In the first week of January 2024, India and Maldives found themselves in an unexpected diplomatic spat as prominent officials in Maldives made derogatory remarks against PM Modi. Data reveals that the number of Indian Tourists to Maldives was at an all-time high in 2021 while other popular island destinations such as Indonesia, Thailand are yet to recover from the impact of COVID-19. In the first week of January 2024, India and Maldives found themselves in an unexpected diplomatic spat as prominent officials in Maldives made derogatory remarks against Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The war of words soon escalated, with prominent celebrities urging Indians to explore Lakshadweep, coupled with people cancelling existing reservations and trending #BoycottMaldives on social media. A travel portal named EasyMyTrip followed the path by cancelling travel bookings for Maldives. But what do numbers reveal about international travel by Indians? In today’s story, we look at trends related to the outbound departures of Indian nationals from India and the recovery of domestic tourism in India. Methodology: The primary data source for today’s story is the annual publication, titled ‘Indian Tourism Statistics’, released by the Ministry of Tourism, with the latest one being released in 2022. The Ministry compiles the statistics related to tourism in India based on a wide variety of sources- respective tourism departments of the Indian States, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI), the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Further, this report defines outbound travel by Indians as any person with an Indian passport going abroad irrespective of their purpose and destination. International travel by Indians from India on path of recovery post COVID-19 The Bureau of Immigration (BOI) compiles the total count of Indian nationals leaving the country based on Embarkation cards. In 1991, the departures of Indian nationals were recorded at 1.94 million, and by 2000, this figure had surged to 4.4 million. This further grew to 26.91 million in 2019, reflecting a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.5%. The departure figures thereafter fell to 7.29 million in 2020. The global COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with the subsequent lockdown in India in 2020, significantly impacted tourism, leading to a drastic decrease in various parameters that year. However, there was a noteworthy recovery in 2022, with Indian nationals’ departures experiencing a positive growth of 190% over 2020, compared to a substantial decline of 72.9% in 2020 over the figures from 2019. UAE and Saudi Arabia remain top destinations for Indians even post-pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted the tourism sector. With severe lockdown restrictions and a variety of requirements among nations, the tourism sector registered a decline across the globe in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, the tourism sector did recover partially. In the Indian scenario, Indians travelling abroad registered an increase to 21.1 million in 2022, up from 7.3 million in 2020. With the pre-pandemic highest figures being 26.9 million in 2019, it can be said that India’s outbound travel domain has recovered decently. In terms of the destination country, UAE and Saudi Arabia remained the top destination countries for outbound departures of Indian nationals. With Abu Dhabi and Dubai being ‘hub airports’, UAE recorded 5.89 million Indian arrivals in 2022, almost reaching the pre-pandemic level of 6.39 million in 2019. Saudi Arabia also recovered impressively, recording 2.42 million Indian arrivals as compared to 2.92 million in 2019. Interestingly, the United Kingdom recorded 0.92 million Indian arrivals in 2022, the highest ever since 2011. This could partially be due to long visa waiting periods for other countries such as the USA. Island nations such as Singapore and Thailand witnessed recovery, but the numbers are significantly lower compared to the pre-pandemic levels. India emerged as the number one market for Maldives tourism in 2020, and retains the same in 2021 & 2022. With Europe and the Asia-Pacific jointly accounting for over 90% of total arrivals to the Maldives, the majority of the top ten markets for the country emerge from these regions. The reopening of borders ushered in a significant shift in the travel landscape, reshaping the leading markets for the Maldives. As per the statistics of the Maldives tourism ministry, for the very first time, India claimed the leading spot in the Maldives’ top ten list, contributing 62,960 tourists, marking an 11.3% share in 2020. This is also the first time the Indian market accounted for a double-digit chunk of the market share.