India's rising middle class, travel savvy youth enter into $15-trln travel opportunity

INDIA'S rising middle class and younger population eager to travel are helping place the country among the most important contributors to the next wave of global leisure travel growth, according to a new report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

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The study estimates that annual global consumer spending on leisure travel will triple from $5 trillion in 2024 to $15 trillion in 2040, making it larger than the pharmaceutical and fashion industries.

BCG's global review of leisure travel is based on a survey of nearly 5,000 travellers. It finds that the increase in travel spending is being driven by multiple factors, including a growing emphasis on experiences over material goods, and the emergence of a large middle class in several developing countries.

"Emerging markets are really going to drive significant growth, countries like China, India and Saudi Arabia," said Lara Koslow, senior partner at BCG and one of the authors of the report. In an interview with Bloomberg, Koslow said the expansion of the middle class in these regions is giving rise to a new group of leisure travellers, similar to how middle-class growth in the United States once led to the development of a resort culture there.