Maharashtra, West Bengal recorded highest number of foreign visitors in 2024: Government data | Delhi News

NEW DELHI: Taj Mahal tops the list in terms of visitor numbers for both domestic (6.26 million) and foreign (0.64 million) tourists in the financial year 2024-25 among the centrally protected ticketed monuments.Other popular sites for domestic visitors include the Sun Temple, Konark (3.5 million) and Qutub Minar (3.2 million). Foreign visitors favoured Agra Fort (0.2 million) and Qutub Minar (0.2 million) following the Taj Mahal. This data is part of the India Tourism Data Compendium 2025 released by the ministry of tourism on Saturday to mark “World Tourism Day”.Uttar Pradesh (646.8 million) and Tamil Nadu (306.8 million) were the top two states in terms of domestic tourist visits. Maharashtra (3.7 million) and West Bengal (3.1 million) recorded the highest number of foreign tourist visits among all states/UTs.After foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) marked a significant downturn due to the Covid-19 pandemic, with numbers declining by nearly 75% to just 2.7 million in 2020, a gradual recovery was observed. FTAs rebounded sharply to 6.44 million in 2022 (324% increase) and reached 9.95 million in 2024, reflecting a 4.5% rise from 2023. Foreign tourist arrivals stood at almost 11 million in 2019.Arrivals of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) in India reached 10.6 million in 2024, reflecting a 13.2% increase over 2023 and a substantial 52.1% rise compared to the pre-pandemic level of 2019. “This strong rebound highlights the growing confidence of the Indian diaspora in travelling to India post-pandemic,” the compendium said.Therefore, International Tourist Arrivals (ITAs) in India which includes both Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) and arrivals of NRIs, reached 20.57 million in 2024, reflecting an increase of 8.89% over the previous year and 14.82% compared to 2019.The region-wise analysis for 2024 shows that the majority of foreign travellers to India came from Asia and the Pacific, accounting for 43% of total FTAs, followed by Europe (27%) and North America (23%).While 45% of visits accounted for leisure, holiday and recreation, reaffirming India’s position as a preferred global travel destination, visits by the Indian diaspora (OCI) formed the second-largest segment at 28.49%, reflecting enduring personal and familial ties.India’s outbound travel sector was 26.9 million in 2019. However, the sector experienced an unprecedented decline in 2020, with departures dropping by almost 73% due to the pandemic. A strong recovery began as restrictions eased, with departures rising sharply by 152.6% in 2022 and surpassing pre-pandemic levels in 2023, reaching 27.8 million—a 29.05% year-on-year increase.In 2024, outbound travel from India continued its upward trajectory, recording almost 31 million departures, a growth of 10.79% over the previous year.In 2024, the United Arab Emirates remained the leading destination for Indian nationals, followed by Saudi Arabia, the United States, Thailand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Canada, Kuwait, and Oman. Together, these top 10 countries accounted for approximately 71.1% of all Indian Nationals’ Departures during the year.Age related data shows that in 2024, Indian nationals travelling abroad were predominantly from the working-age population, with the 25–34 age group accounting for the highest share (27.4%). On the other hand Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) show the highest share of arrivals from the 35–44 years (20.6%) and 45–54 years (20.2%) segment.

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