India has started a new digital network for the tourism sector called the National Digital Tourism Stack (NDTS). It is an initiative of the Ministry of Tourism developed with the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC).
The NDTS was launched by Union Tourism and Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in New Delhi on World Tourism Day. The main idea behind this network is to make travelling in India easier by bringing different tourism services together on one digital system. At present, visitors usually have to use different websites and apps for different things during a trip. For example, one app may be used for booking flights, another for hotels, another for cabs and another for local activities. NDTS is trying to reduce this problem by connecting these different services through a common digital network. The government has a vision of “One ticket, One pass”, where travellers can get easier access to different services during their journey.
The network will cover many types of tourism services like, hotels, home-stays, tourist places, tour guides, local experiences, museums and other travel related services. It will also have facilities for digital payments, ratings and reviews. Information about tourism service providers can be verified, and travellers will also have a system to raise complaints if they face any problem.
The government has set a target to connect around 23,000 tourism offerings by the end of 2028. This will include around 14,000 tourism experiences and 9,000 home-stays. Already, more than 1,000 tourism experiences are available through the ONDC Network. Among these are 170 monuments under the Archaeological Survey of India and 29 museums.
AI will also have an important role in this project. It can help tourists in finding places, planning their trips and getting information in different languages. AI may also be used to suggest travel plans according to a person's interests, budget and the type of activities they want to do. Bhuvnesh Kumar who is the Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism, said that artificial intelligence, digital platforms and the use of data can help make tourism more accessible and personalised for people.
The NDTS will not be launched everywhere at the same time. It will be developed in different stages. The first phase is planned from October to December 2026. After that, a pilot project is expected to run from January to June 2027. The government plans to start expanding the network across India from July 2027, and the nationwide expansion is expected to continue until December 2028.
Tourism is already an important sector for India's economy and provides employment to a large number of people. According to the Ministry of Tourism, tourism contributed around 5.22% of India's GDP in 2023-24 and supported about 8.46 crore jobs.
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