Tourism in India

Chitrakote Falls in Jagdalpur the widest waterfall of India in Chhattisgarh

view of Harangi Elephant Camp and Tree Park in Coorg

Shola Grasslands and forests in the Kudremukha National Park, Western Ghats, Karnataka during Monsoon season

The Taj Mahal, Agra. The epitome of Mughal architecture.

Pangong Tso lake in Ladakh

Valley of Flowers is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

One of the Forts of Maharashtra near Nashik

White Sand Beach, Bakkhali , West Bengal

Kas Plateau, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Pahalgam is a popular tourist destination and hill station.

Munnar hill station, a very popular hill station in India

Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden is a tulip garden in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. It is the largest tulip garden in Asia spread over an area of about 30 ha (74 acres).

Chambal River Valley in Garadia Mahadev Temple, Kota, Rajasthan very popular destination in rajasthan

Tourism in India is 4.6% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP). Unlike other sectors, tourism is not a priority sector for the Government of India. Forbes magazine ranked India as the 7th most beautiful country in 'The 50 Most Beautiful Countries In The World' rankings. The World Travel and Tourism Council calculated that tourism generated ₹13.2 lakh crore (US$170 billion) or 5.8% of India's GDP and supported 32.1 million jobs in 2021. Even though, these numbers were lower than the pre-pandemic figures; the country's economy witnessed a significant growth in 2021 after the massive downturn during 2020. The sector is predicted to grow at an annual rate of 7.8% to ₹33.8 lakh crore (US$420 billion) by 2031 (7.2% of GDP). India has established itself as the 5th largest global travel healthcare destination with an estimated market size of around $9 billion in 2019, out of the total global travel healthcare industry of $44.8 billion(2019). In 2014, 184,298 foreign patients travelled to India to seek medical treatment.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, over 6.19 million and 1.52 million foreign tourists arrived in India in 2022 and 2021 respectively compared to 10.93 million in 2019, representing a -44% degrowth. India has bigger domestic tourist population so it's not dependent on foreign tourist much. This makes India the 22nd most visited nation in the world and 8th in Asia and Pacific. Domestic tourist visits to all states and union territories numbered 1,036.35 million in 2012, an increase of 16.5% from 2011. In 2012, National Geographic's Traveller magazine named the state Kerala as one of the "ten paradises of the world" and "50 must see destinations of a lifetime". In 2014, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were the most popular states for tourists. Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Agra and Jaipur were the five most visited cities of India by foreign tourists during the year 2015. As of 2017, worldwide, Delhi is ranked 28th by the number of foreign tourist arrivals, while Mumbai is ranked 30th, Chennai 43rd, Agra 45th, Jaipur 52nd and Kolkata 90th.

The World Economic Forum's Travel and Tourism Development Index 2021, which replaced its previous Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, ranks India 54th out of 117 countries overall. The last edition of the Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, published in 2019, had ranked India 34th out of 140 countries overall. The report ranked the price competitiveness of India's tourism sector 13th out of 140 countries. It mentioned that India has quite good air transport infrastructure (ranked 33rd), particularly given the country's stage of development, and reasonable ground and port infrastructure (ranked 28th). The country also scored high on natural resources (ranked 14th), and cultural resources and business travel (ranked 8th). The World Tourism Organization reported that India's receipts from tourism during 2012 ranked 16th in the world, and 7th among Asian and Pacific countries.

The Ministry of Tourism designs national policies for the development and promotion of tourism. In the process, the Ministry consults and collaborates with other stakeholders in the sector including various central ministries/agencies, state governments, union territories and private sector representatives. Concerted efforts are being made to promote niche tourism products such as rural, cruise, medical and eco-tourism. The Ministry of Tourism maintains the Incredible India campaign focused on promoting tourism in India.

Visa policy of India

India requires citizens of most countries to hold a valid passport and apply for a travel visa at their local Indian embassy or consulate before their visit. Travellers can apply directly by mail or in person, or through their local travel services company. In 2014, India implemented an online method for citizens of 156 countries to apply for an e-Tourist Visa.

Nationals of Bhutan, Maldives, and Nepal do not require a travel visa to enter India. Citizens of Afghanistan, Argentina, Bangladesh, DPR Korea, Jamaica, Maldives, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, South Africa and Uruguay are not required to pay a fee when obtaining an Indian visa.

During the pandemic year 2020, India had access to just 23 countries for travel, whereas now the Indian passport holders can travel visa-free to 60 countries.

A Protected Area Permit (PAP) is required to enter the states of Nagaland and Sikkim and some parts of the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. A Restricted Area Permit (RAP) is required to enter the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and parts of Sikkim. Special permits are needed to visit the Lakshadweep islands.

e-Tourist Visa

As a measure to boost tourism, the Indian Government implemented a new visa policy in November 2014, allowing tourists and business visitors to obtain a "visa on arrival" at 28 international airports, by acquiring an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) online before arrival, without having to visit an Indian consulate or visa centre. In April 2015, the "visa on arrival" scheme was renamed "e-Tourist Visa" (or "e-TV") to avoid confusion.

The e-Tourist Visa facility requires a tourist to apply online on a secure Government of India website, at least four to thirty days before the date of travel. If approved, the visitor must print and carry the approved visa with their travel documents. The visa allows holders of an ETA to enter and stay anywhere in India for a period of ninety days except for citizens of US, UK, Japan and Canada. Citizens of these countries can stay for up to 180 days at a time. an ETA can be obtained twice in a single calendar year.

