Outbound travel witnesses a 22 per cent hike y-o-y: MoT

Indians are emerging as big globetrotters and outbound travel is seen crossing even pre-Covid levels. As many as 22,32,313 Indian nationals departed on oubound travel in July 2023 as compared to 18,30,798 in July 2022, registering a growth of 22 per cent. At the same time in 2019, 21,80,437 Indians departed on outbound travel. 

Departures during January-July, 2023 stood at 1,54,41,150 as compared to 1,11,92,191 in the same period in 2022, registering a growth of 37.9 per cent. For the January-July 2019, the figures stood 1,55,60,516, according to a report by the Ministry of Tourism(MoT).

Outbound travel from India is on an exponential rise. India emerged as the largest source market for outbound travellers in Asia in 2022, registering a 190 per cent y-o-y rise in outbound travel, as per a recent report by IPK International.

• Also read: Indians spend $5.5 billion in overseas travel between April and July

Majority of Indians travel to the UAE, Saudi Arabia, USA, Singapore and Thailand. While leisure trips accounted for over 40 per cent of the travel, , the Indian diaspora accounted for 39 per cent. Business travel accounted for over 16 per cent and the rest 5 per cent travelled to pilgrimage sites.

A Kayak report shows searches for international flights have gone up by 14 per cent on a year-on-year basis.  The top trending international destinations for flights include Colombo, Sri Lanka (340 per cent increase), Hong Kong (up by 162 per cent), Seychelles (up by 139 per cent) and Tokyo, Japan (128 per cent increase).

A fourth of the departures happened from Delhi airport, followed by Mumbai airports at 24.5 per cent and 20.5 per cent, respectively, followed by Chennai, Hyderabad and Cochin airports. 

• Also read: October travel likely to surge despite Diwali in November

Festival season

For the upcoming festive season too, industry players believe that an upward trend in international travel will be witnessed. Ministry of Tourism’s data shows the most searched international destination for flights for festive travel is Dubai, followed by Bangkok, Bali, and Singapore.

This festive season will also witness a hike of trips within Asia, with searches showing a 133 per cent increase compared with last year. Flights to South America and the South Pacific (Australia and New Zealand) have also shown notable search increase, going up by 95 per cent and 16 per cent, respectively.