Digitalization of Tourism and its Evolution in the Indian context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm2026.v06.n02.003Keywords:
smart tourism, digital literacy, digital accessAbstract
The tourism industry in India has experienced a significant transformation via digitalization that has redefined destination marketing, travel management and tourist experiences. This exploratory research explores the conceptual dimensions and evolutionary phases of digital tourism in the Indian context through secondary sources such as scientific literature, government reports and tourism policies. The study highlights the emergence of e-tourism, m-tourism, virtual tourism and Tourism 4.0 by integrating technologies such as mobile applications, digital payment systems, virtual reality and online booking platforms. It also discusses about the role of major government initiatives such as Digital India, PRASAD, Swadesh Darshan, NIDHI, PMGDISHA and UPI in accelerating tourism digitalization and enhancing connectivity, access and tourism management. The rapid rise in smart phone and internet usage and the growth of online travel agencies have given a big boost to tourism and economic opportunities in India. However, the sector still has challenges such as cyber insecurity, infrastructure limitations, lack of digital literacy, over-crowding of destinations and fragmented tourism policies. The study concludes that there is a great potential of digitalization to improve the sustainable tourism development and to improve the competitiveness of the Indian tourism industry in the long run.
References
Deboraha, A. K., & Passah, R. S. (2019). Cashless Economy and Digitalization of Tourism & Hospitality Practices in India. 10th International Conference on Digital Strategies for Organizational Success. SSRN-Elsevier.
Gonçalves, A. R., Dorsch, L. L., & Figueiredo, M. (2022). Digital Tourism: An Alternative View on Cultural Intangible Heritage and Sustainability in Tavira, Portugal. Sustainability , 14, 1-10.
Government of India, P. I. (2026, 03 06). India’s Digital Public Infrastructure. India’s Digital Public Infrastructure . New Delhi, India, India.
Huang, X.-T., Wang, Z., Wang, L., Cheng, C., & Wang, J. (2022). Experimental study on the influence of virtual tourism spatial situation on the tourists’ temperature comfort in the context of metaverse. Frontiers in Psychology , 1-15.
Hunter, W. C., Chung, N., Gretzel, U., & Koo, C. (2015). Constructivist Research in Smart Tourism. Asia Pacific Journal of Information Systems , 25 (1), 105-120.
Kalia, P., Mladenović, D., & Duque, Á. A. (2022). Decoding the Trends and the Emerging Research Directions of Digital Tourism in the Last Three Decades: A Bibliometric Analysis. SAGE Open , 1–23.
Kononova, O. P. (2020). From e-Tourism to Digital Tourism.Terminologically Review. SSI , 164-177.
Kuska, M., Augustyńska, B., Mikołajewska, E., & Mikołajewski, D. (2017). M-tourism As Increasing Trend Within Current Tourism and Recreation - Polish and International Experience. Proceedings of The International Conference of Computational Methods In Sciences And Engineering 2017 (ICCMSE-2017) (pp. 1-3). AIP Conference Proceedings.
Lalitha, G. (2023). Historical Perspective Of Tourism In India. International Journal of Academic Research , 10 (2), 84-90.
Menon, S., Bhatt, S., & Sharma, S. (2021). A study on envisioning Indian tourism – Through cultural tourism and sustainable digitalization. Cogent Social Sciences , 7, 1-19.
Ministry of Tourism. (2016). National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry. Delhi, Delhi, India: URL: https://tourism.gov.in/.
Ministry of Tourism. (2022). Report on National Digital Tourism Mission. New Delhi: National Digital Tourism Mission.
Naik, S., Patil, A., & Botre, P. (n.d.). Virtual Tourism: Concept and Future. 115-125.
Peceny, U. S., Urbančič, ,. J., Mokorel, S., Kuralt, V., & Ilijaš, T. (2019). Tourism 4.0: Challenges in Marketing a Paradigm Shift. Intec Open , 2, 1-19.
Putra, F. K., Saepudin, P., Adriansyah, E., & Adrian, G. A. (2018). Digital Tourism: A Content Analysis of West Java Tourism Websites. Journal of Indonesian Tourism and Development Studies , 73-84.
Rathi, R. A. (2018). Digital Transformation of Travel & Tourism In India. (pp. 1-69). Sangli: International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development.
Sanju, N. L., Yap, G., Saha, S., & Rahman, M. (2025). Digitalisation as a vehicle of expansion of tourism industry. Tourism Economics , 1-24.
Santarsiero, F., Carlucci, D., & Schiuma, G. (2024). Driving digital transformation and business model innovation in tourism through innovation labs: An empirical study. Journal of Engineering and Technol ogy Management , 74, 1-14.
Sheokand, K., & Gupta, N. (2017). Digital India programme and impact of digitalisation on Indian economy. Indian Journal of Economics and Development , 5, 1-13.
Shigaonker, S. A. (2018). Success of Digitalisation in Tourism Industry in India. Sangli: International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development.
Ying, L., Ziyi, Q., Shizhuan, H., Yan, L., & Tongqian, Z. (2024). The development of digital tourism in China. Cogent Social Sciences , 10 (1), 1-18.
Zeqiri, A., Youssef, A. B., & Zahar, T. M. (2025). The Role of Digital Tourism Platforms in Advancing Sustainable Development Goals in the Industry 4.0 Era. Sustainability , 17, 1-24.
