Navigating the Regulatory Void: A Critical Appraisal of India’s Tourism Law Framework and the Imperative for Legislative Reform

Abstract

Despite contributing approximately 7.8% to India’s GDP and generating direct and indirect employment for over 87.5 crore individuals, the tourism industry operates within a conspicuous regulatory void without any single, unified legislative instrument governing its conduct at the national level. Instead, the sector navigates a fragmented constellation of central and state legislation, administrative guidelines, and non-binding policy instruments that collectively fail to address the sector’s unique complexity and dynamism. This article undertakes a critical appraisal of India’s existing tourism law framework, examining constitutional dimensions, policy contours, and the perspectives of key stakeholders. The structural deficit arising from the absence of a dedicated national Tourism Act is analysed in depth, with attention to its concrete implications for consumer protection, tourist safety, environmental governance, and India’s competitive positioning as an international tourist destination. Drawing on comparative analysis of tourism legislation in the Maldives, France, Kenya, and Australia, alongside doctrinal legal analysis and policy evaluation, the article demonstrates the inadequacy of the current patchwork statutory regime comprising debates around the Tourism (Development and Regulation) Draft Bill, the Contract Act, the Consumer Protection Act, various environmental statutes, and sundry state tourism enactments. A coherent framework architecture for a comprehensive national Tourism Act is proposed, with recommendations addressing regulatory institutionalisation, multi-stakeholder governance, digital tourism regulation, accessible tourism standards, and crisis management provisions.