Indian Tourist

Nearly 1.9 million Indian tourists visited the U.S. in the first ten months of 2024, a nearly 48% rise from 2019, according to data from the U.S. National Trade and Tourism Office (NTTO)

The contribution of tourism sector to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2022-23 stood at five per cent, the government informed Parliament on Monday. In a written response in the Lok Sabha, Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat also said that in 2023, the total foreign tourist arrivals stood at 9.52 million. Among these, tourists who travelled for leisure holiday and recreation accounted for 46.2 per cent while the share of Indian diaspora was 26.9 per cent, according to data shared in the response. The minister said as per the third Tourism Satellite Account, 2015-16, the percentage contribution of tourism sector to the country's gross domestic product (GDP) for 2018-19 stood at 5.01 per cent, while the share for 2022-23 was five per cent. For 2020-21, it was 1.50 per cent and 1.75 per cent for 2021-22. In response to another query, the minister said that to facilitate the visit of foreign nationals to come to India for medical treatment, the government

With more seats being added, the average base fare has also come down from $153 last year to $144 now

An Indian tourist bus which plunged into the Marsyangdi River in central Nepal last week, killing 25 Indian pilgrims, was pulled out on Monday, authorities said. The bus with an Uttar Pradesh registration was pulled out from the river by using a crane after closing the Mugling-Anbukhaireni road section of the national highway for four hours since Monday morning, according to Deputy Spokesperson of Armed Police Force Shailendra Thapa. The bus veered off the highway and fell into the fast-flowing Marsyangdi River at Abu Khaireni in the Tanahun district of the Gandaki province last Friday. The accident killed 25 pilgrims from Maharashtra. The driver and his assistant from Uttar Pradesh were also killed. The accident also injured 16 others. The accident site lies on the national highway, some 90 km west of Kathmandu. Initially, a single crane was used to pull the bus out, but then another crane was put to use to complete the task. Passengers were stranded on the highway for hours whi

Tourism South Africa has set an ambitious goal of attracting 100,000 Indian tourists in 2024

The temporary extension follows the success of the initial waiver in November last year. Indian and Taiwanese tourists are normally eligible to stay in Thailand for 15 days under a visa-on-arrival

Singapore is hoping to cross the pre-Covid level of tourist arrivals from India this year, with a strong focus on family, MICE and film tourism segment, a top official of the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has said. In 2023, Singapore saw a footfall of 1.07 million visitors from India, which is 76 per cent of the pre-Covid era. During January-March, 2024 over 2,45,380 Indians have already visited Singapore, which is 81.8 per cent recovery from the pre-Covid period. The 'Garden City' had received 2,99,990 Indian tourists during January-March 2019. "It's not difficult to achieve (pre-Covid levels of tourist arrivals from India this year) with an increase in the number of Indian passports, the rise of the middle class and strong connectivity between both the countries," STB's regional director - India, Middle East, South Asia and Africa, Markus Tan told PTI over a telephonic conversation. Singapore Tourism Board (STB) is also focusing on Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibition

When queried about the Indian market's role in Saudi Arabia, Aldabbagh asserted, 'India is a priority market for Saudi. Last year alone, we welcomed 1.5 million visitors from India

Trkiye, a popular tourist destination, is eyeing a 30 per cent jump in arrivals of Indian travellers in 2024 and looking for partnerships for tourism growth in the two countries, a senior official said. In an interview with PTI, Turkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism Deputy General Director of Promotion Onur Gozet said that the country remains committed to foster bilateral ties in tourism and seamless travel experiences between the two countries. "We attach great importance to the development of our bilateral tourism relations. Therefore, as the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, we are ready to support the Indian tourism authority to increase the number of Turkish visitors in India," Gozet said. He said they have been in close cooperation with the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), the biggest tourism association in India. Gozet said there is an increasing popularity of Trkiye among Indian tourists with arrivals growing by 17 per cent to an estimated 2.7 lakh visitors in 20

