Published Oct 02, 2026 | 9:30 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 02, 2026 | 9:30 AM
Keralam has the highest proportion of journeys linked to healthcare.
Synopsis: India’s domestic travel data reveals a less visible journey: millions travelling for healthcare. The survey estimates 3.16 crore health and medical visitor trips, with many journeys involving multiple household members and extended stays. The data also highlights the financial cost, interstate movement and distinct healthcare travel patterns across southern states.
India’s domestic travel story is usually about pilgrimages, beaches, mountains, weddings and family visits. But new government data adds another destination to that map: healthcare.
The National Statistics Office’s Domestic Tourism & Expenditure Survey, by the Ministry of Statistics and Planning, conducted between July 2025 and June 2026, estimates 20.31 crore overnight visitor-trips over the previous 365 days for holidaying, pilgrimage, health, or shopping. Of these, 3.16 crore visitor-trips were for health and medical purposes, accounting for 15.6 per cent of visitor-trips in these four categories.
The figure does not represent 3.16 crore individual patients. The survey counts visitor-trips, so one person can make multiple trips.
In fact, more than half of health-led trips involved two family members, and the average such trip involved 1.93 people. The survey does not identify the second traveller as a caregiver, but the pattern shows how a need for healthcare can put more than one household member on the road.
And these visits are not necessarily short. Nearly half of health visitor trips, 48.3 per cent, lasted four nights or longer, while just 15 per cent lasted a single night.
Together, the numbers reveal a side of domestic travel that receives far less attention than holidays or pilgrimages: millions of journeys shaped by the need to seek care, often involving another household member, several nights away from home and, as the expenditure data shows, a sizeable bill.
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Travelling for healthcare places a significant financial burden on households.
An overnight health and medical trip costs an average of ₹32,167. That was higher than the average expenditure on shopping trips (₹18,981), leisure and recreation (₹11,723), and pilgrimage and religious trips (₹7,694).
Medical and health-related expenses accounted for ₹23,361, or nearly three-quarters of the average health-trip expenditure.
The rest went towards accommodation, food, transport and other expenses. Accommodation cost an average of ₹3,471, while food and drinks cost ₹1,864 and transport ₹1,701.
The rural-urban difference was also wide. An overnight health trip cost an average of ₹29,454 in rural areas and ₹41,649 in urban areas.
The length of these journeys adds another dimension, as 48.3 per cent of health visitor trips lasted four nights or more, while 15 per cent lasted only one night.
Yet hotels and guest houses accounted for only 4.9 per cent of stays. Another 9.8 per cent of visitors stayed with friends or relatives. The largest category, at 53.4 per cent, was recorded as “commercial others”, a category the survey does not further define.
So the cost of travelling for care extends beyond the medical bill. For some households, it also means several nights away from home, transport costs and accommodation or other living expenses.
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Healthcare is part of domestic travel across all five major southern states, but its importance varies.
Tamil Nadu recorded about 23.5 lakh trips for health and medical reasons, the highest among the five South Indian states. Keralam followed with 21.6 lakh, Karnataka with 13.7 lakh, Andhra Pradesh with 12.9 lakh and Telangana with 7.9 lakh.
These numbers include people travelling within and outside their own state.
But the picture changes when healthcare travel is compared with other types of travel in each state.
In Keralam, about 22 out of every 100 trips were for health and medical reasons. The figure was about 15 in Andhra Pradesh, 9 in Telangana, 8 in Tamil Nadu and 8 in Karnataka.
In simple terms, Tamil Nadu had the most healthcare journeys, while Keralam had the highest proportion of journeys linked to healthcare.
The survey also looked at people who travelled from one state to another.
Across India, the survey recorded about 27.69 lakh such healthcare journeys. That is about 9 out of every 100 health-related journeys recorded by the survey, meaning most people travelled for healthcare within their own state.
The five southern states together recorded about 6.44 lakh healthcare journeys from people travelling in from another state. Tamil Nadu received about 1.98 lakh, Karnataka 1.84 lakh, Telangana 1.52 lakh, Andhra Pradesh 75,800 and Keralam 34,500.
Here, Telangana stands out.
About 22 out of every 100 people who came to Telangana from another state had come for healthcare. The corresponding figures were about 7 in Karnataka, 5 in Tamil Nadu, 1 in Keralam and 1 in Andhra Pradesh.
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Healthcare travel also happens through shorter journeys.
For same-day trips, the survey uses a separate reference period of the previous 30 days. During that period, 18.5 per cent of same-day trips had health and medical purposes. The figure was 19.5 per cent in rural areas and 15.3 per cent in urban areas.
Social travel was the largest category at 33.2 per cent, followed by shopping at 26.1 per cent. Health and medical travel accounted for 18.5 per cent, while pilgrimage and religious travel accounted for 9.7 per cent.
A same-day health trip cost an average of ₹1,576, of which ₹1,176 went towards medical and health-related expenses.
Age is one of the sharpest differences in the health data.
Among visitors aged 60 and above, 32.3 per cent recorded health and medical purposes. The corresponding figure was 10.4 per cent among children aged 0-14, 12.4 per cent among those aged 15-24 and 14.1 per cent among people aged 25-59.
Among those aged 60 and above, the health share was even higher in rural areas, at 38.2 per cent, compared with 21.9 per cent in urban areas.
Women also recorded a higher health-related travel share than men, at 18.2 per cent compared with 13.3 per cent.
The survey also shows that people do not always travel alone for healthcare.
Among health-led overnight trips, 55.4 per cent involved two household members. Another 27.3 per cent involved one member, while 15 per cent involved three members and 2.3 per cent involved four or more.
The average health-led trip involved 1.93 visitors.
The survey does not identify whether the second traveller was a caregiver, relative or another household member travelling for a different reason. So the data cannot establish a caregiver pattern.
But it shows that healthcare travel can involve more than the person whose treatment prompted the journey.
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The mode of transport also varies across states.
Nationally, 45.1 per cent of health visitor-trips used rented or hired transport, 25.2 per cent used buses, 18.8 per cent used their own vehicles and 8.5 per cent used trains. Air and ship together accounted for 0.6 per cent.
In Karnataka, buses accounted for 50.4 per cent of health visitor-trips. In Tamil Nadu, the figure was 41.7 per cent.
Telangana relied more heavily on rented or hired transport, which accounted for 53 per cent of health visitor-trips. Buses accounted for another 28.7 per cent.
In Andhra Pradesh, rented or hired transport accounted for 43.7 per cent and buses for 39.7 per cent.
Keralam had a different pattern: 46.6 per cent used rented or hired transport and 41.3 per cent used their own vehicles.
The survey does not present healthcare travel as a separate tourism industry. Instead, it shows how healthcare is embedded in everyday domestic movement.
For some people, accessing care means a same-day trip. For others, it means several nights away from home and an average expenditure of more than ₹30,000.
Most health visitor trips do not cross a state border. But nearly one in 11 does, creating an interstate flow of about 27.69 lakh health visitor-trips.
Southern India presents its own contrasts. Keralam has the highest health share among the five major southern states on the resident side, while Telangana records the highest health share among their inbound interstate visitor-trips.
And age makes another difference: among people aged 60 and above, nearly one-third of visitor trips in the four-purpose overnight group involve health and medical purposes.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
