Last updated: 4 June 2026. All claims carry source links. This page is refreshed monthly.
India's outbound travel market is one of the fastest-growing source markets in the world, and it is still in its early stages. Understanding who the Indian traveller is, where they go, what drives them, and how they decide is useful for any destination that currently attracts Indian visitors — or wants to.
This is a market overview built from 13 sources. It is not a pitch. It is what the data shows.
The market in numbers
Indian citizens made an estimated 31.7 million international trips in the financial year 2024–25, spending approximately USD 31.7 billion overseas — a 25% increase on the previous year. (Hotelierindia, 2025)
The market is currently valued at approximately USD 23.4 billion (2026) and is projected to reach USD 68.8 billion by 2036, expanding at an 11.4% CAGR. A parallel projection puts the number at INR 5.01 trillion by 2030, growing at 14.27% annually, with international travellers from India expected to exceed 50 million by the end of the decade. (Future Market Insights · Research and Markets)
In the first half of 2025 alone, 9.2 million Indians travelled internationally — 11% more than the same period in 2024, with flight searches up 15%. (Skift, January 2026)
Who is the Indian outbound traveller?
The most important shift in the past five years is geographic. Non-metro cities now account for 63% of India's outbound travellers. Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Kochi, Amritsar, and Pune are among the fastest-growing source cities. Places like Indore, Surat, and Gaya saw international passenger traffic grow by approximately 175%, 126%, and 48% respectively in 2023–24. India's UDAN regional aviation scheme — upgrading 88 airports and launching over 600 new air routes — is the structural enabler behind this. (TravClan Index 2025 · Travel and Tour World)
Outbound travel is no longer concentrated among affluent urban consumers. EMI-based holiday packages and travel loans are extending access into middle-income households, normalising international travel in the same way domestic aviation did a decade earlier.
Demographically, millennial and Gen Z travellers are the primary growth engine. They are digitally confident, influenced by social media and video content, and experience-oriented. Indians now allocate 15–20% of annual income to travel, up from 10% in previous years. (TGM Research, India Travel Insights 2025)
Solo travel is growing, particularly among young professionals and women. Family travel remains the largest segment by volume, with multigenerational configurations increasingly common. Celebration travel — honeymoons, destination weddings, milestone anniversaries — is a structurally consistent and high-value segment. Sports tourism is an emerging force, capturing 47% interest among younger Indian travellers. (Storyboard18)
Where do Indian travellers go?
Southeast Asia is the dominant region. Thailand received 2.48 million Indian visitors in 2025, a 16% year-on-year increase, making India the country's third-largest source market after Malaysia and China. Vietnam saw the steepest growth: Indian arrivals surged 49% year-on-year to 746,480, driven by affordability and an alternative-seeking young traveller demographic. Bali, Langkawi, and Singapore remain consistent performers. (India Outbound, 2025)
The Middle East — particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi — combines VFR flows with leisure. Europe draws the premium segment, with London consistently in the top five and France and Switzerland as the leading Schengen visa issuers. Japan, South Korea, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Egypt, and the Philippines appeared as notable emerging destinations in 2025 booking data. (India Outbound Travel Index 2025)
Nepal is a specific case. May 2026 saw a record 40,782 Indian air arrivals — 32.66% up year-on-year — driven by visa-free access, QR payment acceptance, affordable fares (approximately ₹15,000 one-way from Delhi), and the revival of the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage through Nepal after a five-year suspension. Demand for that pilgrimage already exceeds the Chinese quota of 24,000 slots by 40,000 applications. (The Kathmandu Post, June 2026)
Bhutan has seen Indian visitor numbers grow approximately 15% annually, with Indians accounting for around 80% of total arrivals. The Buddhist cultural circuit — Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka — functions as a coherent travel cluster for the spiritual and cultural segment.
Africa is the emerging focus at the trade level. Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, and Zambia all participated formally at OTM 2026 in Mumbai. Safari and wildlife experiences are the primary draw, with gorilla sightings and self-drive routes attracting a high-value niche. The Indian ultra-HNW traveller is already active in this segment; broader mid-market engagement is still forming. (OTM 2026)
What motivates Indian travellers?
Holiday and leisure leads at around 46.8% of market share. Within that, five motivations are structurally consistent:
- Pilgrimage and spiritual travel. This is not a niche. It is often the largest single motivation within a trip. Spiritual travel topped the 2025 travel chart in year-end booking data, with searches for Ayodhya, Varanasi, and Tirupati rising 34% domestically. Internationally, demand for the Kailash Manasarovar pilgrimage through Nepal already exceeds supply by nearly twofold. Buddhist and Hindu heritage destinations — Bhutan, Lumbini, Bodhgaya — carry specific pull that secular tourism marketing cannot replicate. (Business Standard, December 2025)
- Celebration travel. Destination weddings, honeymoons, and milestone anniversaries are consistent high-value segments. These travellers prioritise comfort, exclusivity, and personalisation.
