By Pradeep S Mehta and Madhvendra Singh Panwar
India stands at a pivotal moment in its tourism trajectory, with a huge job potential. Having expanded its e-visa regime to over 160 countries, India has made meaningful progress in reducing barriers to entry for international travellers. Yet, as global tourism rebounds and competition intensifies, incremental reforms may no longer suffice. The next phase must focus on, inter alia, deepening visa liberalisation as a strategic economic tool not only to increase arrivals, but also to attract higher-value tourists who contribute more substantially to growth.
Global evidence underscores the importance of visa policy in shaping tourism flows. The World Tourism Organisation estimates that visa facilitation can increase international tourist arrivals by 5 to 25%, particularly in emerging markets. This becomes even more relevant as international travel has rebounded to over 1.4 billion arrivals in 2024, signalling a return to pre-pandemic levels of mobility.
Despite these favourable global trends, India continues to underperform. According to the tourism ministry, India attracts 20-22 million foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) annually, generating $28-35 billion in foreign exchange earnings. While these figures are significant in absolute terms, they remain modest when compared to global leaders and our potential.
Further, India’s position in the Travel & Tourism Development Index 2024, published by the World Economic Forum, stands at 39th, reflecting structural gaps in international openness, visitor services, and tourism infrastructure. These indicators suggest that while India has improved accessibility, it has not yet translated this into a proportionate increase in global tourism competitiveness.
A closer look at Southeast Asia provides a compelling contrast. Countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam have pursued aggressive visa liberalisation policies, including visa-free entry and visa-on-arrival for a wide range of countries. These measures are not standalone; they are integrated with strong destination branding, seamless travel infrastructure, and curated tourism experiences.
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, such economies have not only increased international tourist arrivals but have also enhanced average visitor spending and length of stay. Thailand, for example, consistently attracts over 35-40 million international tourists annually, significantly exceeding India’s numbers despite a smaller geographic and demographic base. Its success lies in combining ease of entry with ease of experience, ensuring tourists face minimal bumps from planning to departure.
In contrast, India’s approach remains transitional. The e-visa system has simplified application procedures, but limitations persist in the form of restricted visa-free access, shorter validity periods, and limited multi-entry flexibility. These factors, while seemingly administrative, have a tangible impact on traveller decision-making particularly for the high-spending, long-haul tourists who prioritise convenience and predictability.
The implications of this gap are evident at the state level. Rajasthan, one of India’s most iconic tourism destinations, offers a telling example. According to the Rajasthan Tourism Department, tourism contributes nearly 12% to the state’s GDP, reflecting its economic centrality and job creation potential. The state attracts tens of millions of tourists annually, yet international visitors account for only a small fraction—estimated at around 1.5 to 2 million.
This imbalance highlights a broader structural issue: India’s tourism growth is heavily driven by domestic volumes rather than international value. While domestic tourism provides stability, it is international tourism that drives higher economic returns.
The distinction between domestic and international tourism is not merely quantitative; it is fundamentally economic. Data from the RBI and Tourism Satellite Accounts indicate that foreign tourists typically spend two to four times more per visit than domestic travellers, in addition to staying longer and engaging with a wider range of services.
This leads to the concept of “tourism yield”, the revenue generated per tourist. Global leaders in tourism focus not only on increasing arrivals but on maximising yield through targeted policies and premium offerings. In this context, visa liberalisation plays a critical role by influencing the composition of tourists, attracting those with higher spending potential.
For India, even a modest increase in high-value international tourists can significantly enhance overall tourism revenue. For instance, if visa reforms were to increase FTAs by 10-15%—well within the range suggested by UN Tourism—the resulting foreign exchange gains could be substantial, particularly when combined with improved in-country experiences.
India’s tourism strategy has reached an inflection point. The country has laid the foundation by expanding visa access and investing in infrastructure. However, to fully realise its potential, it must now adopt a more strategic and targeted approach to visa liberalisation. This includes expanding visa-free or visa-on-arrival regimes for key markets, introducing longer-duration and multi-entry visas, and aligning visa policy with high-value tourism segments. One of the fears in creating such a regime is the easy entry of troublemakers, but that can be also dealt with through AI-enabled monitoring. Once should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
As global competition intensifies, destinations that combine accessibility with experience will lead the next phase of tourism growth. India possesses the cultural depth, geographic diversity, and institutional capacity to be among them. What is required now is a policy shift that recognises visa liberalisation not as a procedural reform, but as a core economic strategy. By making it easier for the right travellers to enter and stay longer, India can move beyond incremental gains and unlock the full potential of its tourism economy.
The authors work for CUTS International, a public policy research and advocacy group.
This article can also be viewed at:
https://www.financialexpress.com/