India's tourism challenge: Foreign arrivals remain below 2019 levels

CMIE data shows that in February 2020, just before the pandemic struck, 1.02 million foreign tourists had arrived in India. In August 2023, the number stood at 640,000

India is yet to touch pre-Covid levels when it comes to foreign tourists visiting the country. The latest data for August 2023, released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), shows that the number of foreign tourists arriving in India has shrunk by 19.7 per cent compared to August 2019, when 0.8 million visited.

However, there has been a notable increase in Indians tra­velling abroad. In August 2023, 2.5 million Indians travelled abroad — a 6 per cent jump from August 2019 (see chart 1).

CMIE data shows that in February 2020, just before the pandemic struck, 1.02 million foreign