Post Covid, the outbound tourism market has been growing steadily and this growth momentum is expected to continue till about 2032, an industry executive said.
“India’s outbound tourism market is surging and set to reach $15.2 billion in 2023, with an anticipated 11.4% CAGR through 2032,” said Gajesh Girdhar, Chairman, Network of Indian MICE Agents (NIMA) at travel show BLTM 2023. “This growth is driven by Indians, particularly millennials, eager to explore international destinations,” he added.
He also said that India is fast emerging as a MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) tourism destination and that it would attract a large number of visitors.
“The MICE tourism sector in India is booming, thanks to government support and infrastructure development for global events. Our tourism sites are aligning with MICE growth. India’s outbound MICE market is one of the world’s fastest-growing. We expect to reach pre-COVID levels by 2024,” he added.
To get a share of the growing outbound tourism segment, Russian cities are seen promoting their destinations heavily.
Despite the Russia and Ukraine war, Indians are seen traveling to Russian cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg.
According to Evgeny Kozlov, Chairman of The Moscow City Tourism Committee, before the pandemic, tourist flow from India used to grow by 12-15% annually but it dropped subsequently. “Now we are on the road to recovery--all the conditions have been created for this. Indian business tourists were the second most in number in Moscow as of 2022,” he said.
Moscow has also started Moscow MICE Ambassador programme in India to promote the capital city as a preferred destination for business tourism.
Sri Lanka has also stepped up efforts to attract more Indian tourists, industry officials said.
