The travel and tourism in India offers an extraordinary opportunity with the sector expected to grow by 7 per cent in the next ten years, World Travel & Tourism Council President and CEO Julia Simpson said on Wednesday.

In her video message to the India Travel & Tourism Sustainability Conclave 2025 here, she said the contribution of travel and tourism to the Indian economy is soon expected to reach global average of 10 per cent.

"In India, 7 per cent of the Indian economy depends on travel and tourism. The global number is 10 per cent and I know the way India is growing at the moment that you will soon be getting to that sort of number," Simpson said.

She further said, "The large numbers we talked about it was worth about 230 billion US dollars and what was interesting is, over the next 10 years, we're expecting travel and tourism in India to grow by 7 per cent. This is an extraordinary growth opportunity." Simpson also lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for investing in travel and tourism and seeing the power of the sector "to really transform communities and the lives of people".

Stressing on the need for sustainable practice on the sector, she said about 4.8 per cent of India's greenhouse gas emissions come from travel and tourism sector.

She further said India is reducing its "carbon intensity faster than the global average. It is going down by 13 per cent".