Delhi Red Fort Blast Will Not Hit Tourism Industry, Say Experts

New Delhi: The tourism experts believe the blast near Red Fort in Delhi will not impact domestic tourism or foreign tourists, who usually come to the national capital during the winter vacation, a period by when situation is expected to normalise.

Rajnish Kaistha, Senior Vice President, Indian Association of Tour Operators told ETV Bharat, “Delhi blast incident will not impact much on domestic and foreign tourist arrivals. Domestic tourists will restrict themselves from visiting the city for the next five to six days after which, everything will go back on track.”

“If we talk about foreign tourist arrivals in India and Delhi, we don’t notice any impact of the incident as of now. The industry has not yet noticed any trend in booking cancellations due to this incident which is a clear sign of normal tourist flow.”

Discussing the travel advisory issued by some countries to their citizens, Kaistha added, “There are two types of advisories, usual advisory and caution advisory. The caution advisories have been issued by some countries, urging tourists to stay alert.”

Echoing similar sentiment, Subhash Goel, a tourism expert, told ETV Bharat, “I believe after a few days the domestic tourism will witness usual business, with tourist turnout same as before the incident. However, foreign tourism will likely notice an impact of 4-5 percent due to cautious advisories.”

Notably, the US Embassy in India issued an advisory to its citizens and wrote on its official website that a car exploded near the Lal Quila (Red Fort) metro station in central Delhi, India, with local media reporting multiple casualties. While the cause of the explosion is unknown at this time, the Government of India has placed several Indian states on high alert. People have been asked to avoid crowded places and areas surrounding the Red Fort and Chandni Chowk in Delhi, monitor local media for updates, be aware of the surroundings and stay alert in locations frequented by tourists.

Lindy Cameron, British High Commissioner to India, shared an advisory and said, “My thoughts are with all those affected by the explosion near the Red Fort in New Delhi. If you are in the immediate area, please follow the advice of the local authorities. Our travel advice will be kept updated here.”

Expressing his view on tourism in India, Rajan Sehgal, Chairman of Public Relation Council, Travel Agents Association told ETV Bharat, “The effect of the incident will be for one or two weeks on domestic tourism. If we talk about international tourist arrivals, foreigners start visiting here during winter vacation. A slightly low footfall of foreign tourists is recorded during this time of the year.”

Tourism Data

As per Rajya Sabha data, the total number of Foreign Tourist Arrival (FTAs) in India were 1,09,30,355 in 2019, 64,37,467 in 2022, 95,20,928 in 2023 and 99,51,722 in 2024.

Tourists from top 10 countries who visited India in 2024 are United States (18,04,586), Bangladesh (17,50,165), United Kingdom (10,22,587), Australia (5,18,205), Canada (4,76,273), Malaysia (3,07,526), Sri Lanka (2,81,827), Germany (2,56,348), France (2,06,855) and Singapore (2,05,383).

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