With the holiday season kicking off, the Indian aviation industry is witnessing a sharp jump in international bookings despite soaring airfares, as Indian travellers plan overseas trips. However, while outbound travel nears the pre-COVID growth, inbound tourism is still in a rough patch with arrivals far below expectations.
India saw over 32.6 lakh foreign tourists arriving in India between January and August this year – that is a 400 percent jump from 2021. But it's still 50 percent below 2019's numbers.
Tour operators say one reason for this drop is that the government has not yet restored e-tourist visas for visitors to a few major source countries like the UK and Canada.
The drop in tourist arrivals has meant that India's foreign exchange earnings have dropped -- from $30 billion dollars in 2019 to $8.7 billion in 2021.
Travel companies expect outbound travel to get closer to pre-COVID levels by March 2023, and cross those levels by the first quarter of next fiscal. But the big worry is for domestic tourism companies who fear they will lose business if the visa situation doesn't ease.
Watch the accompanying video of CNBC-TV18’s Madeeha Mujawar for more details.
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