Travelling behind the curve: Despite the outbound rush, why India’s foreign tourist arrivals are yet to touch pre-Covid levels | Business News
The post-pandemic surge in international travel is a nearly global phenomenon and the story is not too different when it comes to Indians travelling overseas, with outbound Indian travellers’ numbers having exceeded the pre-Covid levels. The picture, however, is not as exciting when it comes to foreign travellers visiting India. In what continues to be a cause of concern for the country’s tourism industry, foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) are yet to catch up with the pre-pandemic levels.
In the first half of 2024, 47.78 lakh foreign tourists visited India, 9.1 per cent higher on the year, but 9.8 per cent lower than the corresponding period of 2019, which was the last full year before the Covid-19 was declared a global pandemic, per data from the Ministry of Tourism. India has evidently lost some of its sheen even as the world is witnessing a period of the so-called ‘revenge travel’ after the pandemic.
In contrast, Indian nationals’ departures from the country in the six months ended June rose 12.3 per cent over the corresponding period of 2019 to 1.50 crore. On a year-on-year basis, the departures were higher by 13.7 per cent. India’s official tourism statistics are released with a lag and June 2024 is the last month for which the data is publicly available.
Industry watchers attribute the divergence in trend between foreign tourist arrivals into India and Indians travelling overseas to a combination of reasons, which include subdued tourist footfalls from Bangladesh and China. While Bangladesh, which accounts for the highest number of FTAs into India, has been grappling with a financial crisis that has seemingly impacted travel demand there, absence of direct flights between India and China has evidently dented the number of Chinese nationals travelling to India.
The other major factor that appears to be at play is other countries in Asia attracting more travellers with easy visa regimes and more value-for-money propositions for tourists. These include some emerging destinations—particularly in Central Asia and Eurasia—that are rapidly growing as international tourism destinations.
“Countries such as Qatar, Dubai, Vietnam and Sri Lanka are drawing tourists with more affordable options and favourable visa policies. These destinations have exceeded their pre-Covid levels, with FTAs in Qatar up 47%, Dubai 11%, Vietnam 4% and Sri Lanka 0.2% in the first half of the current calendar,” CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics said in a recent note. It added that aggressive campaigns by emerging destinations such as Azerbaijan, Georgia and Kazakhstan are competing for tourist spends.
In fact, the number of Indians travelling to such destinations has also shot up significantly in the post-pandemic period. This trend itself lends credence to the argument that the growth being charted by these geographies in terms of international tourist interest has likely hurt foreign tourist arrivals in India.
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Besides simple visa rules and easy connectivity, most of these emerging destinations have an added allure: they cost nearly as much or only moderately higher than a holiday at a popular domestic destination. And Indian airlines are taking notice, increasing the number of routes as well as frequency of flights.
In July, The Indian Express had reported a surge in the number of Indians travelling to Silk Road countries such as Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Georgia, and Southeast Asia’s latest tourism hotspot, Vietnam. Before the pandemic, these destinations largely attracted more discerning travellers from India. But now, with a combination of enhanced direct flight connectivity, swift and hassle-free visa regimes, and relatively more affordable prices than the conventional touristy destinations, these countries are drawing price-sensitive Indian travellers in droves.
Passenger traffic on direct flights from India to Azerbaijan in October-March (H2) 2023-24 (FY24) jumped by a whopping 750 per cent on the year, while for Georgia, it shot up by nearly 200 per cent, according to The Indian Express’s analysis of international air traffic data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The jump was around 115 per cent in the case of Uzbekistan, 108 per cent for Vietnam, and 70 per cent for Kazakhstan. Meanwhile, India’s total outbound passenger traffic on international flights in H2 of FY24 grew 16.5 per cent on the year, per the DGCA data.
“The surge (in the number of Indians travelling overseas) is largely driven by the K-shaped economic recovery, which is playing out in tourism, too. Indians making multiple trips abroad, supported by rising disposable income that has made international travel more affordable and enhanced airline connectivity and streamlined visa processes that have made foreign destinations more accessible,” CRISIL Market Intelligence and Analytics said.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
