Tourism and Hospitality sector is one of the largest employments generating sector in India and has been contributing towards generation of major chunk of Foreign Exchange Earning (FEE). As per the 3rd TSA (Tourism Satellite Account) for years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20 the contribution of tourism to employment of the country is as follows:
| 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 | |
| Share in jobs (in %) | 14.78 | 14.87 | 15.34 |
| Direct (%) | 6.44 | 6.48 | 6.69 |
| Indirect (%) | 8.34 | 8.39 | 8.65 |
| Direct + Indirect jobs due to tourism (in million) | 72.69 | 75.85 | 79.86 |
As on 18.07.2022, exams for 03 batches of Incredible India Tourism Facilitator (IITF) basic certificate course has been successfully conducted, under which a total of 3795 candidates have been declared successful and certificates are bring issued to them after completion of their police verification. Under the revised guideline for IITF Certification Program, the existing Regional Level Guides (RLGs) have been renamed as Incredible India Tourist Guides (IITGs). A total number of 1795 IITGs (formally known as RLGs) have successfully completed the Refresher course.
The IITFC programme was launched on 01.01.2020 with an objective to create a pool of well trained and professional Tourist Facilitators across the country. This is a digital initiative which provides an online learning platform under IITFC programme for basic, advanced (heritage and adventure), spoken language and refresher courses for candidates. The guidelines for IITFC have been framed keeping in mind market demand, request from tourism stakeholders etc. Recently, as per the request received from the stakeholders, the minimum educational criteria has been raised to Graduation or equivalent degree for IITG (Advance & Heritage) course.
This information was given by Minister of Tourism Shri G. Kishan Reddy in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.