As the newly appointed Director General of Tourism for India, Mugdha Sinha has a clear and bold vision for elevating the country’s tourism sector to new heights. With a rich background in culture, administration, and a penchant for data-driven decision-making, Sinha is on a mission to make India the top global destination for travellers across various segments – including the rapidly growing sector of wedding tourism.
A Seamless Transition from Culture to Tourism
Having transitioned from her role in the Ministry of Culture, where she managed divisions dealing with Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Anthropology, Museums, Sinha now brings her passion for India’s heritage into the tourism fold. To her, the relationship between culture and tourism is a symbiotic one.
“Culture has all the assets – the heritage offerings – and tourism has the ability to showcase those assets,” says Sinha. “For me, culture and tourism are conjoined at the hip. Tourism needs culture for its unique offerings, and culture needs tourism for the visibility and footfalls.”
In her new role, Sinha is responsible for marketing, product development, and leveraging India’s unique cultural identity in global tourism markets. With a focus on adventure tourism, heritage tourism, wellness tourism, MICE, and niche areas like cruise and wedding tourism, her aim is to diversify the tourism portfolio, while ensuring that India’s natural and cultural resources are managed sustainably.
“We are looking at developing home stays so people can experience how locals live, expanding adventure tourism, and emphasizing heritage tourism. Every tourism product we develop needs to provide an authentic experience,” she explains.
Incredible to Inevitable India: Scaling Tourism for 2047
India’s tourism industry is on the brink of explosive growth, especially as the country plans its trajectory towards 2047 – 100 years since independence. Sinha’s long-term vision for the sector is ambitious: To increase the number of inbound tourists from the current 9.3 million foreign tourist arrivals to 100 million by 2047.
“Our goal is to 10x our numbers of inbound tourists. We stand at 9.3 million right now, and we aim to convert that into 100 million,” she says confidently.
However, Sinha is quick to stress that this growth must be sustainable. “There is a very fine balance between ensuring that India remains an attractive destination and avoiding over-tourism. We have to ensure that there is no over-exploitation of our resources,” she notes. “Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do – whether it’s being pro-planet, supporting local communities, or protecting our heritage.”
Data-Driven Tourism Strategy
A hallmark of Sinha’s approach is her deep commitment to data analytics and research in shaping tourism policy. “I’m a total data analytics person,” she says. “We’re doing a lot of number crunching to understand who is coming, where they’re coming from, how long they’re staying, and what they’re spending on.”
Sinha believes that data is essential in refining India’s tourism offerings. “We are moving from social and digital marketing to infographics and sentiment tracking. Data helps us visualize tourism trends, and that’s what will allow us to make the right decisions and investments in product development.”
In particular, Sinha’s efforts are geared towards making Incredible India not just a catchphrase, but a reality. “We want to move from Incredible India to ‘Inevitable India.’ When people think of travelling to the East, we want India to be their first choice.”
Wedding Tourism: A Booming Industry
One of the fastest-growing segments of Indian tourism is wedding tourism. India has long been a favoured destination for weddings, particularly for non-resident Indians (NRIs) and high-profile international clients who seek the country’s rich cultural tapestry as the perfect backdrop for their big day. From opulent palaces in Rajasthan to serene beach resorts in Goa, India offers a multitude of destinations for wedding ceremonies, each showcasing the country’s unique cultural diversity.
Sinha, however, believes the potential for growth in this sector is still largely untapped.
“We’re not positioning India as a wedding destination – we’re already there,” she says, citing the many high-profile international weddings that have already taken place in India. “We recently had a massive domestic wedding that generated approximately 600 crore rupees in the wedding ecosystem. It drew international attention, with musicians, film stars, and other celebrities participating.”
Despite these successes, Sinha sees room for improvement, particularly in streamlining the processes that make India a desirable wedding destination.
Streamlining Wedding Tourism: From Permissions to Human Capital
India’s appeal as a wedding destination is already established, but there are challenges in making the experience seamless for both domestic and international clients. According to Sinha, one of the key obstacles is the complex web of permissions required to host weddings in different states and at various venues.
“Weddings are not just ceremonies, they’re contracts – contracts with caterers, event managers, photographers, and venues,” she explains. “Can we aggregate all of this information and create a package for wedding clients that removes the information asymmetry? Can we make it easier for people to access credible wedding partners and streamline permissions required for large-scale events?”
Sinha is also keen on investing in capacity-building for human capital in this area, ensuring that the country’s wedding planners, caterers, and hospitality workers are well-equipped to handle the diverse demands of wedding tourism.
“Weddings today are multilingual and multicultural,” she says. “India offers so much diversity in terms of customs and traditions, but that also means that the people working in this industry need to understand the nuances of different cultures.”
She highlights how food is a prime example of this complexity. “You can’t serve Punjabi food at a South Indian wedding,” she quips, underscoring the need for specialization in regional cuisines to create seamless wedding experiences.
Developing Infrastructure for Wedding Tourism
Envisioning a future where infrastructure development goes hand-in-hand with the growth of wedding tourism, she suggests that India needs to invest in making its wedding destinations more accessible, not just for high-end clients but for middle-class families as well.
“Out of India’s 1.42 billion people, 31 million belong to the middle class,” she points out. “That’s a huge market. We need to develop destinations that cater to this segment, not just the elite.”
Sinha believes that state governments need to play an active role in this process, pointing to Rajasthan as an example of intelligent planning in wedding tourism. “Rajasthan has done it right by developing hotels and venues along the highways, so that people can access their wedding destinations without even entering the city.”
She adds, “We’re working with states to encourage them to identify lesser-known but beautiful areas as wedding destinations. Cities like Gwalior, Nagpur, and Vizag have the potential to become wedding hotspots.”
The Future of Wedding Tourism: Smart Contracts and Monetization
Sinha’s forward-thinking approach to wedding tourism goes beyond traditional ideas. She envisions a future where technology plays a key role in the execution and monetization of weddings.
“We’re exploring the idea of smart contracts in the wedding ecosystem,” she says. “Many premium clients are already monetizing their weddings through photographs and videos. They’re selling exclusive rights to third parties for media coverage. Can we create a system that helps people monetize their weddings while reducing the upfront costs?”
Another innovative idea on the table is offering loans and insurance products tailored specifically to weddings. “Weddings are expensive, and many families take out loans to cover the costs. Can we work with financial institutions to create loan packages or insurance products for weddings?” Sinha asks.
Sustainability in Wedding Tourism
With the rise in destination weddings, there’s also a growing need to ensure that these large-scale events do not harm local environments or strain resources. Sinha is a strong proponent of sustainable wedding tourism.
“We have to be responsible in how we develop wedding tourism,” she says. “Our natural resources and cultural heritage cannot be overexploited. We need to ensure that wedding tourism contributes positively to local communities and is aligned with environmental sustainability.”
This includes encouraging destination weddings in lesser-known regions to distribute the tourism load and reduce the pressure on already popular destinations. “By developing tier-two and tier-three cities as wedding destinations, we can ensure that the economic benefits of tourism are more evenly distributed,” she notes.
Building the Future of Indian Tourism
Sinha’s comprehensive vision, which intertwines culture, data analytics, product development, and sustainable practices, promises to catapult India into the global spotlight. Whether it’s eco-tourism, adventure tourism, or wedding tourism, Sinha’s approach is one that prioritizes growth while ensuring that the country’s natural and cultural treasures are preserved for future generations.
“India has everything to offer, from our heritage to our incredible diversity. My job is to ensure that the world sees just how Invincible India truly is,” she concludes.
