contributing about 10% of global GDP in 2024 and supporting one in ten jobs, while youth account for 15.5% of the workforce and women for roughly 40% of direct employment.
• UNWTO guidance emphasized that transformation requires good governance, strategic planning and robust monitoring to confront overtourism, climate threats and unequal distribution of benefits.
• India’s Ministry of Tourism marked the day by announcing MoUs with Netflix, Atithi Foundation and leading online travel agencies to promote destinations and strengthen research, capacity building and visitor feedback.
• India also launched a Project Management Information System for real-time tracking of tourism projects, released its 66th Tourism Data Compendium noting record arrivals and a global rank of 20th in international visitors, and issued a homestay MUDRA loan guide alongside calls for improved multimodal connectivity.