India Emerges as Asia’s Leading Source of International Travelers, Particularly to the US
India has taken the spotlight as Asia’s top origin of international travelers, with a notable surge in travel to the United States. The first five months of 2023 have witnessed travel from India to the US surpassing pre-pandemic levels. To accommodate this tourism boom, the US is opening two new consulates in India, located in Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
The growing significance of India’s outbound tourism has drawn attention from the US tourism sector. Experts predict that new markets like India can contribute to long-term growth, offsetting the slower recovery in other countries.
As a testament to this trend, India overtook China, South Korea, and Japan in 2022, becoming Asia’s highest source of international travelers, according to tourism consultancy IPK International.
The recent visit of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the White House has further strengthened bilateral relations, with a focus on boosting investments and facilitating travel between the two countries.
Data from the US Department of Commerce National Travel and Tourism Office reveals that travel from India to the US has outpaced pre-pandemic volumes in the first five months of 2023, while other Asian countries, particularly China, have been slower to recover in terms of US-bound travel.
The encouraging outlook continues, as flight bookings from India to the US for the last quarter of 2023 are already 26% higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to ForwardKeys. Efforts to expedite visa processing are underway, as US embassies and consulates in India have seen a 44% increase in non-immigrant visas issued in 2023 compared to the same period in 2019.
Indian travelers’ increasing demand for travel is attributed to factors such as educational and employment opportunities in the US, resulting in a rising number of Indian-origin individuals settling in the country.
With a positive trajectory for the rest of the year, the travel industry anticipates a boost in tourism and a promising future for India’s outbound travel market.
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