The UAE is the most popular destination in the world for Indian tourists, according to figures submitted to Indian Parliament by the Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan.
The Minister Muraleedharan confirmed that 314,495 Indians left on tourist visas for the UAE in the first quarter of this year.
This marks an increase of slightly more than 50 percent over the corresponding period last year until India suspended all international passenger traffic on 23rd March 2020 following the global outbreak of COVID-19, said reports.
But the popularity of the UAE among Indian tourists is clear from the figures for the period when flights were going back and forth in the first three months of this year albeit on a reduced scale under bilateral “bubble” arrangements, local sources said.
Air bubble arrangements are temporary measures for the global movement of passengers pending the resumption of scheduled flights, and India has air bubble agreements with 31 countries, including the UAE and four other GCC countries.
The attraction of the UAE for Indian tourists is especially underlined in the Parliament figures because during the periods under review, the total number of Indian tourists going abroad declined while the UAE’s share of the tourist traffic increased.
Reportedly, a total of 536,038 Indians went abroad during the first quarter of last year.
This number declined during the same period this year to 393,374, and at the same time, UAE’s share of Indian tourist traffic correspondingly rose in excess of 50 per cent, official sources said.
The second and third most popular destinations for Indians were Thailand and Bangladesh, but their figures were way below those of the UAE, reported local media.
This year, though, both Bangkok and Dhaka were virtually eliminated from the list submitted to Parliament because they attracted tourists from here only in two and three figures, said sources.