Published on : Saturday, July 1, 2017
In comparison to the last year, a considerably higher double-digit growth rate of Foreign Tourist Arrivals or FTA’s of 16.5 percent has been witnessed correspondingly in the month of January 2017 as it surpasses the growth rate of 6.8 percent in (FTAs) observed in January 2016 over January 2015. In terms of Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs), same higher growth rate has also observed last year, recording a growth rate of 15.5 percent over 2015, according to recent reports by the Ministry of Tourism.
The contribution of the top ten States or Union Territories in last year can be found at about 84.2 percent to the total number of Domestic Tourist Visits as against 83.62 percent recorded in 2015.
In 2016, the top ten States in terms of number of DTVs (in millions), were Tamil Nadu (344.3), Uttar Pradesh (229.6), Madhya Pradesh (184.7), Andhra Pradesh (158.5), Karnataka (129.8), Maharashtra (115.4), West Bengal (74.5), Telangana (71.5), Gujarat (42.8) and Rajasthan (41.5).
To quote a senior official of the Maharashtra Tourism Board, “The figures are clearly indicative of the developing infrastructure, in terms of more 3-star, 4-star and 5-star hotels coming up and developing roads and transport facilities. The Regional Connectivity Scheme, for example, has made air travel accessible to myriad economic groups, increasing the number of tourists availing airplanes. This has helped in boosting tourism. The tourists these days, are smart, informed and know what they want. So value for money incentives and tour packages, which are a rage these days also help to attract tourists. Actually, there are no one or two reasons, but several such factors which holistically contributed and is contributing even at present, to boost tourism in India.’’