India's tourist arrivals fall 9pc as Bangladeshis’ visits down

Dhaka: Foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in India fell more than 9 percent in 2025 to 90.2 lakh, official data showed, driven largely by a sharp decline in visitors from neighboring Bangladesh amid heightened bilateral tensions.

Arrivals from Bangladesh dropped 73 percent to 4.7 lakh in 2025 from 17.5 lakh a year earlier. The fall of 12.8 lakh Bangladeshi visitors exceeded the total overall decline of 9.3 lakh foreign tourist arrivals during the year, said reports.

As a result, Bangladesh slipped from India's second-largest source of foreign tourists to fifth place.

The downturn followed increased tensions between the two countries, leading to a substantial reduction in the number of visas issued by both sides.

Despite the decline, travel industry executives said they were not deeply concerned about the drop in Bangladeshi arrivals, noting that many visitors from the country traditionally travel to India for medical treatment or work rather than leisure tourism.

Such visitors do not typically account for a large share of hotel stays or visits to major tourist attractions, their absence has not significantly affected occupancy rates or tourism infrastructure, industry officials said.

While inbound tourism slowed, outbound travel by Indians continued to grow. The number of Indians travelling abroad rose 6.6 percent to a record 3.3 crore in 2025.