India has something to cheer about. The country has moved up six places on World Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Index by securing 34th rank in the latest World Economic Forum report. Two years ago, our rank was 40.

"India remains South Asia's most competitive Travel and Tourism economy. Over 1.5 crore international tourists arrived in India last year. India has better air (33 rank) and ground and port infrastructure (28), international openness (51) and natural (14) and cultural resources (8) compared to global benchmarks," the report says.

Commenting on the good news, entrepreneur Anand Mahindra said, "This is big, big news. We have languished in the rankings for years. Tragic, given that we have attractions enough to justify 5X the number of visitors that we get. Tourism is the highest value-added earner of forex, is a huge employer and is resistant to economic downturns."