A twenty-million-arrival economy where half the visitors hold Indian passports — and the capital airport that clears nearly three in ten of the rest.
India’s arrivals table is diaspora-sized and Delhi-centric: the capital airport is the default door for Americans, Europeans and long-haul business — while neighbors come overland through the east.
India recorded 20.57 million international arrivals in the latest full year — 9.95 million foreign tourists plus 10.62 million non-resident Indians, a combined flow that makes the diaspora the country’s largest single “market.”
Delhi airport is the top port of entry with 28.8% of foreign tourist arrivals, ahead of Mumbai (15.7%) — the capital’s share rises further for long-haul passports.
The passport table: the United States leads Western markets at ~1.8 million, with 40.4% of American arrivals entering through Delhi; Bangladesh is the largest overall source (~2.3 million, largely by land); the UK, Australia and Canada complete the top five.
Routing tells the story: 45.7% of European arrivals come through North India — UK, Germany and France entering largely via Delhi and Mumbai — while 42.4% of American arrivals use the same corridor.
Purpose mix: leisure leads, but the diaspora, business and medical travel layers give Delhi a year-round floor that pure leisure gateways lack — reflected in the capital’s 74–80% hotel occupancy.
India’s inbound market is routinely misread as small — 9.95 million foreign tourists looks modest next to Thailand. But add the 10.6-million NRI flow and the picture doubles: India runs a twenty-million-arrival economy whose majority wears its own passport. Delhi is the clearing house of that economy. The strategic question for the next five years is conversion: India’s e-visa expansion and Delhi’s 109-million-capacity airport are built to turn the diaspora’s relatives, partners and colleagues into first-time foreign tourists.
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