The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) will take its 2027 Global Summit to Delhi, bringing the chief executives of the world’s largest travel companies and senior government tourism leaders to India for the council’s flagship annual event.
India was selected from a field of more than 20 destinations that expressed interest in hosting. The decision was announced on 9 October during this year’s summit in Malta. Dates and a venue for the Delhi event have not yet been confirmed. India’s Union Minister of Tourism and Culture, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, took part in discussions on the future of the sector in Malta and received a WTTC Global Champion Award for his contribution to travel and tourism.
A tourism economy built on domestic demand
The selection follows strong growth in India’s travel and tourism sector. According to WTTC’s latest Economic Impact Research, the sector contributed US$263.6 billion to India’s economy in 2025, an increase of 7.3 per cent on the previous year. It supported 46.2 million jobs, more than one in every ten jobs in the country. WTTC expects that growth to accelerate. The council forecasts an 8.5 per cent rise in 2026, taking the sector’s contribution to US$286.1 billion and supporting 48.1 million jobs. Over the next decade, WTTC projects the sector will almost double in size to US$527 billion by 2036.
If those projections hold, India would rise from the world’s tenth largest travel and tourism economy to the fourth largest within ten years. The foundation of that growth is domestic. Indian travellers spent US$203 billion on domestic travel in 2025, accounting for 86 per cent of total travel and tourism spending in the country. International visitors contributed the remaining 14 per cent, a share WTTC identifies as the sector’s main opportunity for expansion. The council forecasts significant growth in international visitor spending over the coming decade.
What the summit brings
The WTTC Global Summit draws the highest level of public and private sector participation of any event on the travel and tourism calendar, with senior representatives from hotels, airlines, cruise lines, tour operators, technology providers and national tourism bodies. For India, the Delhi summit is a chance to present its tourism product, infrastructure investment and domestic market to the people who allocate capital, capacity and distribution across the global industry. WTTC expects the event to open partnership and investment discussions across leisure, business travel, hospitality, aviation, technology and destination development. The summit will also address the wider issues facing the sector, with public and private sector leaders expected to focus on the opportunities and pressures shaping travel and tourism over the next decade.
For international businesses, the event offers direct access to Indian government and industry decision makers at a time when the country is working to convert the scale of its domestic market into a larger share of international tourism demand.