Earlier this year, the Ministry of Tourism released the 2024 edition of its India Tourism Data Compendium. The publication provides an overview of India’s tourism statistics with insights on several key indicators, including statistics pertaining to inbound tourism, outbound tourism, domestic tourism, and the operational performance of key tourist spots across the country, among others.
One key indicator that the publication covers is the number of visitors to centrally-protected ticketed monuments.
About 55.4 million people visited 145 such ticketed monuments during FY24, of which almost 53.1 million were domestic tourists. That translates to only 2.3 million foreign tourists at such monuments during the year.
Given these numbers, it would be safe to presume that the number of domestic tourists at each monument would be several-fold higher a compared to foreign tourists. Indeed, that is true for almost all monuments, with some attractions even seeing 1000-4500x higher domestic tourist footfalls as compared to foreign ones.
Interestingly though, there are a handful of tourist spots where the number of foreign tourist visitors is almost at par with the domestic count. One of these spots, (surprising to me), is the Abhaneri Stepwell, also known as Chand Baori. Located in the Dausa district of Rajasthan (about 95 km from Jaipur), the stepwell is among the oldest (supposed to be built in the 9th century) and deepest (with as many as 13 levels) stepwells in India.
Originally constructed to conserve water in the arid region, the stepwell also served as a community gathering space. Its architectural precision and eerie symmetry have made it a favorite among foreign travelers and filmmakers alike—an ancient marvel hiding in plain sight just off the Golden Triangle route.
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While the Baori ranks among the top 10 most visited spots among foreign tourists, it stands at the 83rd spot (out of 145) when it comes to domestic tourists.
The next time you plan a trip in the proximity of the Jaipur-Fatehpur Sikri-Agra Golden Triangle, try to squeeze this somewhat hidden gem into your itinerary.
You can find the India Tourism Data Compendium 2024 HERE
This post is a part of the Blogchatter Half Marathon: October-November 2025.
Such a cool find! That stepwell in Rajasthan is absolutely stunning—those layers, that architecture, and the fact that it still hides in plain sight. Thanks for shining a light on this gem!
ReplyDeleteRajasthan has some of the best tourist attractions in India. Those kings had a really royal time :)
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