West Bengal Becomes India’s New No.2 Tourist Hotspot For Foreign Visitors
For years, travellers spoke first of Goa, Rajasthan, or Kerala. Now, a new name has pushed ahead. The eastern state of West Bengal has become India’s No.2 destination for foreign tourists, just behind Maharashtra.
How Big Is This Rise?
The Union Tourism Ministry’s India Tourism Data Compendium 2025 shows that West Bengal attracted approximately 31 lakh foreign tourists in 2024. This is a 14.8% jump from 27 lakh in 2023.
In terms of share, Maharashtra holds 17.69% of foreign tourist visits, while West Bengal follows with 14.92%. Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan come next.
For domestic travel, the state ranks seventh, but the foreign numbers show a sharp climb that many experts did not expect.
Why Are Global Tourists Choosing West Bengal?
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee links this change to focused work on West Bengal tourism. The state promotes festival trips, religious trips, and MICE travel (meetings, incentives, conferences, and exhibitions).
Kolkata’s Durga Puja has now been granted UNESCO status as an “intangible cultural heritage of humanity.” This tag pushed many overseas visitors to plan a trip just to see the grand pandals, light shows, and late-night streets.
Tourists are also coming from new markets. In 2024, the top source countries for West Bengal tourism included the US, Russia, the UK, and Italy. Industrialist Harsh Goenka even joked that the world has fallen for mishti doi, Durga Puja, and Tagore more than anyone thought.
All this growth comes even though Kolkata has only 51 international flight arrivals a day, compared with over 500 in Mumbai and Delhi. Experts say better air links and e-visa access at land borders could bring even more visitors.
New Circuits: From Hills To Seas
The state government is building fresh tourist routes to keep this demand strong. Plans focus on sea beaches like Tajpur and the Sundarbans, hill areas like Darjeeling and Mirik, holy places such as Gangasagar, Tarapith, and Dakshineswar, tea garden stays, and homestays in rural belts
Fairs like the Bengal Mango Fair and the Handloom-Handicraft Expo help showcase local food, art, and crafts to a global crowd. These moves place the state among key emerging tourism hubs in India and feed strong cultural heritage tourism built around art, music, food, and festivals.
A New Map For Indian Travel Destinations
There is one more twist in the data. For years, Bangladesh sent the largest number of foreign tourists to India. In 2024, Americans moved to the top, while visits from Bangladesh fell from 21.2 lakh to 17.5 lakh. Even with this drop, West Bengal still reported an increase in its overall numbers.
As more visitors land for Puja nights, temple towns, sea walks, and simple homestays, West Bengal tourism shows how one state can climb the charts with culture, food, and smart planning rather than flashy hype. If planes, visas, and roads keep improving, this “sweetest part of India,” as its chief minister calls it, may soon push even closer to the top spot.
