About World Tourism Day
World Tourism Day is marked every 27 September, in 2027 on Monday, 27 September 2027. The date is the anniversary of the adoption of the UN Tourism statutes in 1970, and the day has been held since 1980. In India the Ministry of Tourism marks it with events and award announcements, and most of the real activity happens in state tourism departments, hotel schools and travel businesses.
Indian tourism runs on Indians. Domestic visits outnumber foreign arrivals by more than a hundred to one, which is why a hill town fills up in May regardless of what any international campaign does. Keep that in mind before reading anything written about this day.
What is World Tourism Day and why is it on 27 September?
The date marks the day the statutes of the UN's tourism body were adopted, 27 September 1970. The organisation's General Assembly, meeting at Torremolinos in Spain in September 1979, decided to institute World Tourism Day, and the first was held in 1980.
Late September was chosen for a practical reason. It is the end of the high season in the northern hemisphere and the start of it in the southern, so the day falls when the trade in both halves of the world is paying attention.
Each year UN Tourism picks a theme and a host country, which rotates by region, and the main international event is held there. The theme is announced months ahead on the organisation's World Tourism Day page.
How is World Tourism Day marked in India?
The Ministry of Tourism holds a national event, usually with award announcements and a backgrounder on schemes. State tourism departments run their own programmes, hotel management institutes hold competitions, and monuments occasionally offer free or reduced entry, though that is decided site by site rather than nationally.
The schemes you will hear named on the day are worth knowing if you work in the sector or are pitching for a project:
| Scheme | Started | What it funds |
|---|---|---|
| Swadesh Darshan | 2014-15, revamped as Swadesh Darshan 2.0 | Themed tourism circuits and destination development, with central funding |
| PRASHAD | 2014-15 | Facilities at pilgrimage and heritage sites: access, cleanliness, safety, visitor convenience |
| Dekho Apna Desh | January 2020 | Promotion of domestic travel, including a public poll on favourite destinations |
| Challenge Based Destination Development | Part of Swadesh Darshan | 42 destinations chosen across four themes, including culture and heritage and spiritual and eco-tourism |
What do India's tourism numbers actually show?
The Ministry of Tourism's data compendium for 2024 reports 20.57 million international tourist arrivals, of which 9.95 million were foreign tourists and 10.62 million were non-resident Indians. Receipts came to 35.02 billion US dollars, about 2 per cent of the world total, ranking India fifteenth.
Domestic travel is the far larger number: 2,948 million visits in 2024, up 17.5 per cent on 2023. Uttar Pradesh led with 647 million visits, ahead of Tamil Nadu at 307 million, which tells you that pilgrimage and family travel, not beach holidays, are what move the figures. The Taj Mahal remained the most visited monument, with 6.26 million domestic and 0.65 million foreign visitors in 2024-25.
A PIB backgrounder issued for World Tourism Day in September 2025 put the sector's contribution at 15.73 lakh crore rupees to GDP in 2023-24, or 5.22 per cent of the economy, and counted about 56 lakh foreign tourist arrivals and 303.59 crore domestic tourist visits up to August 2025.
India has 44 UNESCO World Heritage properties. The most recent addition, in July 2025, is the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, twelve forts built or extended by the Marathas between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries, eleven in Maharashtra and one in Tamil Nadu, including Raigad, Shivneri and Sindhudurg.
How do you travel well in India?
Most complaints about tourists in Indian destinations come down to a handful of repeated habits.
Do
- Ask before photographing a person, especially women, children, and people at work or at prayer. A nod is not consent.
- Hire local. A licensed local guide, a homestay, a local driver. That is how the money stays in the place you came to see.
- Check dress and entry rules before a temple, dargah, gurdwara or monastery. Many publish them; some are strict about leather, shoulders or photography.
- Carry your waste down from a hill or a trek. Most mountain towns have no system for what you leave behind.
Avoid
- Don't haggle a craftsperson down to nothing and then post about how cheap it was.
- Don't feed wild animals or stop traffic for a photograph in a sanctuary. It is often an offence and it always makes the animal worse off.
- Don't treat a living place of worship or a working village as a set. People live there after you leave.
- Don't use drones without checking. Rules near monuments, airports, borders and protected areas are tight and enforced.
What should you write on World Tourism Day?
Happy World Tourism Day. You turned a hot afternoon at the fort into the best three hours of our trip, and my daughter still repeats your story about the water system. Thank you.
Wishing you well on World Tourism Day. You gave us a home for a week, not a room. Good season to you.
Happy World Tourism Day. You have rescued three of our trips from our own bad planning. Here is to a full calendar.
On World Tourism Day, a thank you to the person who drove nine hours of hill road while the rest of us slept. We would have seen nothing without you.
It is World Tourism Day, which I am using as an excuse. We said we would do the Konkan coast this year. Pick a week.
Happy World Tourism Day, and enjoy the break. Turn the phone off properly. We will manage, badly, and that is fine.
World Tourism Day greetings. You are joining a sector that employs a very large number of people and runs on how well one person treats another. Good luck with the training.
Related pages: World Heritage Day on 18 April, International Museum Day on 18 May, and World Photography Day on 19 August.
How to wish someone on World Tourism Day
This is a trade day more than a greeting day. The people who welcome a message are the ones who work in it: guides, drivers, homestay owners, hotel staff, forest guides, travel agents. For them, name the trip they made good. For everyone else the day is a prompt rather than a wish, so a short, specific note about a place you owe a visit works better than a general line about wanderlust.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is World Tourism Day in 2026 and 2027?
World Tourism Day is on 27 Sept every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is World Tourism Day in 2027?
World Tourism Day 2027 falls on Monday, 27 September 2027.
Why is World Tourism Day on 27 September?
Because the statutes of the United Nations tourism body were adopted on 27 September 1970. The organisation's General Assembly, meeting at Torremolinos in Spain in 1979, decided to mark the anniversary, and the first World Tourism Day was held in 1980. Late September was picked because it sits between the high seasons of the two hemispheres.
How many tourists visit India each year?
India recorded 20.57 million international tourist arrivals in 2024, made up of 9.95 million foreign tourists and 10.62 million non-resident Indians, according to the Ministry of Tourism's data compendium. Domestic travel is far larger, at 2,948 million visits in 2024, with Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu leading the state totals.
How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites does India have?
Forty-four. The latest, inscribed in July 2025, is the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, a group of twelve forts built or extended by the Marathas between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries, eleven of them in Maharashtra and one in Tamil Nadu.
Are monuments free to enter on World Tourism Day in India?
Sometimes, but it is not a national rule. Free or reduced entry is decided by the Archaeological Survey of India, state departments or individual sites, and it is announced close to the date. Check the specific monument's notice rather than assuming.
What are Swadesh Darshan and PRASHAD?
They are the two main central tourism schemes, both started in 2014-15. Swadesh Darshan, now in a second version, funds themed tourism circuits and destination development. PRASHAD funds facilities at pilgrimage and heritage sites, covering access, cleanliness, safety and visitor convenience.
What is the most respectful way to travel in India as a tourist?
Ask before photographing people, hire local guides, drivers and homestays so the money stays in the place, check dress and entry rules at religious sites before you arrive, and carry your waste out of hill and trekking areas. Treating a working village or a living temple as a photo set is the complaint residents raise most often.
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