India’s expanding tourism industry could face a workforce shortage of around 11 million workers by 2035, as demand for trained professionals struggles to keep pace with the growth of hotels and emerging tourism segments, according to a September 2026 report by CBRE Research.
The report identified workforce availability as a key constraint for the sector, even as domestic travel, hospitality investment and new tourism formats continue to expand. Demand is increasingly spreading across pilgrimage, wellness, MICE and sustainable travel, creating a need for specialised skills and trained professionals.
India’s tourism economy has also recorded a significant recovery following the pandemic. Tourism’s direct and indirect contribution to GDP increased to 5.2% in FY2024 from 1.5% in FY2021, while direct and indirect employment rose to 84.6 million. Domestic visitor spending reached USD 162.9 billion in FY2024, around five times the USD 32.5 billion spent by international visitors.
CBRE noted that the challenge extends beyond the number of workers available to the type and location of skills required. Emerging segments such as wellness, MICE, cruises and guided heritage tourism require specialised roles for which existing training pipelines were not designed. At the same time, new hotel supply is increasingly moving into tier-II and tier-III cities, while training capacity remains concentrated in established tourism centres.
Employee retention is another concern for the industry, with long working hours, relatively modest pay and perceptions around career growth encouraging trained hospitality professionals to move into sectors such as aviation, retail and business process outsourcing. This could further widen the gap between the availability of trained workers and the sector’s growing requirements.
The government has expanded initiatives aimed at addressing the skills gap. CBRE highlighted proposals under Budget 2026-27 to upgrade the National Council for Hotel Management and Catering Technology into a National Institute of Hospitality, along with a pilot programme to train 10,000 guides across 20 iconic tourist sites. The report said the sector now needs to focus on retaining trained talent, decentralising training to emerging markets and developing specialised skills for newer tourism segments.