The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) have declared in a Tourism Committee report that the tourism sector would grow only five per cent in
2008-09, down from the anticipated 15 per cent.

Assocham secretary general D S Rawat said in the report, "The number of inbound tourists from the US has already taken a hit and the situation would be worse next year as the global economic outlook remains grim. As the inbound tourism from the US would fall by 10-15 per cent, the number of tourists from Europe would go down by five per cent," further adding, "outbound tourism from the country would fall to an extent of 5-7% due to the global meltdown. Its pinch was felt during Diwali of 2008 as leisure tourism did not witness much significant movement,"

The states that would be hit badly include Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

However, the chamber, s foreign exchange earnings through tourism would not suffer as the loss from US and Europe will be compensated from other countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.