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Helped by its highly cost-competitive travel environment and rich cultural resources, India has moved up nine places to 31st rank on a global Travel and Tourism Development Index, topped by Japan. Japan is followed by the US, Spain, Australia and France in the top five positions on the World Economic Forum index developed in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Group. While advanced economies continued to dominate the top of the index, some of the strongest momentum is occurring elsewhere, including in China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, the Philippines, Turkiye, Mexico and Brazil, the WEF said. China, India and Mexico also ranked among the top 10 for the number of World Heritage cultural sites. The report said India combines a highly cost-competitive travel environment with rich cultural resources, abundant natural assets and well-distributed tourism demand. "Rapid improvements in tourism infrastructure, cultural assets and business travel resources have helped
Oman has become a popular destination for Indian tourists, with the annual numbers rising by 11 per cent, according to a senior official of that country's Ministry of Heritage and Tourism. Oman welcomed 6.94 lakh Indian visitors in 2025, a rise of 11 per cent over the 2024 figures, according to Yousuf Khalaf Al Mujaizi, Assistant Director of Business Development, Tourism Promotion Directorate. Between January and June 2026, Oman registered 3.81 lakh Indian arrivals, the official told PTI. The growing numbers reflect a deepening tourism relationship between Oman and India rooted in centuries of trade, cultural exchange and people-to-people ties and tourism, he said. Oman plans more travel engagements to sustain the growth, Mujaizi said, adding the two countries are historically linked by maritime commerce in spices, textiles and other goods. "Today, this foundation is evolving into a more structured and commercially meaningful tourism partnership, with active engagement across the
The BRICS Tourism Ministers' meeting, under India's chairship, concluded in Jaipur on Friday with the adoption of the BRICS Tourism Ministers' Communique 2026, also known as the Jaipur Declaration, aimed at strengthening tourism cooperation among member countries. The meeting, chaired by Union Culture and Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, marked the culmination of the BRICS Tourism Track under India's 2026 chairship, which was conducted under the theme "Building for Resilience, Innovation, Cooperation and Sustainability." Tourism ministers and heads of delegation from nine BRICS member states participated in the meeting. Ministerial participation included Brazil's Tourism Minister Gustavo Costa Feliciando, Iran's Minister of Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Reza Salehi Amiri, South Africa's Tourism Minister Patricia De Lille and UAE's Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri. Heads of delegation from China, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Russia also ...
Israel expects tourist arrivals from India to return to pre-war levels by 2027, driven by stronger marketing, better air connectivity, streamlined visa process, and closer bilateral ties, a senior tourism official has said. Israel had witnessed one of its strongest tourism recoveries following the COVID-19 pandemic before the conflict interrupted its growth trajectory, Amruta Bangera, Director of Marketing, Israel Ministry of Tourism, told PTI in Panaji on Saturday. "Around 69,100 Indian visitors travelled to Israel in 2019, while nearly 44,000 visited between January and September 2023, before the (Israel-Gaza) war," she said. "Our recovery following the pandemic was among the strongest across our key source markets, and we were on track to match, or even surpass, pre-pandemic arrival levels," she noted. Had the conflict not interrupted this momentum, we believe Israel would have been well on its way to welcoming over 100,000 Indian visitors annually, Bangera commented. Israel, s