Covid impacted the domestic and foreign tourist arrival in Himachal Pradesh in 2020, and also in 2021.
According to figures, recently placed in the Rajya Sabha, the number of domestic tourists had dropped from over 1.68 crore in 2019 to mere around 31 lakh in 2020 in Himachal. The number of tourists increased in 2020 but not much, compared to 2019. In 2021, Himachal received around 56 lakh tourists.
Similarly, the foreign tourist arrival was also majorly affected due to Covid as the state saw a major decline in their numbers in in 2020 and 2021.
While in 2019, around 3.82 lakh foreign tourists had arrived in Himachal, the numbers dropped to around 42,000 in 2020 and touched a low of just 4,932 in 2021.
In 2021, Nadu received the highest number of domestic visitors followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. These states accounted for about 65.41% of the domestic tourist visits in the country.
Punjab received the maximum foreign tourists in 2021, almost 30% of the total visits, followed by Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, and Kerala. These five states accounted for about 69% of the total foreign tourist visits in 2021.