Foreign arrivals slide in 2025
Bangladesh’s tourism economy faced renewed pressure in 2025 as the number of foreign visitors fell by 7.6 per cent year on year, with a sharp decline in arrivals from India outweighing growth from several Western and East Asian markets.
The country received 585,145 foreign visitors in 2025, down from 633,094 in 2024 and 655,451 in 2023, according to Bangladesh Tourism Board (BTB) statistics prepared by the Special Branch of Police.
India remained the largest source market, but arrivals from the neighbouring country dropped 26.1 per cent to 194,609 in 2025 from 263,285 a year earlier. The figure was also 34 per cent below the 294,668 Indian visitors recorded in 2023.
As a result, India’s share of total foreign arrivals fell to 33.3 per cent in 2025 from 41.6 per cent in 2024 and 45 per cent in 2023.
Tourism-sector insiders attributed the decline to heightened tensions between Bangladesh and India, which resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of visas issued by both sides.
The fall in Indian visitors was large enough to offset increases from most other major source markets, highlighting the tourism sector’s continued dependence on a relatively small number of countries.
The United Kingdom remained Bangladesh’s second-largest source market, with 113,288 visitors in 2025, up 4.9 per cent from 108,024 in 2024. The United States followed with 108,182 visitors, an increase of 2.1 per cent from 105,987.
Arrivals from Canada rose 6.5 per cent to 33,094, while those from Australia increased 6.6 per cent to 31,182. Italy recorded stronger growth of 12.1 per cent, with arrivals reaching 21,952.
China registered the highest growth among the top 10 source markets, with visitor numbers rising 44.4 per cent to 6,808 from 4,715 in 2024.
Japanese arrivals increased 14.3 per cent to 6,472, while visitors from Germany rose to 5,740 from 5,441. Sweden completed the top 10, with arrivals increasing to 4,754 from 4,426.
The figures point to a gradual change in the composition of Bangladesh’s foreign visitor market, with dependence on India declining as arrivals from Western and some East Asian markets increase.
However, the headline arrival figures need to be viewed with caution from a tourism-business perspective.
A significant share of foreign visitors consists of Bangladeshi-origin foreign passport holders visiting relatives, business travellers and participants in meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE).
Although these visitors are counted as foreign arrivals in official statistics, they generally contribute less to the tourism economy than conventional leisure tourists.
Leisure visitors typically spend more on hotels, transport, restaurants, tour guides and tourist attractions, making the quality and spending pattern of foreign arrivals as important to the tourism economy as the overall number of visitors.
