Indian air carriers expand rapidly but foreign tour arrivals fall badly

Indian airlines are experiencing rapid expansion, adding new destinations and increasing flight frequencies to existing routes, fueled by the growing demand from a burgeoning middle class eager to travel abroad for holidays. Popular destinations like Bali and Baku are now more accessible, thanks to the aggressive expansion strategies of Indian carriers.

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However, despite the new heights being reached in outbound air travel, India is still struggling to attract foreign tourists at pre-COVID levels. The latest data shows that Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) for the first half of 2024 reached 47,78,374, reflecting a 9.1% increase compared to the 43,80,239 arrivals recorded during the same period in 2023. However, this figure remains nearly 10% lower than the 52,96,025 FTAs registered in January-June 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic.

This lag in foreign tourist arrivals is occurring despite a significant rise in international footfalls at Indian airports, which saw a 9.9% increase in Q1-FY25 compared to the same period in FY20. Industry experts suggest that while the outbound travel market is booming, India is yet to regain its full appeal as a tourist destination for international visitors, possibly due to lingering pandemic-related concerns and competition from other global destinations.

As Indian carriers continue their rapid expansion, the challenge remains for the country to revive its inbound tourism to pre-pandemic levels

(Cirium - an aviation analytics company)