Data: 19% rise in footfall at Indian heritage sites from 2019 to 2024

New Delhi: India’s centrally protected ticketed monuments experienced an over 19 per cent surge in footfall in 2023-24 compared to the pre-pandemic levels but this did not translate into higher revenue from ticket sales, which dropped by 2.83 per cent, official data shows.

An analysis of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) data, presented in the Rajya Sabha, covering 143 monuments shows a complex recovery picture for these key heritage sites, contextualised by broader national trends reported in the Ministry of Tourism’s ‘India Tourism Data Compendium 2024’.

The total footfall across these listed monuments increased by 19.35 per cent from approximately 4.60 crore in 2019-20 to 5.49 crore in 2023-24, the data showed.

However, despite the surge in the number of visitors, the combined revenue from ticket sales at these monuments saw a decline of 2.83 per cent during the five-year period, dropping from Rs 312.54 crore in 2019-20 to Rs 303.70 crore in 2023-24.

This suggests a shift in the visitor composition at these sites. A direct comparison of visitor data for centrally protected ticketed monuments between 2019-20 and 2023-24 reveals divergent trends.

While domestic tourist visits surged by 21.75 per cent, from 4.36 crore in 2019-20 to 5.31 crore in 2023-24, foreign tourist visits decreased by 16.03 per cent, from 27.56 lakh in 2019-20 to 23.15 lakh in 2023-24, according to the data.

The increase in the domestic visitor segment, coupled with a decline in the number of higher-paying foreign

visitors compared to the pre-pandemic levels, appears to be the primary factor behind the stagnant overall monument revenue despite higher total footfall.

This trend mirrors the national picture, where Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India in 2023 (95.2 lakh) recovered to only about 87 per cent of the 2019 levels.

The resulting lower average revenue per visitor at the monuments, likely stemming from this altered visitor mix and the ASI’s differential pricing structure, aligns with the broader national context where Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism overall stood at USD 28.08 billion in 2023, lower than the 2019 peak of USD 30.72 billion.