- Experience and adventure. Younger travellers are combining outdoor experiences with cultural depth: trekking to Everest Base Camp, motorcycle routes across Nepal, wildlife safaris, diving. Eight in ten Indian travellers prefer accommodation that offers experiences beyond just a stay, per Booking.com's How India Travels 2025 report.
- Wellness. Holistic wellness travel — Ayurvedic retreats, yoga, meditation — is a growing segment among both affluent and mid-market travellers. Destinations with established wellness credentials attract repeat visitors.
- Family and multigenerational travel. The largest segment by volume. Itineraries that work for both young children and elderly grandparents, with manageable distances and accessible logistics, consistently outperform.
How do Indian travellers plan and book?
The booking window is bifurcated. Over 42% of outbound trips are booked within seven days of departure; 21.9% are planned more than a month in advance. Short-window bookings skew toward repeat travellers on high-frequency routes — Bangkok, Bali, Dubai. Advance-planning skews toward pilgrimage, family, and celebration travel. (TravClan Index 2025)
Online Travel Agencies — MakeMyTrip, Yatra, Cleartrip, EaseMyTrip — account for approximately 65% of online gross booking value. Instagram and YouTube are the primary discovery channels for the under-40 segment. Around 40% of Indian travellers organise trips independently; 22% still use travel agents or offline channels. Trust in online payment remains lower among mass-market travellers than premium cohorts, a friction point that well-structured direct booking can address. (Mordor Intelligence · Think with Google)
Low-cost carriers account for nearly 70% of bookings on key leisure routes. Visa ease is a significant destination filter: the expansion of visa-free access for Indian passport holders — now 56 countries — directly shapes which emerging destinations capture volume. (Travel and Tour World, 2026)
Peak travel windows follow school calendars and festival clusters: May–June (summer school break), October (Diwali), December–January (winter break). Secondary spikes occur around Eid, long weekends, and regional festivals in Tamil Nadu, Punjab, and Maharashtra.
The luxury segment
India's luxury travel market behaves differently from the mass market. Ultra-HNW travellers are moving away from international shopping trips and toward bespoke experiential itineraries: private Himalayan retreats, extended Maldives stays with personalised wellness programmes, African safari circuits. A significant proportion allocates 26–50% of total travel budget to accommodation alone. (The Luxury Tribe)
Word-of-mouth within peer networks carries significant weight in this segment. Reviews and referrals from trusted contacts matter more than media exposure. MICE — meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions — is a parallel high-value segment growing alongside corporate India's international expansion. (Travel and Tour World)
Market constraints in 2026
The structural tailwinds are clear. The near-term constraints are also real. The rupee has weakened — USD at approximately ₹90, EUR at ₹110 — making every dollar of on-ground spending 10–15% more expensive than a year ago. Airfare disruptions from regional geopolitical events pushed Western route prices up 150–280% in early 2026. Prime Minister Modi's appeal to reduce discretionary overseas spending in May 2026 reduced summer booking inquiries by an estimated 10–15%.
These factors redirect demand rather than suppress it. Short-haul destinations that offer rupee-competitive value — Nepal, Vietnam, parts of Southeast Asia — have seen measurable volume gains as a direct result. (Forbes India, June 2026 · BOTT India)
What this means for destination marketers
Four structural positions are worth building, not just messaging:
- Visa friction is a real filter. Destinations with e-visa or visa-on-arrival access for Indian passport holders have a structural advantage visible in booking data. If your destination has eased access, make it explicit in India-facing communications — not buried in an FAQ.
- Pilgrimage and spiritual heritage is not a secondary category. For destinations with Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, or Jain sacred sites, this is often the highest-loyalty, highest-repeat segment available. It tends to be undermarketed because Western-origin destination strategy treats it as a niche.
- Tier 2 and Tier 3 city travellers need different content, not just translated content. A first-time international traveller from Lucknow has different reference points, different visa experience, and different risk tolerance than a Mumbai frequent flyer. The content and the booking pathway need to reflect that difference.
- Experience-led itineraries outperform attraction-led marketing. The data across every segment consistently shows this. Route conditions for trekking, day-by-day itinerary detail, and genuine operator accounts carry more weight than scenic photography alone.
About this page
At Value Through Passion we track source market dynamics as part of our destination intelligence work. This page is refreshed monthly as new data arrives. If you run a destination, hotel group, or tourism board and want to understand your position in the Indian market, get in touch.
Sources: Future Market Insights · Research and Markets · TravClan Index 2025 · Hotelierindia India Outbound Travel Index 2025 · Skift · India Outbound (indiaoutbound.info) · The Kathmandu Post · Travel and Tour World · OTM 2026 · Business Standard · TGM Research India Travel Insights 2025 · Think with Google · The Luxury Tribe · Forbes India · BOTT India · Mordor Intelligence · Storyboard18
