Foreign tourists to India grow, South East Asian countries outscore: CAPA

In 2017, India received 10.2 million foreign tourists. Arrivals grew 15.9 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Excluding visitors from Bangladesh (2.2 million, of whom majority had not come for leisure) foreign tourists inflow grew 8.2 per cent in 2017. 

Aviation consultancy CAPA estimates India received only 2.5 million foreign leisure tourists in 2016, significantly lower than arrivals in South East Asian countries. Other purposes included business and medical-related and visiting friends and relatives. The UK, US, Malaysia, Russia and France were the top nations from where tourists had visited India for leisure purposes in 2016.

In 2017, around 8.5 million leisure tourists from China visited Thailand compared to an estimated 74,000 to India.

Over 60 per cent of India's inbound tourists are from long-haul destinations (flights of over six hours). Most of the largest tourism destinations depend on short and medium-haul markets (0-3 hours flights and 3-6 hours flights).

CAPA estimates 15-19 million foreign tourists will visit India in 2025 on the back of increased air connectivity and increase in popularity of e-visas.