Tourist inflows to India quadruple since pandemic

Indian Tourism Minister Gangapuram Kishan Reddy said about seven million tourists visited the country in 2022, a four-fold increase in arrivals after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Reddy spoke at a meeting of the G20 tourism working group organised under India's bloc chairmanship, as reported by Prensa Latina, a partner of TV BRICS.

The official said that a "National Tourism Mission" is currently being developed to ensure the digitalisation of the sector.

The world has been going through hard times during the pandemic and the tourism sector in particular was hit hard, but after two years of negative figures, India welcomed 6.9 million tourists from abroad in 2022, a four-fold increase in arrivals to India, the minister said.

The increase in the inflow of holidaymakers shows that the authorities' efforts to achieve sustainable growth in tourism are yielding good results, the official said.

This densely populated South Asian country is home to 40 UNESCO World Heritage sites and hosts over a thousand festivals every year.

India has built an extensive tourism infrastructure in the last eight years and the central government has come up with a new policy for the sector for 2023, which is a paradigm shift in rethinking the industry, Reddy told delegates from other countries.

To attract domestic and foreign investors and experts, the tourism ministry will organise the first Global Tourism Investment Summit in April 2023 in New Delhi, the politician said.

Photo: istockphoto.com