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India recorded approximately 56 lakh foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) till August this year, along with 303.59 crore domestic tourist visits, according to official data released on Friday.
The total number of FTAs for medical purposes in India during 2025 (up to April) was 1,31,856, which constituted approximately 4.1 per cent of the total FTAs during this period, as per government data. In the financial year 2024-25, under the Sustainable and Responsible Tourism (SASCI) initiative, 40 projects in 23 states were sanctioned for Rs 3,295.76 crore, with 100 per cent central funding.
Through ‘Swadesh Darshan’ and ‘Swadesh Darshan 2.0’, 110 projects have been developed across various thematic circuits, including the Ramayana, Buddhist, Coastal, and Tribal circuits.
Tourism is one of the major economic sectors, contributing to exports and promoting global prosperity.
In the last decade, the government has undertaken many transformative initiatives to scale up and revolutionise this sector so that it can realise its full potential as a force for economic growth, employment generation, and cultural diplomacy.
As of June 2025, inbound tourism stood at 16.5 lakh visitors, while outbound tourism was recorded at 84.4 lakh travellers.
This activity contributed to foreign exchange earnings amounting to Rs 51,532 crore. In addition, as per the provisional estimates of the National Accounts Statistics 2025, the tourism sector contributed Rs 15.73 lakh crore to India’s GDP in 2023-24, accounting for 5.22 per cent of the total economy.
Moreover, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), the sector generated 36.90 million direct jobs and 47.72 million indirect jobs, together accounting for 13.34 per cent of total employment in the economy.
In 2014-15, the Ministry of Tourism launched the Swadesh Darshan Scheme (SDS) to develop thematic tourism circuits across the country. Seventy-six projects worth Rs 5,290.30 crore were sanctioned under identified themes, of which 75 projects have been physically completed.