Tourism in India accounts for 1.40% of total international arrivals

New Delhi: Tourism in India accounts for 1.40 per cent of total international arrivals and contributes 2.02 per cent to worldwide tourism receipts, data from the tourism ministry shows.

In 2024, India’s Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism amounted to $35.016 billion, registering a growth of 8.78 per cent over $32.189 billion in 2023, data from the India Tourism Data Compendium, released by the ministry on Saturday shows. 

The dataset, annually released by the ministry’s research team, shows that the countries that accounted for the largest number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India in 2024 are France, Spain, United States, Turkey, Italy, Mexico, China, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Over 20.57 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2024, which is a hike of 8.89 per cent from 2023 and an increase of 14.82 per cent from 2019. 

Among these, 10.62 million arrivals were of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs), which is an increase of 13.22 per cent over 2023 and a rise of 52.15 per cent compared to the pre-pandemic level of 2019. Additionally, 30.89 million Indians travelled abroad in 2024, which is a growth of 10.79 per cent over 2023. 

Domestically, India registered 2948.19 million domestic tourist visits in 2024, marking a 17.51 per cent increase over 2508.82 million visits in 2023.  Uttar Pradesh (646.81 million), Tamil Nadu (306.84 million), Maharashtra (3.71 million) and West Bengal (3.12 million) recorded the highest number of foreign tourist visits among all states and UTs. 

Among the Centrally Protected Ticketed Monuments, Taj Mahal led in visitor numbers for both domestic (6.26 million) and foreign (0.645 million) tourists in 2024, followed by Konark’s Sun Temple (3.57 million) and Qutub Minar (3.20 million) in domestic arrivals. Foreign visitors favoured Agra Fort (0.22 million) and Qutub Minar (0.22 million) following the Taj Mahal. 

The Compendium, citing Global Tourism rankings by the World Economic Forum in their biennial Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) 2024, shows that India ranks in terms of global tourism rankings, and is one of only three countries to score in the top 10 across all resource pillars; India ranked 6th in Natural Resources, 9th in Cultural Resources, and 9th in Non- Leisure Resources. 

“The country also excels in price competitiveness (18th) and infrastructure, with strong rankings in Air Transport (26th) and Ground and Port Infrastructure (25th), bolstered by significant government investments, including 517 new air routes, 157 airports, and a road network expansion of approximately 145,000 kilometres,” the report states.