Nagaland experienced a modest increase in tourist arrivals in 2024, with a total of 1.32 lakh visitors, yet it remained among the least visited states in North-East India. The state’s tourism continues to be heavily dependent on the Hornbill Festival, held annually in December, which alone drew more than 60% of the year’s total visitors. Outside this peak period, monthly arrivals remained low, reflecting a lack of year-round tourism infrastructure and promotion. This pattern highlights both the growing interest in Nagaland and the challenges the state faces in attracting consistent tourist inflows throughout the year.
Nagaland continues to be one of the least frequented states in India’s North-East, even as its tourist numbers saw a modest increase in 2024, according to the latest India Tourism Data Compendium 2025. The state recorded a total of 1.32 lakh visitors last year, comprising 1.26 lakh domestic tourists and around 6,000 international travelers. This represents an improvement over 1.05 lakh arrivals in 2023, translating to a 25.87% rise in domestic visits and a 19% growth in foreign tourist arrivals.
Despite the positive trend, Nagaland remains near the bottom of the region in terms of total tourist inflow. Only Manipur recorded fewer visitors, with 0.32 lakh arrivals. In the domestic category, Nagaland again ranked second from the bottom, while Assam dominated the North-East with more than 76 lakh domestic visitors in both 2023 and 2024, accounting for over 60% of the region’s overall traffic. Meghalaya and Sikkim attracted 15.86 lakh and 15.40 lakh domestic tourists respectively, while Mizoram more than doubled its domestic arrivals from 2.09 lakh to 4.22 lakh.
Foreign tourist figures present a slightly better scenario for Nagaland. With about 6,000 international arrivals, it outperformed Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, both recording 5,000 visitors, yet lagged far behind Sikkim (85,000) and Tripura (91,000). Assam and Meghalaya attracted 27,000 and 23,000 foreign visitors respectively. On the national scale, Nagaland’s contribution remained minimal, accounting for a negligible share of domestic arrivals and only 0.03% of international visits.
Tourism in Nagaland is heavily concentrated around the Hornbill Festival, held annually from December 1 to 10. The 2024 festival attracted 56,217 domestic visitors and 2,527 foreign tourists in just ten days, more than double the total arrivals for the rest of December combined. Overall, December accounted for 63% of Nagaland’s total annual tourist traffic.
From January to November, the state recorded 48,299 tourists, averaging roughly 4,390 visitors per month. Outside December, domestic arrivals ranged between 2,456 and 7,005, while foreign arrivals averaged 236 monthly. Minor peaks were observed in March and November, and visitor numbers generally increased during the colder months from September through March.
At the national level, India experienced record-breaking tourism in 2024. Uttar Pradesh led domestic travel with 646.81 million visits (21.94%), followed by Tamil Nadu (306.84 million; 10.41%), Karnataka (304.56 million; 10.33%), Andhra Pradesh (290.27 million; 9.85%), and Rajasthan (230.08 million; 7.80%), together accounting for over 60% of total domestic travel.
International tourism was dominated by Maharashtra (3.70 million; 17.69%), West Bengal (3.12 million; 14.92%), Uttar Pradesh (2.27 million; 10.83%), Gujarat (2.27 million; 10.86%), and Rajasthan (2.07 million; 9.90%), collectively drawing 64.34% of foreign visitors. India welcomed 20.57 million international tourists in 2024, including 9.95 million foreign visitors and 10.62 million non-resident Indians, generating an estimated $35 billion in revenue.
Iconic landmarks remained top draws for tourists. The Taj Mahal topped both domestic (6.26 million) and international (0.64 million) visits, while other major attractions such as the Sun Temple, Qutub Minar, Red Fort, Bibi Ka Maqbara, Agra Fort, Humayun’s Tomb, and Baori at Abhaneri recorded significant footfall.
Nagaland saw modest tourist growth in 2024, reaching 1.32 lakh visitors, yet remained among the least visited North-East states as over 60% of arrivals were driven by the December Hornbill Festival.
Globally, international tourist arrivals reached 1.465 billion, with France (102 million), Spain (89 million), and the United States (66.5 million) as the most visited countries. Worldwide tourism earnings were estimated at $1,731 billion, reflecting the sustained growth of global travel despite regional disparities.