Parliament Question: National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI+)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF TOURISM LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2369 ANSWERED ON 15.12.2025 NATIONAL INTEGRATED DATABASE OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (NIDHI+) 2369. SMT. MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH: SHRI DULU MAHATO: SHRI VISHWESHWAR HEGDE KAGERI: SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL: DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY: SMT. KAMALJEET SEHRAWAT: SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL: Will the Minister of TOURISM be pleased to state: (a) the details of the measures taken to strengthen the digital initiatives such as National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI+) and the multilingual tourist helpline for improving service delivery and transparency; (b) the details of the steps taken by the States/UT Governments to deploy tourist police and improve safety, especially for women tourists and the current status thereof; (c) whether the Government has issued any guidance to States regarding granting of “industry status” to tourism and hospitality sector and if so, the details thereof along with the response of the States thereto; and (d) the manner in which reforms such as e-Visa expansion and GST rationalisation have influenced tourist flows and competitiveness relative to other destinations? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF TOURISM (SHRI GAJENDRA SINGH SHEKHAWAT) (a): With a view to bring in more transparency, accountability and improved service delivery, the Ministry of Tourism introduced an online system of receiving, processing and conveying/ granting approvals for classification of accommodation units and recognition of Tourism ServiceProviders. Applications can be filed at the portal of National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI+), i.e. nidhi.tourism.gov.in. This online process has also been integrated with payment gateway. As a part of the Ministry’s continuous endeavours to make travel for tourists safe and secure, the Ministry of Tourism has set up a 24x7 Multi- Lingual Tourist Helpline on the toll free number 1800111363 or on a short code 1363, which is now available in 12 Languages including 10 international languages for domestic and foreign tourists to provide support service in term of information relating to Travel in India and to offer appropriate guidance to tourists in distress, while travelling within India. (b): Safety and Security of tourists is under the purview of State Governments/UT Administrations. However, the Ministry of Tourism has continuously taken up the matter with the States/UTs for setting up of dedicated Tourism Police to strengthen on-ground safety mechanism for tourists. The State Governments /UT Administrations viz. Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim and Uttar Pradesh have deployed tourist police in some form or the other. State Governments and Union Territories have the provision for availing the benefits of the ‘Safe Tourism Destinations for Women’ under Nirbhaya fund for projects specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women tourists. (c): Yes. The Ministry of Tourism launched a Handbook on Industry Status to the Tourism and Hospitality Sector in September, 2024. This has been circulated to the State Governments/UT Administrations for adapting into their industry/tourism policy. (d): e-Visa scheme is now available to the nationals of 172 countries valid for entry through 32 designated airports, 6 designated seaports and 1 land port. The record of Tourist Arrivals for these 172 countries from 2019-2024 is placed at ANNEXURE.The government introduced a simplified GST structure with significant rate reductions across key sectors of trade and commerce, including the hospitality sector, with effect from 22.09.2025. The