Foreign tourist arrivals strongly correlated with travel search: RBI report
- IBEF
- May 23, 2025
Inbound tourism to India has rebounded strongly post-Covid, with search trends and foreign exchange data highlighting its key role in employment and growth. According to a report in the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI's) monthly bulletin for May, there is a strong association between foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) and their travel search volume index to India. Visits by foreign tourists, which dropped due to COVID-19 restrictions in March 2020, saw a revival in November 2021. There has been a significant increase in foreign tourists coming to India in 2023 due to the G20 Summit, meetings, incentives conferences, exhibitions (MICE) events, leisure trips, and the return of business travellers. The ICC Cricket World Cup also boosted India's tourism, with a surge in tourism in the first half of 2024.
Travel and tourism directly and indirectly created 76.17 million jobs in 2022-23, 12.57% of total jobs created during the same period. Foreign exchange earnings from the tourism industry for 2023 reached Rs. 2,32,000 crore (US$ 26.99 billion), marking an increase of over 66% compared to 2022. The research paper shows a significant correlation between FTA and GVA-THTCB (GVA - Trade, Hotels, Transport, Communication and Services related to Broadcasting) for Q4FY21 to Q4FY24 (0.71), supporting the argument that FTAs contribute directly and indirectly to GVA (Gross Value Added).
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
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