As many as 13,71,674 domestic tourists visited the hill state, the highest in the region after Assam’s 76,12,720, during the 2024-25 fiscal
From CK Nayak
NEW DELHI, April 5: Meghalaya received the most tourists after Assam in the Northeastern region, Union Minister of State for DoNER, Sukanta Majumdar, told Parliament recently.
As many as 13,71,674 domestic tourists visited the hill state, the highest in the region after Assam’s 76,12,720, during the 2024-25 fiscal. The period also saw 19,973 foreign tourists visiting Meghalaya, which was the fourth highest in the region.
Citing official estimates, he said Sikkim received 93,908 foreign tourists, the highest in the Northeast, followed by Tripura (66,708), Assam (23,818), and Meghalaya. Strife-torn Manipur received the least domestic (57,701) and foreign (3,688) tourists during the period.
In 2023, India saw 2.12 million tourists from Bangladesh, the highest after the United States, representing 22.3% of India’s total foreign tourist arrivals, according to the Ministry of Tourism’s data. In total, 1,20,78,776 domestic and 2,21,050 foreign tourists visited the eight states of the Northeastern region.
Majumdar said tourism promotion in the northeastern region is a prime objective of the Ministry of DoNER (Development of North Eastern Region).
He added that the ministry sanctioned various infrastructure projects under the North East Special Infrastructure Development Scheme, the Prime Minister’s Development Initiative for North East Region, and the schemes of the North Eastern Council.
These programmes also support the region’s tourism sector.
In 2023, India recorded 9.52 million foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) and 2.51 billion domestic tourist visits, marking a significant recovery from the pandemic and a robust growth in both domestic and international tourism. The FTA in 2023 was a 47.90% increase over the 2022 figure, a recovery to 87.1% of pre-pandemic levels.
During the same period, there were 2,509.63 million domestic tourist arrivals, 44.98% more than the 1,731.01 million recorded the previous year. While domestic visitor spending surged to Rs 14.64 trillion, foreign exchange earnings reached Rs 2,31,927 crore.