The world’s most populous nation’s position as a crucial growth market for a travel and tourism industry that is feeling the pain of China’s slower-than-expected re-opening is being cemented by the influx of Indian tourists into Southeast Asia.

Companies are leveraging India’s expanding middle class and rising purchasing power, according to executives and experts, from airlines like IndiGo (INGL.NS) and Thai Airways (THAI.BK) to hospitality chains offering thousands of rooms.

“Southeast Asia is obviously very well positioned for a lot of the growth that is inevitably going to come from India,” aviation analyst Brendan Sobie told an industry conference last month.

Prior to the COVID-19 epidemic, the travel and tourism sector made up roughly 12% of the gross domestic product in numerous Southeast Asian economies. According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, it also provides jobs for more than 40 million residents of the area.

China supported the industry for around ten years, but official data from four Southeast Asian nations indicates a sluggish recovery, with the number of Chinese visitors in May being at least 60% fewer than in the corresponding month of 2019.

India might surpass China “in terms of outbound tourism growth” over the following ten years, however connectivity would be limited due to the lack of airports, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) stated in a research released in May.

“India could become the story in the decade after the pandemic for tourism,” it stated.