More Indians than ever are going on holiday abroad – so where are they heading and why?

By Ross Bennett-Cook*
Travel is on the rise again. According to the UN’s tourism agency, international travel for all purposes reached 97% of its pre-pandemic level in the first quarter of 2024. In some regions such as Africa and Europe, arrivals are already surpassing these levels.
Indian travellers, in particular, are adding to this growing trend – no nation’s outbound tourism market is growing faster. In response to this rapidly expanding travel boom, Indian airlines ordered record numbers of new planes in 2024.
The Indian travel market is gigantic, with its middle class now representing 31% of the country’s population. This figure is expected to increase to 60% by 2047, meaning there will be more than 1 billion middle-class Indians by the middle of the century.
For budding Indian tourists, the future of travel looks exciting. But for the many destinations already besieged by overtourism, this new market may be viewed through a more sceptical lense.
Nonetheless, Indian tourists spent US$33.3 billion (£25.3 billion) in 2023, and many destinations are recognising their potential. In April, for example, Japan introduced a new e-visa system for Indian tourists in the hopes of increasing arrivals.
Two months earlier, Dubai created a five-year, multiple-entry tourist visa tailored to Indian visitors. South Africa’s simplified visa scheme will also start in 2025, while other nations including Malaysia, Kenya, Thailand and Iran have scrapped visa requirements for Indian tourists entirely.
The evidence suggests these schemes work. Tour operator Thomas Cook reported in May that Indian demand for holidays in Georgia has surged by a staggering 600% year-on-year since the country launched its e-visa system for Indian tourists in 2015.
Other European markets have been slower to adjust. Europe’s border-free Schengen zone has introduced a new “cascade” system, which will allow Indian visitors who have used a short-stay visa twice in the last three years to now apply for a two-year, multiple-entry tourist visa.
But, while this is a positive step towards easier travel for some Indian tourists, it will have no effect on new travellers. The Schengen visa process can also still take months, requires significant paperwork, and appointments are notoriously difficult to find.
The story is similar for British visas. Many people in India, as well as other applicants, feel the process is too harsh and can be humiliating. Endless amounts of paperwork are required, including bank statements and invitation letters, and rejections are often not explained.
In a study of travel trends in India, online travel platform Booking.com also found that Indian tourists typically book their trip at the last minute. They spend just 30 days planning a holiday on average, compared with 63 days for Americans and 90 days for Brits. Many simply cannot be bothered with time-consuming visa requirements, and are opting for easier and more welcoming destinations instead.
So, where are they going?

Budget airlines flying to relatively nearby destinations have contributed to India’s tourism rush, with south-east Asia increasingly popular. According to Google Trends, Vietnam was the most-researched destination by Indians in 2023.
That year, the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism reported a 231% increase in visitors from India compared with 2019. Other south-east Asian countries such as Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia are seeing similarly huge jumps in arrivals.

Indian travellers are hugely influenced by television and movies, often opting to visit the places they have seen in Bollywood. Despite visa restrictions, the number of Indian tourists visiting Spain jumped by 40% in 2011 after the La Tomatina festival – where participants throw tomatoes at each other – was featured in the popular Hindi movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara.
It has been a similar story for Switzerland. Several Bollywood movies filmed there over the past 50 years have resulted in an Indian tourism love affair with the country. The Swiss tourist board even offers Bollywood tours to the various sites featured in Indian cinema.
While only 9% of Indian travellers focus on long-haul destinations in western Europe, Switzerland has been a top-20 destination for Indian tourists for over a decade.
Other destinations have started using Bollywood actors in their promotional campaigns. Dubai, for example, is promoted by the Indian acting superstar and film producer Shah Rukh Khan. And the heartthrob actor Siddharth Malhotra has been New Zealand’s brand ambassador since 2015.
By 2040, the number of international tourist departures from India could hit 90 million, not far from the 104 million Chinese tourists who travelled in 2019. However, research suggests that Chinese holidaymakers are increasingly deciding to travel at home, meaning Indian tourists may soon overtake them.
As more people in India flock to airport departure lounges, tourist destinations around the world are jostling for position in the race to take their share.
---
*Visiting Lecturer, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster. Source: The Conversation

Comments

When a lake becomes real estate: The mismanagement of Hyderabad’s waterbodies

By Dr Mansee Bal Bhargava* Misunderstood, misinterpreted and misguided governance and management of urban lakes in India —illustrated here through Hyderabad —demands urgent attention from Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), the political establishment, the judiciary, the builder–developer lobby, and most importantly, the citizens of Hyderabad. Fundamental misconceptions about urban lakes have shaped policies and practices that systematically misuse, abuse and ultimately erase them—often in the name of urban development.