New York City, which marked 93 per cent recovery of the City's record 2019 visitation levels, is expecting 14 per cent growth in footfalls from India this year to around 3,83,000 travellers with its diverse offerings. The City welcomed 3,36,000 travellers from India in 2023, New York City Tourism + Conventions said in a statement. Overall, New York City welcomed 61.8 million travellers in 2023, marking a recovery of 93 per cent of the City's record 2019 visitation levels, which remains on track to welcome 64.5 million visitors this year. "We were pleased to be back in India, a rapidly growing feeder market for New York City tourism, for our annual sales mission. Recently, we introduced the Travel Trade Academy program, enriched with Hindi subtitles to ensure that the Indian travel trade can fully engage with the five-borough destination. By incorporating Hindi subtitles, we aim to empower the trade to adeptly respond to evolving consumer demands," Tourism Market Development for New

Eiffel Tower is the first merchant to offer UPI payments in France, and the service will soon be extended to other merchants in the tourism and retail space across France and Europe

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its effort to attract tourists from India and is eyeing to welcome 7.5 million travellers from the country by 2030, Saudi Tourism Authority Trade Markets Director, India and the Subcontinent, Meshaal Qureshi said on Wednesday. India is the third biggest source of tourists in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. "India is Saudi's third biggest source market in the APAC region, with 1.18 million visits in 2023 alone so far, while more than 1.88 million expats from India live and work in Saudi," Qureshi said while addressing Nusuk roadshow. "We are pleased to see increasing demand for travel from India to Saudi for spiritual and leisure purposes especially as we aim to welcome 7.5 million Indian travellers by 2030," he said. In 2022, Saudi Arabia saw one million Indian visitors who were the highest spenders among all its source markets globally due to the Visit Friends and Relatives (VFR) segment, he said. Qureshi said with collaboration and innovation, Saudi .

The city witnesses a large number of Indian tourists visiting friends and relatives, staying in the nearby Silicon Valley

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he wants to organise Kashi Sansad Tourist Guide competition in the city so that people will know that a culture of guides is developing in Kashi

Thailand may also mull other measures to boost Indian tourist arrivals, such as offering tax exemptions on jewelry imported for Indian weddings held in Thailand

Indian tourists spent more than 6.23 lakh nights in Germany in 2022, a 209 per cent increase compared to the previous year, but the number was still 65 per cent of the pre-pandemic levels, according to new data from the German National Tourist Board. Romit Theophilus, director India for the German National Tourist Office (GNTO), said Indians spent more than 2.01 lakh nights in Germany in 2021. "The record level of 2019 with over 9.61 lakh overnight stays by Indians has not yet been reached. However, we have already reached 65 per cent of the level of 2019, leaving room for continuous growth as Indians return to travelling. There is huge demand among Indians for international travel," Theophilus said at a press conference here. "Germany is an attractive destination with exceptional offers. Our goal in the medium term is to reach the number of overnight stays we had before the COVID-19 pandemic. We have achieved a remarkable increase this year compared to 2021, which shows that our ..

Flock to places travelogues often skip, encouraged by better accessibility and proliferation of package tours

This is 62 per cent of 2019's first quarter figure of the 4.7 million people who visited Singapore in the first quarter of 2019

Assam Tourism Development Corporation is eyeing over one crore domestic traveller footfall in 2022-23, following a surge in tourists' interest in visiting the state. "Till January of this fiscal, we have hosted over 88 lakh domestic visitors, which is more than double of what we received during FY20 (51 lakh). This is a positive sign as more and more people are looking at exploring the North East and Assam as a destination," Tourism and Managing Director of Assam Tourism Development Corporation Secretary Padmapani Bora told PTI. This is mainly due to the confidence people have gained about the state's law and order situation, he said, adding that "this has given us confidence that the domestic tourist footfall is likely to cross over one crore in FY23." Assam had witnessed visitor footfall of 13.5 lakh during 2020-21, and 17 lakh during 2021-22, according to data, he stated. The state, mainly known as the gateway to the North East, is well connected to the rest of the country with

Although China eased border curbs recently, many countries are still wary of allowing Chinese travellers