Skift Take
The U.S. has made progress at issuing visas and attracting these high-spending tourists.
In just the first 10 months of this year, Indian arrivals to the U.S. have already exceeded the total for 2023, according to data from the U.S. International Trade Administration.
Between January and October, almost 1.9 million Indians visited the U.S., a 27% increase from the same period last year. For all of 2023, there were 1.7 million Indian arrivals.
In September alone, Indians were issued nearly 80,000 business/tourist visas, second only to Brazil, according to the U.S. Department of State. India is also the second largest overseas travel source market for the U.S.
Visa Wait Times
Speaking at the Skift India Summit earlier this year, U.S. Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said he wanted to bring more Indians to America.
One of the biggest hurdles for Indians in traveling to the U.S. is lengthy visa processing time, currently over 400 days. Garcetti said that he was asked by President Joe Biden to work on reducing the backlog of visa applications. “I don’t know this for sure, but I bet it’s the only time the United States president has told the ambassador, ‘Please work on visa issues’,” he said.
There has been progress: The current visa wait time is less than half of the 1,000-day peak during the pandemic. Earlier this year, the U.S. Mission in India announced it had further reduced the wait time to 250 days.
The U.S. Mission opened a new facility in Hyderabad last year, and has also announced two new consulates in Ahmedabad and Bangalore, while assigning more consular officers to India.
In September, the United States’ India Mission also announced additional 250,000 visa appointments across categories for faster visa processing. By the end of September this year, the mission had surpassed one million nonimmigrant visa applications. At least 6 million Indians already have a nonimmigrant visa to visit the United States.
Why is U.S. Looking at Indian Travelers?
Indian travelers are traveling more and spending more on their travels. In the 2024 fiscal year, Indians spent $31.7 billion overseas. Of this, $17 billion was on international travel – an increase of 25% year-on-year. Indian trade body FICCI expects India’s travel spending to reach $18.8 billion in 2024.
Indian tourists are already among the top five international spenders in Louisiana, Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser told Skift recently.
A report released by online travel company Booking.com and consulting firm McKinsey and Company last year projected that by 2030, India could become the fourth-largest global travel spenders.
Not Just the U.S.
Indian travelers are increasing in numerous destinations. The Singapore Tourism Board on Wednesday said that Indian travelers to the country exceeded the 1 million mark through the end of October, a 12% increase. India has become the third-largest source market for Singapore.
Sebastien Bazin, CEO of Accor, previously said in an earnings call that the potential for Indian outbound travelers could double in the near future. “When it comes to the outbound of India, you have 40 million Indian people traveling abroad and 80% of them go Southeast Asia or they go to the Middle East. That 40 million could end up being 80 million in 1 year or 2 years from today,” he said.
Wynn Resorts CEO Craig Scott Billings also noted India’s importance to the company’s upcoming resort in the UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah. “There’s a lot of folks there. There’s a lot of wealth in India, and that’s going to be an important market.”
In September, Saudi Arabia launched its first-ever marketing campaign targeted exclusively at Indian tourists. Bringing in Indian tourists is an important part of Saudi’s Vision 2030, a plan to diversify the economy. Of its target of 150 million tourists by 2030, Saudi aims to bring in 7.5 million visitors from India alone.
