India not shining enough for international tourists, arrivals likely to stay flat this year

New Delhi: Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India this year are expected to be flat at most compared with last year, amid global conflicts that have driven up oil prices and made travel more expensive, according to industry insiders. They also demanded the revival of marketing and promotional activities abroad to attract tourists.

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) estimates 8-9 million foreign tourists will visit India in 2026. As per the Ministry of Tourism's provisional estimates, 9.15 million foreign tourists arrived in India in calendar year 2025, falling 8.1% from the prior year and as much as 16.3% from pre-Covid 2019.

This year in April, the first month of the fiscal year, India received about 534,000 foreign tourists, a 31% drop from April 2019 and 14.3% lower compared with a year earlier.

Aashish Gupta, consulting chief executive of FAITH, cited the war in Iran and Ukraine, which have pushed up fuel prices, and consequently international air tickets prices, as well as the absence of global brand marketing of India for the weak estimates.

The buzz is "exceptionally weak", said Rajeev Kohli, joint managing director of Creative Travel, which specialises in inbound travel.

"There is very insignificant to non-existent interest in the destination, as stated by foreign travel agents and the tour operator community. Eight-nine million may be the case, but it's most certainly not a point to rejoice about, given that the destination is still below our pre-Covid numbers," he said. "If we look at real tourist arrivals, we are way off from being a respectable destination by any standards. The complete lack of any marketing or promotions for the last several years has significantly impacted the desirability of the destination."

Cosmos Travels MD Sunil Mishra, however, said he was optimistic that the coming tourist season would be better than last year.

"My expectation is a growth of around 10-15% in inbound tourism compared with the same season last year, provided conditions remain conducive to travel," he said. "Approximately 20% of inbound business is stuck in China because of visa issues. We have high hopes that this issue should be resolved after the BRICS summit is over."

India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit in New Delhi on September 12-13.

In an interview with ET in June, FAITH chairman and Indian Hotels Company CEO Puneet Chhatwal said while travel and tourism have been witnessing "buoyancy" in demand and domestic travel remained "robust" despite ongoing geopolitical conflicts, the largest opportunity for India was attracting its fair share of foreign tourists. India must ramp up international marketing and promotions to realise its tourism potential, he stated.