India first introduced its "visa on arrival" facility on 27 November 2014, to citizens of the following countries: Australia, Brazil, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Fiji, Finland, Germany, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Norway, Oman, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Russia, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vanuatu and Vietnam. On 30 July 2015, the facility was extended to China, Macau and Hong Kong. On 15 August 2015, the facility was further extended to citizens of Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Belgium, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, East Timor, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Jamaica, Malta, Malaysia, Mongolia, Monaco, Mozambique, the Netherlands, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Sri Lanka, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Sweden, Taiwan, Tanzania, Turks and Caicos Islands, the United Kingdom, Uruguay and Venezuela. The facility should eventually be expanded to about 180 countries.

As a result of the new visa policy, 56,477 tourists arrived on an e-Tourist Visa during October 2015, compared with 2,705 tourist arrivals during October 2014 (just before the facility was introduced), representing a 1987.9% increase. During the period from January to October 2015, a total of 258,182 tourists arrived on an e-Tourist Visa, a 1073.8% increase on the 21,995 tourist arrivals during the same period in 2014 (before the e-Tourist Visa was available).

Statistics

Domestic tourists

During 2021, the number of Domestic Tourist Visits to the States/UTs was 67,76,32,981(677 million approx.) as compared to 61,02,16,157(610 million approx.) in 2020 registering a growth of 11.05%.

Foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange earnings

Foreign tourist arrivals in India (1997–20222)
Year	Arrivals (millions)	% change
1997	2.37	3.8
1998	2.36	−0.7
1999	2.48	5.2
2000	2.65	6.7
2001	2.54	−4.2
2002	2.38	−6.0
2003	2.73	14.3
2004	3.46	26.8
2005	3.92	13.3
2006	4.45	13.5
2007	5.08	14.3
2008	5.28	4.0
2009	5.17	−2.2
2010	5.78	11.8
2011	6.31	9.2
2012	6.58	4.3
2013	6.97	5.9
2014	7.68	10.2
2015	8.03	4.5
2016	8.80	9.7
2017	10.04	14.0
2018	10.56	5.2
2019	10.93	3.5
2020	2.74	-74.9
2021	1.52	-55.4
2022	6.19	307.2

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism in India (1997–2020)
Year	Earnings (US$ million)	% change	Earnings (₹ crores)	% change
1997	2,889	2.0	10,511	4.6
1998	2,948	2.0	12,150	15.6
1999	3,009	2.1	12,951	6.6
2000	3,460	15	15,626	20.7
2001	3,198	−7.6	15,083	−3.5
2002	3,103	−3.0	15,064	−0.1
2003	4,463	43.8	20,729	37.6
2004	6,170	38.2	27,944	34.8
2005	7,493	21.4	33,123	18.5
2006	8,634	15.2	39,025	17.8
2007	10,729	24.3	44,362	13.7
2008	11,832	10.3	51,294	15.6
2009	11,136	−5.9	53,754	4.8
2010	14,193	27.5	66,172	23.1
2011	16,564	16.7	83,036	25.5
2012	17,737	7.1	95,607	15.1
2013	18,445	4.0	107,563	12.5
2014	20,236	9.7	120,367	11.9
2015	21,071	4.1	134,844	12
2016	22,923	9.1	154,146	14.3
2017	27,310	19.1	177,874	15.4
2018	28,586	4.7	194,881	9.6
2019	30,058	5.1	211,661	8.6
2020	6,958	-76.8	50,136	-76.3

Source countries for foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2019
Rank	Country	Number	Share in %
1	Bangladesh	2,577,727	23.58
2	European Union	2,430,002	21.12
3	United States	1,512,032	13.83
4	United Kingdom	1,000,292	9.15
5	Sri Lanka	380,121	3.38
6	Australia	367,241	3.36
7	Canada	351,859	3.22
8	China (mainland)	339,442	3.11
9	Malaysia	334,579	3.06
10	Germany	264,973	2.42
11	Russia	251,319	2.3
Total of top 10		7,330,325	67.06

Foreign and domestic tourist visits by State

Share of top 10 states/UTs of India in number of foreign tourist visits in 2017
Rank	State/Union Territory	Number	Share in %
1	Maharashtra	5,078,514	18.9
2	Tamil Nadu	4,860,455	18.1
3	Uttar Pradesh	3,104,062	13.3
4	Delhi	2,379,169	10.2
5	Rajasthan	1,489,500	6.4
6	West Bengal	1,475,311	6.3
7	Kerala	977,479	4.2
8	Bihar	923,737	4.0
9	Karnataka	636,502	2.7
10	Goa	541,480	2.3
Total of top 10 states		20,620,863	88.4
Others		2,705,300	11.6
Total		23,326,163	100

Share of top 10 states/UTs of India in number of domestic tourist visits in 2017
Rank	State/Union Territory	Number	Share in %
1	Tamil Nadu	345,061,140	20.9
2	Uttar Pradesh	233,977,619	14.2
3	Karnataka	179,980,191	10.9
4	Andhra Pradesh	165,433,898	10.0
5	Maharashtra	119,191,539	7.2
6	Telangana	85,266,596	5.2
7	Madhya Pradesh	78,038,522	4.7
8	West Bengal	79,687,645	4.8
9	Gujarat	48,343,121	2.9
10	Rajasthan	45,916,573	2.8
Total of top 10 states		1,380,896,844	83.6
Others		271,588,513	16.4
Total		1,652,485,357	100