Foreign countries are looking to tap into ‘Indian tourist’ market

Apart from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand which are the go to option for Indian tourists, other countries such as Vietnam, Indonesia, Iran, Kenya, Russia and Germany are considering options that reduce the bureaucratic procedures necessary for travel by not making visas a requirement for visiting the country. 

There has been a 227% increase in outbound travel between January 2023 and June 2023 among Indians as per D’Souza of SOTC Travel. Indians have emerged as the second largest group visiting the United States of America (USA) during this time period. “Every destination that I go to, I’m asked about getting Indian travellers there. Whether that’s Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, Australia or Singapore. Everybody’s thinking about how they might have potentially lost out on getting the Chinese travellers for a certain period. The Chinese were the number one source market for many destinations globally, and now they would like to focus on getting Indian travellers,” Laura Houldsworth, MD, Asia Pacific (APAC) at Booking.com stated. 

The trend to opt for foreign destinations for travel is not just prevalent among Indians in the big cities but also among Indians in the Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities. The expansion of the Indian middle class is cited as a factor responsible for these figures.