Due to growing domestic tourism, Kerala will see a record 2.58 million tourists to the state in 2025. Of the 2.58 million tourists, 2.5 million were domestic, while the number of international travelers was only 8.2 million, still below pre-COVID-19 levels.
Compared to the previous year, 2025 witnessed a positive growth with approximately 28.95 million tourists visiting the state. However, the increase in growth was mainly due to an increase in domestic tourism. In 2025, the domestic sector sees an increase of around 12.46% with 2,50,58,366 domestic tourist arrivals as against 2,22,46,989 in 2024, an increase of 12.46% and 36.3% more than the pre-pandemic period.
Idukki attracts the most tourists among the districts, with 46,79,800 visitors, followed by Ernakulam (44,29,899), Thiruvananthapuram (43,75,846), Thrissur (31,24,696), Wayanad (14,73,710) and Kozhikode (14). The lion’s share of domestic tourists are Keralites, with significant numbers from Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
In the international tourism segment, Kerala continues to struggle due to geopolitical conflicts and global economic uncertainty. In 2024, the state welcomed 7,38,374 foreign tourists. It has shown a growth of 11.3% in 2025 with 8,21,999 international visitors. The peak was in 2019 with 1,189,771 foreign tourists before the outbreak of COVID-19.
Kerala has recovered quickly in domestic tourism after COVID-19, but the slow recovery of foreign tourism is worrying. Historically, the largest number of visitors came from Great Britain, the USA, Germany, France, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the Maldives. Ernakulam district leads in the number of foreign tourists, followed by Thiruvananthapuram, Idukki, Alappuzha and Kottayam.
According to Tourism Minister PA Mohamed Riyas, the upturn in the tourism industry is the result of coordinated and planned activities carried out by Kerala Tourism over the years. There has been a good improvement in the number of tourists in northern Kerala districts where accommodation facilities, including five-star hotels, have increased along with improvement in road infrastructure, he added.
Published – 16 Feb 2026 20:51 IST