India

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) was suspended on 16 March 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic until the start of 2021. The ONS have made every effort to produce high-quality estimates for the periods when IPS data is not being collected but have not been able to produce a full set of results. See the 2020 inbound page for more information.
The 2021 data is ‘incomplete’ as Eurotunnel data was unavailable for the entire year. In addition, interviewing at Dover restarted from Q3 2021 and pseudo records for the Irish land border were also removed in 2021. More info can be found on the 2021 inbound page.
For 2022, Eurotunnel data was also unavailable for the first half of the year. Interviewing at Eurostar was not affected by Covid-19 restrictions in 2021 or the first half of 2022. The ONS restarted IPS interviews at all ports from July 2022. The latest data can be found on the monthly and quarterly pages.
Due to the above, the latest full year IPS data below is from 2019.
Visitor characteristics
- There are more than twice more male than female visitors and 6-in-10 visits were made by Indian residents aged 25-54 years old in 2019
- 33% of holiday visitors (excluding British expats) are making a repeat visit to Britain (within ten years)
- Just over half of the visits from India to Britain were made by people who reside in the Maharashtra (including Mumbai) and in the Delhi states
- 86% of departing Indians (excluding British expats) say they are ‘extremely likely’ to recommend Britain for a visit, which is above the 82% across all markets
Popular activities
Global context
Measure | 2019 |
---|---|
International tourism expenditure (US$bn) | 22.9 |
Global rank for international tourism expenditure | 15 |
Number of outbound visits (m) | 21.8 |
Most visited destination | United Arab Emirates |
Most visited destination in Western Europe | France |
Key demographic and economic data
Measure | 2021 |
---|---|
Population (m) | 1,395.1 |
GDP per capita PPP (US$) | 6,714 |
Annual average GDP growth over past decade (%) | 5.3 |
Annual GDP growth (%) | 8.1 |