implemented Goods and Services Tax (GST) reforms are set to transform India's tourism sector, making travel more affordable and accessible for both domestic and international tourists. The highlights of the GST reforms affecting the tourism and hospitality sector are listed as follows: (i) The GST on hotel rooms priced below ₹7,500 per day has been reduced from 12% to 5% (without ITC). (ii) GST on buses with a seating capacity of over 10 persons has been cut from 28% to 18%. (iii) GST on art and cultural goods has been lowered from 12% to 5%, providing direct support to artisans and sculptors. (iv) Consumer durables, Food and related items: Most of the food and related consumables are now having reduced GST at 5 percent or some have nil GST. Similarly, many items used in hospitality such as TVs, refrigerators, ACs etc. are having reduced GST positively impacting the sector with reduced cost of operations and capital expenditure ********ANNEXURE STATEMENT IN REPLY TO PART (d) OF LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2369 ANSWERED ON 15.12.2025 REGARDING NATIONAL INTEGRATED DATABASE OF HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY (NIDHI+) RAISED BY SMT. MALA RAJYA LAXMI SHAH, SHRI DULU MAHATO, SHRI VISHWESHWAR HEGDE KAGERI, SHRI JAGDAMBIKA PAL, DR. NISHIKANT DUBEY, SMT. KAMALJEET SEHRAWAT AND SHRI VIJAY BAGHEL Nationality wise FTAs during 2019-2024 for 172 countries with e-Visa facility (in Numbers) Nationality 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Albania 624 198 68 401 659 729 Andorra 189 61 18 105 169 168 Angola 1232 211 161 728 1205 1202 Anguilla 0 0 0 5 4 Antigua & 277 99 77 249 403 427 Barbuda Argentina 12844 4294 530 4720 9985 9638 Armenia 1307 378 229 1119 1808 2003 Aruba 0 0 0 3 4 Australia 367241 86758 33864 376898 456167 518205 Austria 32332 9182 4411 18375 27420 30393 Azerbaijan 1754 469 189 1224 2769 4809 Bahamas 169 40 16 117 172 195 Bangladesh 257772 549273 240554 127755 211982 175016 7 7 6 5 Barbados 489 216 73 506 667 730 Belarus 6978 3775 607 3599 7366 9126 Belgium 39263 11022 7382 24172 36158 39813 Belize 436 99 114 397 442 515 Benin 485 80 37 253 512 436 Bolivia 793 183 76 523 678 684 Bosnia & Herzg. 1179 295 94 352 815 943 Botswana 1400 253 252 898 1179 1275 Brazil 25422 8092 2055 12301 21977 24782 Brunei 578 106 21 186 443 863 Bulgaria 5735 1655 590 2485 4936 5938 Burundi 419 86 78 275 465 341Cabo Verde 63 15 7 44 40 39 Cambodia 6271 2799 578 2938 8167 11326 Cameroon 3080 761 764 2344 3996 4322 Canada 351859 122868 80437 289259 385938 476273 Cayman Islands 3 0 1 39 28 20 Chile 6446 1861 329 2424 4742 5442 Colombia 8396 1928 470 4451 6813 7639 Comoros 1481 265 106 747 1280 1517 Cook Islands 2 0 2 Costa Rica 2004 519 104 881 1565 1784 Cote D'lvoire 2360 573 702 1358 1573 1660 Croatia 3889 1249 623 2049 3670 4132 Cuba 560 147 130 233 434 382 Cyprus 2093 524 334 1194 1816 2274 Czech Republic 13290 3607 983 6287 11656 13890 Denmark 26492 8252 2025 12331 20200 22456 Djibouti 1059 240 218 650 922 1008 Dominica 615 159 133 518 856 843 Dominican Rep. 514 100 41 320 502 501 Ecuador 2086 438 77 793 1494 1484 El Salvador 637 170 35 265 486 455 Equatorial 39 11 37 78 115 92 Guinea Eritrea 470 107 71 266 355 407 Estonia 3181 1004 162 1295 2789 2965 Eswatini 440 158 172 413 622 740 Fiji 4978 1423 339 2945 4826 5229 Finland 18945 4310 1329 8781 12241 12764 France 247238 74243 30374 120282 188981 206855 Gabon 208 72 31 150 267 158 Gambia 585 81 283 414 636 700 Georgia 1312 521 224 1112 2085 2757 Germany 264973 72558 33772 141425 223575 256348 Ghana 4637 987 879 3293 5781 6049 Gibraltar 4 0 0 0 16 Greece 10317 2854 1144 4988 9206 10596 Grenada 252 83 116 458 792 972 Guatemala 853 208 57 369 750 823 Guernsey 0 0 0 6 20 Guinea 925 206 202 534 923 1256 Guyana 586 150 87 416 591 790Haiti 146 23 7 50 67 63 Honduras 681 180 61 210 390 568 Hungary 9788 2964 653 4298 8156 9040 Iceland 1340 368 123 642 1063 988 Indonesia 50177 11795 2105 13961 32677 39227 