Defining the tourist industry is difficult. The defining feature of tourism is not the product, but the purchaser, the 'tourist'. The internationally agreed definition of tourism says that:

Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) estimate that in 1999 travel and tourism was directly and indirectly responsible for generating across the global economy:

• 11% of GDP
• 200 million jobs
• 8% of total employment
• 5.5 million new jobs per year until 2010.

Tourism really counts as one of the economic and social phenomena of the last century and undoubtedly will retain its position for centuries to come. World tourism has traditionally been measured by international tourist arrivals and international tourist revenues. Tourism has found a niche for itself as an effective instrument for generating employment, earning revenue and foreign exchange, enhancing environment preserving culture and tradition thereby facilitating overall development.

Tourism is one of the world's largest and fastest growing industries. In 2000, there were 699 million international tourist arrivals throughout the world, an increase of 7.4% over the preceding year and international tourist receipts reached US $ 476 billion, a 4.5% increase from 1999. There has been strong growth in foreign travel to developing countries during recent years and this trend is expected to continue.

The Travel and Tourism industry bundles diverse products and services to provide for the recreational as well as business needs of both domestic and international travelers. In the last two decades, an increasing number of destination economies have come to rely on the travel, tourism and hospitality industry. Economic diversification and technological improvement have created a conducive environment for tourism development in the present age of globalization. India and South East Asia have been gearing up to achieve significant progress in this field owing to a number of encouraging factors. India has vast geographical spread and great historical and cultural heritage, which are excellent condition for growth in this sector.

In 2003, tourism lived through another considerably difficult year in which three negative factors came together: SARS, the iraq war and persistently weak economy. The unexpected outbreak of SARS brought the steady growth of Asia and Pacific to the abrupt halt, causing traffic to become half of the usual traffic in April and May in some destination. Although conditions improved through out the year and positive figures generally started to return in second half of 2003, it has not been enough to save the year for many destinations. Arrival in Asia and the pacific went down by 9% due to SARS panic. America also recorded a decrease (-2%) while Europe just consolidated its 2002 figure (0%). Middle East and Africa recorded the best results of all regions with estimate increase of 10% and 5% resp.

Main aim of Tourism Vision 2025 is to serve as a guiding force which will provide a clear vision and direction for optimizing the tourism potential of the state in a sustainable manner.