STATUS AND SCENARIO OF TOURISM INDUSTRY IN INDIA – A CASE STUDY OF UTTARAKHAND Dr Suneel Kumar*, Gaurav Rana**, Hashir Mairaj*** (Abstract) The main objective of the research paper is to examine the status, scenario and growth rate of tourism industry in India and Uttarakhand in particular. The socio economic impact and effect of Himalayan Tsunami on the tourism industry in the state of Uttarakhand has also been covered in the present study. During 2012 the foreign tourist data was just 2.38 million but it augmented three fold in a decade to 6.97 million in 2013 with an average annual growth of 28.78%. At present India’s global ranking in terms of total tourist arrival is 42 and in terms of FEE it got 16 th position which means that India is one of the most favoured nations of the world in top 50 tourist countries. India can increase its standing in the list of most favoured nation if it will take care of negative incidents. The Uttarakhand tourism industry also shows the almost same trend as in case of Indian tourism but instead of continuous increase in the total number of tourist arrival it shows decrease in number (2008-2013) because in this hilly state there were so many negative incidents happened like continuous landslides and cloud outburst in rainy season and as it is a tourist dominant state of all the seasons. The total tourist arrival in Uttarakhand is doubled in a decade but if we exclude 2013 then we can observe that it tripled in 2012 but due to Himalayan tsunami the tourism trend in Uttarakhand is badly affected by a negative growth rate of - 28.07%. Keywords: Himalayan Tsunami, Average annual growth rate, Foreign exchange earnings, Tourist protected area *Dr Suneel Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (University Of Delhi), Sheikh Sarai Phase II, New Delhi 110017. drsuneel.sbsc@gmail.com +91-9990842167 **Gaurav Rana, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (University Of Delhi), Sheikh Sarai Phase II, New Delhi 110017. gauravranadse@gmail.com ***Hashir Mairaj, Assistant Professor, Department of Commerce, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College (University Of Delhi), Sheikh Sarai Phase II, New Delhi 110017. Hash.mairaj@gmail.com