Ireland 41183 9708 7600 30959 39166 46494 Isle Of Man 0 0 0 3 27 Israel 73137 17444 4601 36418 44996 47465 Italy 128572 31186 13659 62226 116031 142239 Jamaica 1046 282 207 700 984 1021 Japan 238903 48191 15358 64196 150521 194875 Jersey 1 0 2 0 0 35 Jordan 7014 1702 688 3812 6354 5878 Kazakhstan 15709 5918 2378 9546 22342 27006 Kenya 48639 12779 13373 35743 49574 52294 Kiribati 142 8 129 175 162 Korea (ROK) 149445 32302 13330 49423 97726 112924 Kyrgyzstan 4247 1511 789 2304 5099 5751 Laos 1818 470 22 776 1860 2997 Latvia 3552 1035 327 1794 3164 3649 Lesotho 668 153 257 642 782 750 Liberia 745 215 440 1045 1489 1699 Liechtenstein 125 35 11 72 128 132 Lithuania 5411 1617 779 2830 5611 6305 Luxembourg 1336 381 211 1006 1699 2167 North 915 223 127 423 676 662 Macedonia Madagascar 2817 830 213 1647 3038 3578 Malawi 2526 683 950 2057 2429 2441 Malaysia 334579 69897 6628 126192 262458 307526 Mali 857 225 235 569 749 869 Malta 1774 513 278 1136 1874 2134 Marshall 8 7 3 2 8 13 Islands Mauritius 46814 11410 2118 24743 40442 48683 Mexico 20766 4580 859 8915 16095 18408 Micronesia 11 7 6 15 47 Monaco 71 23 2 24 63 43 Mongolia 2943 621 389 2810 3950 3911 Montenegro 421 123 85 189 393 524 Montserrat 0 2 0 0 0Morocco 8294 1876 592 3373 6837 9831 Mozambique 4398 1372 1016 3544 4772 5741 Myanmar 86842 35291 3013 15963 51235 47588 Namibia 739 137 188 471 760 737 Nauru 70 22 94 88 144 Netherlands 80313 26258 15631 55019 82047 93579 New Zealand 65551 16653 4497 54974 72458 81115 Nicaragua 204 32 2 95 159 174 Niger 850 198 241 594 687 709 Niue Island 0 0 0 0 Norway 21898 6224 2790 13449 20057 21682 Oman 74564 15430 10174 56474 71980 66703 Palau 11 2 2 22 12 8 Palestine 1526 369 208 883 899 870 Panama 1142 463 355 1030 1362 1586 Papua New 326 84 25 102 403 685 Guinea Paraguay 393 112 33 191 328 322 Peru 3792 875 295 1967 3356 3685 Philippines 56393 16052 6927 28379 50064 57542 Poland 33687 12161 2461 18025 35457 43316 Portugal 74743 31005 32064 69522 81916 92582 Qatar 6863 1008 540 2521 3711 3673 Rep. Moldova 963 312 98 443 729 905 Romania 14064 3521 1360 6744 13003 15087 Russian 251319 102166 17567 97911 164125 160188 Federation Rwanda 4165 1093 1489 2551 2584 1890 St. Kitts & 400 92 108 588 969 1188 Nevis Saint Lucia 111 29 41 170 240 264 St. Vincent & 49 7 6 45 54 59 Gren. Samoa 145 17 1 15 50 149 San Marino 36 6 20 37 57 Saudi Arabia 48526 10423 1088 18513 39127 46167 Senegal 1471 374 162 789 1613 2008 Serbia 4885 1235 548 2075 4071 4820 Seychelles 4233 1147 1007 2720 3681 3733 Sierra Leone 784 213 241 625 751 731 Singapore 190089 33747 13407 132668 183772 205383Slovakia 6216 1483 440 2974 5596 6644 Slovenia 3710 1112 359 1822 3559 4056 Solomon 14 1 14 47 50 Islands South Africa 57274 12561 3820 25860 41969 44168 Spain 83322 16335 6982 39658 73412 81959 Sri Lanka 330861 68646 25989 183459 280327 281827 Suriname 667 144 18 209 495 568 Sweden 42318 11992 5579 22372 36007 41246 Switzerland 46826 12675 4198 25255 41004 44122 Taiwan (Pr. Of 48195 8969 891 7463 27229 42598 China) Tajikistan 4123 1709 1659 3461 5594 6413 Tanzania 23774 6501 6480 18581 26790 30730 Thailand 169956 52626 4668 54367 116060 140489 Timor-Leste 201 11 1 118 210 178 Togo 358 89 62 276 389 503 Tonga 139 24 1 44 101 134 Trinidad & 2059 496 163 1067 1790 2238 Tobago Turks & Caicos 0 0 2 8 4 4 Tuvalu 223 48 30 57 88 159 Uganda 8063 2098 2725 6016 8741 11711 Ukraine 29468 10619 5197 7304 11502 14875 United Arab 55415 7387 3927 43702 59480 66699 Emirates United Kingdom 100029 291874 164143 641051 920591 102258 2 7 United States of 151203 394092 429860 140339 169149 180458 America 2 9 8 6 Uruguay 2477 535 45 781 2434 1524 Uzbekistan 25339 7420 5621 12210 27912 34247 Vanuatu 63 34 103 368 493 595 Vatican City 32 7 17 27 47 50 Venezuela 1583 421 184 731 1211 1403 Vietnam 33636 8828 1104 37232 57284 54091 Zambia 4864 1332 1544 3694 4492 4762 Zimbabwe 3877 914 1097 3510 5562 6848 Total 10930355 2744766 1527114 6437467 9520928 9289934 ***********