Outbound travel defies Gulf mess, UAE is top destination

Leisure still the biggest reason for foreign travel, accounting for 42.5% of overseas departures

- Varuni Khosla

Even as airlines continue to reroute flights around West Asia after the war erupted earlier this year, Indian travellers don’t appear to have changed their holiday plans.

While the disruption raised short-term concerns, longer journey times and higher airfares have not dented overseas travel. Fresh data shared with Mint by tourism authorities across major markets such as Thailand, Australia, Singapore, the US and South Africa show demand has barely missed a beat. If anything, it is prompting more destinations to compete harder for Indian tourists.

India’s own numbers tell a similar story. According to the ministry of tourism’s latest Tourism Snapshot Report, Indian nationals made a provisional 32.71 million overseas departures in 2025, up 5.9% from 30.89 million in 2024.

Leisure remained the biggest reason Indians travelled abroad, accounting for 42.5% of overseas departures in 2024. Based on 2025 departures, that translates to roughly 13.9 million leisure trips last year.