India recorded 9.02 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2025 while 32.7 million Indians travelled abroad, highlighting a substantial difference between inbound and outbound tourism.
According to Tourism Ministry figures cited in the report, India received 9.02 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2025, down 9.4% from 9.96 million in 2024. In comparison, Indian nationals made 32.7 million overseas departures in 2025, up 5.8% from 30.9 million a year earlier.
The imbalance is also visible in India’s tourism exchanges with BRICS countries. During 2024, India received an estimated 1.87 million foreign tourist arrivals from the 20 other BRICS members and partner countries, while Indian nationals made around 15.6 million departures to these markets.
Around 4.48 million foreign visitors came to India for leisure purposes in 2024, compared with an estimated 13.1 million Indian departures abroad for the same purpose.
Among the BRICS markets highlighted in the report, India received 38,960 visitors from China, 66,699 from the UAE, 140,489 from Thailand and 54,091 from Vietnam during 2024.
Outbound travel to the same markets was considerably higher. Indian departures included 258,082 to China, about 7.79 million to the UAE, 1.91 million to Thailand and 398,673 to Vietnam.
The figures come as BRICS tourism ministers have adopted a declaration aimed at strengthening tourism cooperation among member states.
