Abstract

Tourism projects and initiatives face different types of implementations and operational problems in India. The biggest factor that poses a threat to the development of sustainable tourism is the lack of appropriate and efficient finances. Such challenges have resulted in many famous tourist destinations dyeing a slow death, for instance, Angkor Wat. The main objective of tourism finance is to categorically assess the entire tourism project’s capital requirement and to identify and evaluate the sources from which it could be financed. It involves a meticulous identification and comprehension of the capital structure mix (Equity, Debt, Preference shares, Hybrid instruments, among others) which could help conceive the optimal mix for financing a particular tourism project. Proper attention should be paid to the cost of capital of the entire project while deciding on the capital structure mix. The proposed research methodology involves reviewing the different studies conducted so far in the domain of sustainable travel and tourism financing. The paper should be useful for the tourism sector-specific companies improve their efficiency with respect to both sourcing finance as well as developing robust evaluation mechanisms. This would further help in maintaining and promoting long-term financial sustainability in the particular companies.

Keywords: Fintech, green financing, environment management, sustainable tourism, financial innovation, ESG, sustainable development.