1 / 12Well, most of us are already making extensive travel plans to ring in 2026 with a bang. We are expecting to meet friends who have settled abroad, joining family members while they head to holiday destinations and some are even catching up with work mates working remotely at scenic destinations. If you notice, there is one thing in common among all these travellers, which is: As India’s economy grows, Indians are spending more on travel and are looking for new ways to indulge in tourism. (Image: Reuters)
2 / 12We bet you’d agree that Indians are not only exploring the country but are extensively searching for unexplored foreign destinations. And the recently released India Tourism Data Compendium 2025, decodes the exact trends of Indians’ domestic and outbound travel and tourism patterns. Let’s take a look at ten things about how Indians travelled in 2024. (Image: PTI)
3 / 12No 1. Outbound travel boom | In 2024, 30.89 million Indians travelled abroad, which was a 10.79% increase compared to 2023. In fact, India breached the 30 million-mark for the first time since Independence. Notably, the number of Indian travelling abroad has risen by a whopping 1,500% since 1991, when Indian liberalised its economy. Increased disposable income, improved air connectivity and greater exposure to global destinations have been some of the reasons for the exponential surge in international travel. Image: Shutterstock)
4 / 12No 2. West Asia’s dominance | The West Asia continued to account for the largest share of Indian departures in 2024, thanks to the region being a hub of Indian expatriates. Over 14.60 million people, totalling 47.53% of total departures, travelled to West Asia. This was a 13.60% increase compared to 2019 and a 7.62% rise over 2023. Five of the 10 biggest destinations belong to West Asia. The United Arab Emirates continued to be the top destination, attracting nearly 7.8 million Indians in 2024. This was over 25% of the total departures last year. Saudi Arabia was a distant second while Qatar (7th), Kuwait (9th) and Oman (10th) also found a place in the Top 10. (Image: Canva)
5 / 12No 3. New favourites surge | Vietnam is emerging as a top tourist destination for Indians, attracting nearly 4 lakh travellers in 2024. According to the report, the Southeast Asian countries recorded a whopping 324% growth in Indian travellers between 2019 and 2024. Georgia was a close second, welcoming 320% more Indian tourists in the same period. Neighbouring Azerbaijan was third in the list, attracting 283% more Indian travellers in the 2019-2024 period. However, following Azerbaijan’s support to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, there was a 56% drop in Indian tourists between May and August 2025. (Image: Shutterstock)
6 / 12No 4. May travel peak | Data suggests that May is the busiest month for Indian travellers, coinciding with the annual summer holidays. In 2024, over 29.4 lakh Indian travelled abroad, which was 9.53% of total international departures. Between 2019 and 2024, the month of May saw a 23.48% rise in international departures. On the flip side, February saw the least number of Indian departures. In February last year, 23.18 lakh Indians departed for foreign destinations, comprising just 7.51% of total departures. (Image: Shutterstock)
7 / 12No 5. Gateway airports lead | Delhi Airport recorded the highest volume of departures at 7.40 million, accounting for 23.97% of total departures. With 6.23 million departures, Mumbai Airport handled 20.16% of India’s international departures. Cochin Airport was a distant third, with 2.31 million (7.48%) international departures. These three airports facilitated over 15.93 million departures, which translated to 51.61% of total international departures.
8 / 12No 6. Domestic travel explosion | Domestic tourist visits have recorded a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.89% during the 2011–2024 period. In 2024, India recorded 2.94 billion domestic tourist visits, which was 21% higher than the 2019 figure of 2.32 billion. In fact, total domestic tourist visits have more than tripled since 2011. (Image: PTI)
9 / 12No 7. Big states dominate | At 646.81 million, Uttar Pradesh attracted the highest number of domestic tourist visits. India’s most-populated state account for 21.94% of the total domestic tourist visits. Tamil Nadu was a distant second with 306.84 million domestic tourist visits. Karnataka (304.56 million), Andhra Pradesh (290.27 million) and Rajasthan (230.08 million) occupied the third, fourth and fifth position. These five states accounted for 60.38% of the total domestic tourist visits.
10 / 12No 8. Low domestic footfall | Among the larger states (population of at least 50 lakhs), Haryana was the least visited by domestic tourists. The state only recorded 1.89 million domestic tourist visits in 2024, which was nearly 6% less compared to 2023. Assam (7.6 million), Odisha (11 million), Himachal Pradesh (18.04 million) and Kerala (22.24 million) were among the other states less visited by domestic tourists. (Image: Shutterstock)
11 / 12No 9. Heritage crowd-pullers | The Taj Mahal in Agra (6.26 million) was the most visited monument in 2024 for domestic visitors, followed by Sun Temple in Konark (3.57 million) and Qutub Minar in Delhi (3.20 million). All three monuments are managed by the Archaeological Survey of India, which charges an entry fee for the conservation, maintenance and development of tourist facilities. (Image: Shutterstock)
12 / 12No 10. Tourism record ahead | According to the government, India recorded 3.03 billion domestic tourist visits up to August 2025. This means that India’s domestic tourism segment is all set to end on a record-high in 2025. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), total domestic tourist visits will reach 5.2 billion by 2030. This is expected to be accompanied by a surge in domestic tourist spending, which could hit Rs 33.95 trillion in the next 10 years. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