'Serious violation of international law': US pressure on Mexico to stop oil shipments to Cuba

By Vijay Prashad In January 2026, US President Donald Trump declared Cuba to be an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to US security—a designation that allows the United States government to use sweeping economic restrictions traditionally reserved for national security adversaries. The US blockade against Cuba began in the 1960s, right after the Cuban Revolution of 1959 but has tightened over the years. Without any mandate from the United Nations Security Council—which permits sanctions under strict conditions—the United States has operated an illegal, unilateral blockade that tries to force countries from around the world to stop doing basic commerce with Cuba. The new restrictions focus on oil. The United States government has threatened tariffs and sanctions on any country that sells or transports oil to Cuba.

When grief becomes grace: Kerala's quiet revolution in organ donation

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* Kerala is an important model for understanding India's diversity precisely because the religious and cultural plurality it has witnessed over centuries brought together traditions and good practices from across the world. Kerala had India's first communist government, was the first state where a duly elected government was dismissed, and remains the first state to achieve near-total literacy. It is also a land where Christianity and Islam took root before they spread to Europe and other parts of the world. Kerala has deep historic rationalist and secular traditions.

Bangladesh goes to polls as press freedom concerns surface

By Nava Thakuria* As Bangladesh heads for its 13th Parliamentary election and a referendum on the July National Charter simultaneously on Thursday (12 February 2026), interim government chief Professor Muhammad Yunus has urged all participating candidates to rise above personal and party interests and prioritize the greater interests of the Muslim-majority nation, regardless of the poll outcomes.

Beyond the conflict: Experts outline roadmap for humane street dog solutions

By A Representative In a direct response to the rising polarization surrounding India’s street dog population, a high-level coalition of parliamentarians, legal experts, and civil society leaders gathered in the capital to propose a unified national framework for humane animal management. The emergency deliberations were sparked by a recent Suo Moto judgment that has significantly deepened the divide between animal welfare advocates and those calling for the removal of community dogs, a tension that has recently escalated into reported violence against both animals and their caretakers in states like Telangana.

Why 20 years later, Rang De Basanti feels less like cinema, more like warning

By Mohd Ziyaullah Khan* This Republic Day , the Rang De Basanti , starring Aamir Khan , completed 20 years since its release. I first watched it in a single-screen theatre in my city—at a time when multiplexes were only just beginning to appear and our town was still waiting for one. It remains my favourite film, and I often revisit it on OTT platforms or television around Independence Day or Republic Day, when the air is thick with rehearsed patriotism. A few days ago, I noticed it streaming again on Jio Hotstar . Released in 2006, it is a film I have watched many times over the years. Yet, like all powerful cinema, returning to it at different stages of life offers a different experience. Twenty years ago, I found it deeply inspiring. In 2026, watching it again felt suffocating. At its core, the film follows a group of Delhi University friends who challenge the might of the central government after one of their own, a flight lieutenant, is killed in a MiG aircraft crash alleged...

Stray dogs, an epsilon (ϵ) problem: Of child labour, and the art of misplaced priorities

By Bhaskaran Raman The Greek alphabet ϵ (epsilon) is used in maths and science to denote a quantity which is not zero, but extremely small *** Since the Supreme Court's interim order on the issue of stray dogs came out on 07 Nov 2025, there have been a range of opinion pieces speaking for the voiceless. Most of them take the stance that there is a "problem" with stray dogs, but that we need a humane solution. I agree with this broadly, but I think we need new terminology to talk about this.

A. R. Rahman's ‘Yethu’ goes viral, celebrating Tamil music on the world stage

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* Good news for Tamil music lovers—the Mozart of Madras is back in the Tamil music industry with his song “Yethu” from the film “Moonwalk.” The track has climbed international charts, once again placing A. R. Rahman on the global stage.

Constitution vs. mining: The trial of environmental justice in Pachama Dadar

By Raj Kumar Sinha* The auction process for the Pachama Dadar bauxite block in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh, was initiated in 2023. Yet a closer examination of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted for this proposed mining project reveals serious procedural and substantive failures that call into question the legitimacy of the entire exercise.

Search This Blog