Uttar Pradesh leads domestic visitor trips; pilgrimage drives nearly half of travel
The Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey puts Uttar Pradesh at 15.7% of total visitor-trips, ahead of Tamil Nadu (13.4%) and Rajasthan (8%). Nearly 48% of trips were for pilgrimage or religious purposes, signalling concentrated demand for hospitality, food service and destination retail.
What happened
Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey · India’s domestic tourism survey found Uttar Pradesh led visitor-trips, followed by Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan. Pilgrimage
Key facts
- Uttar Pradesh: 15.7% share of total visitor-trips
- Tamil Nadu: 13.4%
- Rajasthan: 8%
- Survey covered over 246,000 households
- 127 overnight trips per 100 rural tourist households
- 132 overnight trips per 100 urban tourist households
- Around 48% of trips were for pilgrimage and religious purposes
- Around 80% of visitors stayed five days or less
- Rural health and medical trip expenditure: ₹29,454
- Urban health and medical trip expenditure: ₹41,649
Why this matters
Target partnerships or acquisitions in travel-adjacent retail, foodservice and accommodation operators serving Uttar Pradesh’s pilgrimage routes, with Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan as scalable follow-on markets.