India: Tourist arrivals register double-digit growth

NEW DELHI, India – Tourist arrivals in India registered a double-digit growth in 2014 over the previous year, show Union Tourism Ministry data.

While the number of domestic tourists grew 12 per cent against 9.59 percent in 2013, the number of foreign visitors rose by 13.12 percent against 9.24 percent the previous year.

Tamil Nadu remained the favourite destination, receiving the highest number of 32.76 crore domestic visitors and 46.6 lakh foreign visitors.

In the domestic travel segment, Uttar Pradesh, with 18.28 crore arrivals, came second after Tamil Nadu, which remained first in domestic and foreign tourist arrivals, in 2014, show data compiled by the market research division of the Union Tourism Ministry based on inputs received from the tourism departments of all States and Union Territories.

On the other hand, after Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra (43.9 lakh) attracted the second highest number of foreign tourists, followed by Uttar Pradesh (29.1 lakh), Delhi (23.2 lakh), Rajasthan (15.3 lakh), West Bengal (13.8 lakh), Kerala (9.2 lakh), Bihar (8.3 lakh), Karnataka (5.6 lakh) and Haryana (5.5 lakh). While most of the list remains the same as in 2013, Haryana makes its debut replacing Goa.

In the domestic segment, Karnataka (11.83 crore) and Maharashtra (9.41 crore) moved up a place each to the third and fourth position, respectively, and Andhra Pradesh (9.33 crore) moved to the fifth place post the spilt. Telangana (7.24 crore) debuted on the list at the sixth place.

Despite aggressive advertising, Madhya Pradesh (6.36 crore) slipped one rank to the seventh spot. West Bengal (4.9 crore) moved up one place to the eighth position. Jharkhand (3.34 crore) was a surprise entrant on the list, jumping to the ninth position from 14th in 2013.

Rajasthan (3.31 crore), considered one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country, dropped three places to the 10th position.