Health, safety concerns biggest ‘planning headaches’ for foreign tourists considering an India vacation

“While India seems to deliver on experience; health and safety concerns may be a travel deterrent for the country. Travellers who do not plan to return cited health concerns—especially falling ill during the trip—as a significant factor (16%), followed by safety and security issues (15%). Very few raised concerns around value for money, local interactions, availability and variety of local experiences,” Booking.com said in its report How India Travels 2024 – The Inbound Edit, which was prepared in collaboration with Accenture and released on Wednesday.

Among other planning headaches listed by the respondents were cultural differences (13 per cent), language barriers (12 per cent), accommodation (8 per cent), transportation (6 per cent), and food (2 per cent).

The data quoted in the report is mainly from Booking.com’s ‘India Inbound’ survey, which was conducted in August among a sample of 2,000 adults—across various age groups in 19 countries and territories—who intended to travel to India in the next one to two years.

Among its recommendations on enhancing positive travel experience for international travellers in India, the report suggested that India should, among other things, focus on safeguarding the wellbeing of travellers.

“Create secure and stable environment that prioritises the safety and of solo female travellers, and actively promote these improvements in international marketing campaigns to attract more visitors. For instance, India can prioritise safety in tier 1 and tier 2 cities by expanding the 24×7 Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline and continue to develop tourism police units,” the report said.

On a positive note, the survey revealed that a large number of respondents were interested in visiting India. As many as 44 per cent said that they had already visited India and intended to visit again, while 40 per cent had never been to India but planned on visiting. The remaining 16 per cent said that they had visited the country in the past but did not intend to return.

A massive chunk of the respondents who have visited India said that the country either met or exceeded their expectations. While 56 per cent said that the country met their expectations, 39 per cent said that it turned out to be better than what they had expected. The remaining 5 per cent said that the country could not meet their expectations.

Even as India’s foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) have been steadily increasing since the Covid-19 pandemic ebbed, they are yet to catch up with the pre-pandemic levels, while outbound travel by Indians has already exceeded pre-pandemic levels, per latest available data from the Ministry of Tourism.

In the first half of 2024, 47.78 lakh foreign tourists visited India, 9.1 per cent higher than the same period the year before, but still 9.8 per cent lower than the corresponding months of 2019—the last full year before the pandemic struck. In 2023, India’s FTAs were at 92.36 lakh, 15.5 per cent lower than 1.09 crore in 2019. According to Booking.com’s estimates, India’s FTAs are unlikely to hit the pre-pandemic mark in the current year, and it is likely to happen only in 2025.

Industry watchers attribute the divergence in trend between foreign tourist arrivals into India and Indians travelling overseas to a combination of reasons, which include subdued tourist footfalls from Bangladesh and China. The other major factor that appears to be at play is other countries in Asia attracting more travellers with easy visa regimes and more value-for-money propositions for tourists. These include some emerging destinations—particularly in Central and Southeast Asia—that are rapidly growing as international tourism destinations.

In its report, Booking.com has recommended expansion of direct international air connectivity to and from India, simplification of visa processes with easier application and expansion of the e-visa programme, and enhancing marketing spends to promote India as a global destination.