he Air India MoU complements India's broader tourism promotion strategy. (Image Courtesy: X @airindia)
NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Tourism signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Air India on July 27 to promote India globally under the ‘Incredible India’ brand, leveraging the airline’s international network to boost foreign tourist arrivals. The agreement covers co-branded marketing, inflight content integration, transit tourism development through Delhi and Mumbai and a proposed “Visit India Pass” for international visitors.
Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said the partnership aims to give passengers travelling to India better information about the country’s tourism offerings during their journey. Air India Chief Commercial Officer Nipun Aggarwal described the airline as having a responsibility to showcase India to the world.
What the Partnership Actually Covers
The MoU brings together Air India’s substantial international footprint with the ministry’s destination marketing efforts. The airline operates over 850 daily flights connecting 46 domestic and up to 43 international destinations across five continents, supplemented by 25 codeshare and over 120 interline partnerships that extend booking access to more than 1,000 destinations worldwide. Under the agreement, tourism content will be integrated into Air India’s inflight entertainment systems and digital booking touchpoints, while both parties will jointly participate in international roadshows and trade fairs.
A Joint Working Group comprising representatives from both the ministry and the airline will oversee implementation and conduct periodic reviews, though the official documentation does not specify the frequency or format of these reviews.
The Question Mark Over Funding
However a closer look at the agreement’s structure raises a fairly fundamental question. The MoU is explicitly non-commercial, non-binding and non-exclusive, involving no financial commitment from either party. This means the ambitious global marketing campaigns envisioned under the partnership will need to be funded through existing channels rather than any dedicated budget created by this agreement.
The ministry’s primary overseas promotional vehicle, the Restructured Scheme of Overseas Promotion and Publicity, was allocated just ₹43.48 crore for the current fiscal year, a modest sum when spread across major target markets in North America, Europe and East Asia. This budget constraint traces back to 2023, when the ministry closed all 20 of its dedicated overseas tourism offices in cities including London, New York and Tokyo, shifting promotional responsibilities to diplomatic missions and airline partnerships like this one.
Comparing India’s Approach With Global Models
International destination marketing typically involves considerably more structured commercial arrangements. Singapore’s tourism board, for instance, has run co-funded campaigns with IndiGo involving shared marketing expenditure and tracked booking conversions, while Dubai’s tourism authority maintains defined arrival targets in its airline partnerships with carriers like Emirates. India’s agreement with Air India by contrast does not include any numerical targets for tourist arrivals, foreign exchange growth or transit passenger conversion, making it difficult to measure the initiative’s effectiveness over time.
Since Air India operates as a privatised carrier under the Tata Group focused on route profitability, the airline retains full discretion over capacity, scheduling and pricing decisions independent of any national tourism objectives the MoU might set out.
India’s Tourism Numbers in Context
India’s foreign tourist arrivals reached 9.95 million in 2024, still nearly 9% below the pre-pandemic peak of 10.93 million recorded in 2019, even as broader international tourist arrivals including the diaspora climbed past 20 million. The country’s overall ranking in the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index sits at 39th globally, with India performing strongly on natural and cultural resources but ranking considerably lower, 52nd, on infrastructure and services.
Industry voices including inbound tour operators have offered cautious support for the partnership, while noting that visibility campaigns alone may not resolve more structural friction points such as visa processing costs, hotel taxation and long-haul airfare pricing that influence a traveller’s final decision to visit.
A Complementary Piece of a Larger Puzzle
The Air India partnership joins several other government tourism initiatives already underway, including the Swadesh Darshan destination development scheme and targeted air connectivity funding under the UDAN programme, suggesting the ministry is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to tourism growth rather than relying on any single agreement.
Whether the visibility this partnership generates through Air India’s network translates into measurable increases in visitor numbers will likely depend on how effectively the Joint Working Group coordinates promotional efforts and whether accompanying structural reforms around visa processing and travel costs keep pace with the marketing push. For now the agreement offers a promising channel for reach without a clear roadmap for measuring its return.
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