Foreign tourists’ arrivals swell; India aims large tourism slice with G20
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, April 25: With robust growth in the foreign tourist arrivals, Ministry of Tourism is hoping for G20 to give a major push to marketing Indian tourist destinations. G20 Working Group Meeting on Tourism is slated to take place in Srinagar next month, as India seeks to scale up its stake in the global tourism business.
“The Ministry of Tourism is making an elaborate plan to showcase the tourism destinations of Jammu and Kashmir, including promoting snow tourism and winter sports,” said a senior official of the Ministry of Tourism.
So far G20 meetings of various subgroups have been held in some of the top tourism destinations in the country such as Udaipur in Rajasthan, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, and Assam. India has so far showcased tourism destinations of sea beaches and backwaters in Kerala, hills and tea estates in the Northeast, and heritage assets in Rajasthan.
India’s foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) from tourism has also scaled the pre-covid level in the rupee term, while being marginally lower in the dollar term. With the runaway success of the longest river cruise, MV Ganga Vilas, India is reaching out to the globe-trotting tourists to hard sell destinations within the country.
“FTAs (Foreign tourist arrivals) in February, 2023 were 8,65,779 as compared to 2,40,896 in February, 2022 registering a growth of 259.4 per cent with respect of 2022. FTAs in January, 2023 were 8,68,160 with a positive growth rate of 330.8 per cent as compared to 2,01,546 in January, 2022,” stated the Ministry of Tourism, showing a steady gain in the arrivals of tourists in the country.
The FTAs during the period January-February 2023 were 17,33,939 as compared to 4,42,442 in January-February, 2022 registering a growth of 291.9 per cent with respect of 2022.
The FEEs (foreign exchange earnings) during the month of February, 2023 were Rs. 18,435 crore as compared to Rs. 4,281 crore in February, 2022 and 17,959 crore in February 2019 registering a growth of 330.59 per cent and 2.65 per cent with respect to 2022 and 2019 respectively. In revenue term, India has surpassed the pre-covid level in tourism earnings.
“FEEs during the month of January-February 2023 were Rs. 36,927 crore as compared to Rs 7,869 crore in January-February 2022 and Rs 36,164 crore in January-February 2019, registering a growth of 369.30 per cent and 2.11 per cent with respect to 2022 and 2019 respectively,” added the Ministry of Tourism.
While the US was the top destination from where most of the tourists came in January, 2023, the slot was taken by Bangladesh in February, 2023. The percentage share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals in India during February, 2023 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (20.3 per cent) followed by USA (16.4 per cent), UK (11.1 per cent), Canada (5.8 per cent), Australia (3.7 per cent), Malaysia (3 per cent), Sri Lanka (2.8 per cent), Russian Federation (2.7 per cent), Germany (2.5 per cent), France (2.4 per cent), Nepal (1.9 per cent), Thailand (1.7 per cent), Singapore (1.5 per cent), Italy (1.2 per cent) and Japan (1.2 per cent).
About The Author
