🗞️ Why in News The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released the findings of the Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey (DTES), conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) from July 2025 to June 2026 as part of the NSS 80th round, on 23 September 2026. Pilgrimage and religious travel was the leading purpose of overnight trips over the past year (48 per cent), social visits made up most overnight trips in the past month, and health and medical trips cost households the most.
The Survey
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Conducted by | National Statistics Office (NSO), MoSPI |
| Period | July 2025 to June 2026, NSS 80th round |
| Report | NSS Report No. 597, “Domestic Tourism in India” |
| Sample | 2,46,113 households in 24,778 first-stage units (14,371 rural, 10,407 urban) |
| Method | Multi-stage stratified design; data on tablets through Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI), Schedule 21.1 |
| Coverage | All of India except villages of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands that are difficult to access |
| Previous survey | July 2014 to June 2015 |
Three reference windows. The survey asked about (i) overnight trips in the last 365 days for holidaying, pilgrimage, health and shopping; (ii) overnight trips in the last 30 days for business, social visits, education and others; and (iii) same-day trips in the last 30 days.
Definitions that matter. An overnight trip is travel outside one’s usual environment for at least 12 hours including the hours between midnight and 5 a.m., crossing midnight, for not more than 180 days, returning to the usual place of residence. A same-day trip meets the other conditions but involves no overnight stay. The leading purpose is the one without which none of the household members would have made the trip.
Key Findings
Overnight trips in the last 365 days
| Measure | Rural | Urban |
|---|---|---|
| Trips per 100 tourist households | 127 (118 in 2014-15) | 132 (121 in 2014-15) |
| Top purpose | Pilgrimage and religious (48%) | Pilgrimage and religious (48%) |
| Second purpose | Health and medical (38.4%) | Holidaying, leisure and recreation (36.4%) |
| Main mode of travel | Bus (32%) | Train (35%) |
| Most common stay | Non-commercial stays (28%) | Hotels and guesthouses (36%) |
| Costliest purpose | Health and medical: Rs 29,454 | Health and medical: Rs 41,649 |
- Average trip size: 2.03 visitors; about 80 per cent stayed five days or less.
- May and October were the peak months for leisure trips.
- Main destination by share of visitor-trips: Uttar Pradesh (15.7%), Tamil Nadu (13.4%), Rajasthan (8.0%).
- For leisure trips, transport was the largest item of spending.
Overnight trips in the last 30 days
- Social visits made up 89 per cent of such trips; most visitors stayed with friends and relatives.
- Bus carried 48 per cent (rural) and 44 per cent (urban) of visitor-trips.
- Main destinations: Uttar Pradesh (15.5%), Bihar (10.5%), Tamil Nadu (9.6%).
- Business trips cost the most: Rs 5,179 (rural), Rs 6,934 (urban), Rs 5,949 on average.
Same-day trips in the last 30 days
- 65.1 per cent of rural households (57.1 per cent in 2014-15) and 46.2 per cent of urban households (40.6 per cent) made at least one.
- Social and shopping were the most frequent purposes; shopping took the largest share of spending (51 per cent rural, 41 per cent urban).
A caution on comparison. Comparisons with 2014-15 need care: the reference period for some purposes changed between rounds. Pilgrimage, for instance, was counted over the last 30 days in 2014-15 and over the last 365 days now.
Reading the Numbers
Faith drives travel. Nearly half of the overnight trips in the 365-day window are for pilgrimage, in both villages and cities, and Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, home to major pilgrimage circuits, top the destinations. This supports the policy focus on religious circuits, such as the Ministry of Tourism’s PRASHAD scheme (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive), and also warns of the capacity strain on temple towns: crowd management, sanitation and carrying capacity.
Health travel is costly and rural. Health and medical trips are the second-largest purpose for rural households and the most expensive trip of all. That points to specialist care concentrated in cities, which forces rural families to travel, and adds to their out-of-pocket health spending. It is as much a health-system finding as a tourism one.
A leisure divide. Leisure is the second purpose for urban households but not for rural ones, reflecting differences in income and paid leave. Same-day trips, by contrast, have become more common in both sectors.
The bus and the train. For overnight trips over a year, rural travellers rely most on buses and urban ones on trains; for trips in the 30-day window, mostly social visits, the bus leads in both sectors. That is why road transport, State bus corporations and railway capacity matter for domestic tourism as much as hotels.
Why the data matter. Domestic tourists far outnumber foreign ones, and their spending supports employment in transport, hospitality and retail. A household survey is the only way to measure it; the gap of more than a decade since the last round shows why a regular series is needed, including for the Tourism Satellite Account that estimates tourism’s share in GDP.
UPSC Relevance
GS Paper 3. Indian economy and issues relating to growth, development and employment; inclusive growth; infrastructure. GS Paper 1. Salient features of Indian society; role of religion and culture.
A question worth preparing. “Domestic tourism in India is driven more by faith, family and health than by leisure.” Discuss with reference to recent survey evidence, and suggest how tourism policy should respond. (250 words)
The Mains framing. Use the survey’s structure (overnight versus same-day, the leading purpose) to show what drives travel. Draw three policy lessons: capacity and safety in pilgrimage centres, the rural health-access gap revealed by medical travel, and the rural-urban leisure divide. Close with data: regular surveys, a Tourism Satellite Account and State-level planning.
📌 Facts Corner, Knowledgepedia
Prelims, statement-ready facts:
- The Domestic Tourism Expenditure Survey is conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) under MoSPI.
- The 2025-26 survey ran from July 2025 to June 2026 as part of the NSS 80th round; released on 23 September 2026.
- Sample: 2,46,113 households in 24,778 first-stage units; data collected through CAPI.
- Pilgrimage and religious travel is the top purpose of overnight trips in the 365-day window (48 per cent), rural and urban.
- Health and medical trips cost the most: Rs 29,454 (rural), Rs 41,649 (urban).
- Top destinations, 365-day window: Uttar Pradesh (15.7%), Tamil Nadu (13.4%), Rajasthan (8.0%); 30-day: UP, Bihar, TN.
- Social visits are 89 per cent of overnight trips in the 30-day window; business trips cost the most.
- The previous such survey covered July 2014 to June 2015.
Prelims, the traps:
- An overnight trip must include the hours midnight to 5 a.m. and last 12 hours or more, up to 180 days.
- Year-long overnight trips: rural mostly by bus, urban by train; in the 30-day window the bus leads in both.
- The second purpose differs: health for rural households, leisure for urban ones.
Mains, arguments and keywords:
- Faith-led demand: capacity, safety and sanitation in pilgrimage towns; PRASHAD circuits.
- Medical travel as a symptom of urban concentration of specialist care and out-of-pocket spending.
- Keywords: leading purpose, overnight trip, tourist household, Tourism Satellite Account, NSS 80th round.
Interview, be ready for:
- “What does the high cost of health trips tell you?” Specialist care is far from rural homes; strengthen district hospitals and telemedicine.
- “Should India promote religious tourism?” Yes, with carrying-capacity limits, crowd safety and environmental safeguards.
Sources: PIB, MoSPI, Indian Express
Source: Domestic Tourism Survey 2025-26: Pilgrimage Leads, Health Trips Cost the Most — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Current Affairs
