On the occasion of World Tourism Day the Vice President of India, Shri Jagdeep Dhankhar released India Tourism Statistics 2022 on September 27.
Key Highlights
- The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting restrictions saw foreign tourist arrivals in India dip by 44.5% in 2021.
- While in 2020, 2.74 million foreign tourists had visited India, in 2021, the number was 1.52 million.
- In 2021, the top 15 countries from which foreign tourists arrived in India included the U.S., the U.K., Bangladesh, Canada, Nepal, Afghanistan and Australia. These nations accounted for nearly 81% of foreign tourist arrivals in India last year.
- Air travel was the most favoured mode of travel for foreign tourists with 87.5% opting for it.
- The number of Indian nationals departing the country saw a rise in 2021 as compared to 2020. In 2021, 8.55 million Indian nationals departed the country as compared with 7.29 million in 2020 — a 7.3% increase.
- The UAE was the top destination for Indians in 2021, followed by the U.S., Qatar, Oman and the U.K.
- In 2021, foreign exchange earnings (FEE) from tourism were USD 8.797 billion against USD 6.959 billion in 2020, registering a growth of 26.4 per cent.
- The two states with the most domestic tourists visiting are Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh with 140.65 million and 86.12 million, respectively.
- Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu had the highest numbers of foreign tourist visits, with 1.26 million and 1.23 million, respectively.
- With reference to the footfall at various sites under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the report said the Taj Mahal was the most popular centrally-protected ticketed monument for domestic visitors in 2021-22, while the Group of Monuments at Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu was the most visited centrally-protected ticketed monument for foreign visitors during the same period.
- India’s ranking in the global Travel and Tourism Development Index (TTDI) was 54th in 2021, the ‘India Tourism Statistics 2022’ report said.
