India emerging as biggest tourism hub across the world; over 10 lakh tourists arrived in Feb
New Delhi, March 21: Tourism in India has been getting a good response due to several effective steps were taken by the government. However, as the tourism is flourishing, the country's economy is also getting a massive hike. Notably, the Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) have registered a comprehensive growth of 10.1% in February 2018. The number of FTAs in February 2018 was 10.53 lakh as compared to FTAs of 9.56 lakh in February 2017 and 8.49 lakh in February 2016.
Ministry of Tourism compiles monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) & FTAs on e- Tourist Visa on the basis of Nationality-wise, Port-wise data received from Bureau of Immigration (BOI).
Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs):
The number of FTAs in February 2018 was 10.53 lakh as compared to FTAs of 9.56 lakh in February 2017 and 8.49 lakh in February 2016.
The growth rate in FTAs in February 2018 over February 2017 was 10.1%, compared to 12.7% in February 2017 over February 2016.
FTAs during the period January- February 2018 were 21.19 lakh with a growth of 9.2%, as compared to the FTAs of 19.40 lakh with a growth of 14.6% in January- February 2017 over January- February 2016.
The percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during February 2018 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (18.28%) followed by USA (12.40%), UK (11.75%), Canada (4.36%), Russian Federation (4.20%), France (3.24%), Malaysia (3.14%), Germany (3.04%), Sri Lanka (2.89%), Australia (2.65%), China (2.33%), Japan (2.09%), Thailand (1.92%), Afghanistan (1.65%) and Nepal (1.41%) .
The percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during February 2018 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (30.95%) followed by Mumbai Airport (15.85%), Haridaspur Land Check Post (8.58%), Chennai Airport (6.60%), Goa Airport (5.32%), Bengaluru Airport (4.93%), Kolkata Airport (4.75%), Cochin Airport (2.63%), Gede Rail Land Check Post (2.58%), Hyderabad Airport (2.39%),Ahmedabad Airport (2.05%), Amritsar Airport (1.46%), Sonauli Airport (1.28%), Ghojadanga Land Check Post (1.27%) and Trivandrum Airport (1.23%).
Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) on e-Tourist Visa:
During the month of February 2018, a total of 2.76 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1.70 lakh during the month of February 2017 registering a growth of 62.0%.
During January- February 2018, a total of 5.16 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3.22 lakh during January-February 2017, registering a growth of 60.3%.
The percentage share of top 15 source countries availing e- Tourist Visa facilities during February, 2018 was as follows:
UK (20.1%), USA (10.3%), France (7.0%), Canada (5.5%), Russian Fed (5.4%), China (5.1%), Germany (4.8%), Australia (3.4%), Thailand (2.7%), Italy (2.6%), Oman (1.8%), Korea (Rep.of) (1.7%), Netherlands (1.5%), Malaysia (1.4%),and Spain (1.4%).
The percentage share of top 15 ports in foreign tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during February 2018 was as follows:
New Delhi Airport (43.6%), Mumbai Airport (18.6%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (9.6%), Chennai Airport (9.5%), Bengaluru Airport (5.6%), Kochi Airport (3.6%), Kolkata Airport (3.1%), Hyderabad Airport (1.8%), Trivandrum Airport (1.6%), Amritsar Airport (1.4%), Ahmadabad Airport (1.3%), Jaipur Airport (0.9%), Gaya Airport (0.8%),Tirchy Airport (0.5%) and Calicut Airport (0.3%).