India’s Domestic Tourists Seeking New Adventures


Over the past decade, India’s domestic tourists have been visiting more states in India and traveling beyond the few 'popular' destinations. While the growth rate of both Foreign and Domestic Tourists have increased at same pace during 2001-2011 (13.6% for Foreign & 13.8% for Domestic), the diversity of locations traveled by Domestic tourists is more so compared to Foreign Tourists where a few destination continue to remain the favorite. In 2001 the three most visited states by Domestic tourists accounted for 61.4% of all domestic tourism, however in 2011 the top three destinations accounted only for 51.6% marking how domestic tourists are now traveling to other locations. Conversely, foreign tourism has become more concentrated on a few select states. In 2001 the top three destinations for foreigners were 46.7% of all foreign tourism which grew to 53.1% by 2011.


State Wise Distribution
Percentage Share of Top 3 states to Total Visits

Tamil Nadu is the only state to consistently rank in the top 3 tourist destinations.

Tourism contributed ₹ 2,178.1 Billion or 6.8% of the country’s GDP in 2013.

India ranks 40th in the world for global tourist traffic; 1/7th that of the US and 1/12th that of France