Indians travel abroad for a variety of reasons including pursuing higher education, better job opportunities, and career advancement. Many also travel for leisure, tourism, or medical treatment, while some visit family or relatives living overseas. Data indicates that over the last decade, there has been a significant shift in the countries that Indians are travelling to. In 2011, Thailand, Singapore, and Bahrain were the most popular destinations while in 2022, UAE & Saudi Arabia occupied the top two spots.
Indians travel abroad for a variety of reasons including pursuing higher education, better job opportunities, and career advancement. Many also travel for leisure, tourism, or medical treatment, while some visit family or relatives living overseas. Others seek improved living conditions, and cultural experiences, or attend business and professional events. With increasing global connections, international travel has become a way to explore new opportunities, gain knowledge, and enrich personal and professional lives. In recent years, a significant number of students have been travelling abroad for higher education, particularly to destinations like the USA, Canada, the UK, and Australia, driven by the appeal of world-class universities, better career prospects, and diverse cultural experiences.
In this story, we examine how the number of Indians travelling abroad has evolved over the years along with the popular destinations chosen by them. Data for this analysis has been taken from Dataful.
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In its annual and monthly reports, the Ministry of Tourism tracks and publishes data on Indian nationals’ departures (abbreviated as IND), which refers to the number of Indian citizens who leave the country to travel abroad. It should be noted that since the figure captures the number of departures if an individual travels abroad several times during the year, each of those trips is counted as a new departure, rather than being counted once. In simpler terms, each departure is counted separately, even if the same person makes multiple trips abroad within a given period.
Indian nationals’ departures increased by 152% in 2022
According to the data, in 1991, the number of Indian nationals departing from India was 1.94 million, which increased to 21.6 million by 2022, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7.82%. However, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in India in 2020, international departures saw a significant decline that year. The number of Indian nationals departing in 2022 showed a substantial growth of 152.62% compared to 2021, as things back to normal and travel resumed.
Data from monthly reports revealed that the departures recovered in 2023 and crossed the pre-pandemic levels. In 2024, during the first seven months for which data is available (until the month of July), the total departures stood at 17.36 million, higher than the annual figures reported annually until 2013. At this pace, 2024 is projected to set a new record for total departures.
The peak departure month is May, followed by August to September
Almost every year between 2011 and 2024, the greatest number of departures by Indian nationals has been recorded in the month of May. This could be because of the summer holidays when schools and colleges are on break. Moreover, around this time, many countries, especially those in Europe and North America, also enter their peak tourism seasons. It is also the time when the US and Canada’s summer intake in universities takes place. However, between 2020 and 2022, the peak departure months varied due to the pandemic. In 2013, the departure peaked in August.
Apart from May, other months when departures peaked were September, August, and December. September and December are usually the months when academic courses begin in European countries, US and Canada.
UAE has emerged the most popular destination for IND since 2019
Over the last decade, there has been a significant shift in the countries that Indians are travelling to. In 2011, Thailand, Singapore, and Bahrain were the most popular destinations with each country recording more than 8 lakh departures each. However, since 2019, these three countries are not in the top 3 most popular destinations. Bahrain has made it to the top 10 destinations only once since 2016.
Between 2012 and 2017, Saudi Arabia was the most popular destination. Even though the UAE has overtaken it, Saudi Arabia was the second most popular destination in 2022.
Since 2019, the UAE has emerged as the most popular destination for Indian travellers. This is not only because the UAE hosts the largest number of Indian nationals in the GCC region, but also due to the key role of its two major airports—Dubai International Airport and Abu Dhabi International Airport which serve as key hubs with numerous connecting flights. Departures to the UAE have significantly outpaced those to the second-most popular destination, creating a substantial gap between the two. In terms of share of departures, the UAE accounted for 24% in 2019, 34% in 2020, 42% in 2021, and 28% in 2022. The top 10 destinations together accounted for 49% of the total departures by Indian nationals in 2011, a figure that dropped to 38% by 2018. However, since 2019, the top 10 destinations have consistently accounted for at least 70% of total departures, reaching 83% in 2021 and 76% in 2022.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong was among the top 10 destinations for Indian travellers until 2015, China remained on the list until 2018, and Malaysia was on the list until 2019.
On the other hand, there has been a notable increase in departures to popular student destinations such as the US, United Kingdom, and Canada, which may be driven by the growing demand for higher education abroad. Canada only entered the top 10 list starting in 2020. Notably, these three countries are the only non-Asian destinations in the top 10.
International travel is impacted by several factors
While the UAE has emerged as the most popular destination in recent years due to its strategic location and large Indian expatriate community, countries like the US, UK, and Canada have also seen an increase in Indian travellers, particularly students seeking higher education. There is an evolving preference for travel with destinations in the GCC region and Western countries gaining prominence since 2019. This shift in travel patterns revealed by the data on departures of Indians clearly shows how it is influenced by a variety of factors such as educational opportunities, economic migration, tourism, business travel, and geopolitical issues among others. Despite the significant setback caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which badly affected air travel, departures have recovered robustly, and 2024 is on track to set a new record for outbound travel from India.
