Govt Data Shows Tourism On The Upswing In India In 2015

The Prabhu-Gadkari duo has caused an upsurge in tourism in India despite two monsoon failures and a depressed rural economy.

Going by the figures released by the government for the year 2015, there is an increase of over 11 percent in domestic tourist visits and over four percent in foreign tourist visits. This jump has been possible only because of the improved connectivity and transport options offered by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu and Road Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari.

While Prabhu has focussed on developing more passenger amenities, Gadkari has been on a mission to strengthen India’s road network. He has already completed 6,000 km of highways.

Since travellers in India prefer the rail and road modes, the remarkable improvement in these sectors has contributed to some good times for tourism in India.

The Market Research Division of the Ministry of Tourism, which compiles data on domestic and foreign tourist visits to the states/union territories (UTs), released data for the year 2015 on Thursday (30 June 2016).

Especially surprising developments include West Bengal nudging out Rajasthan in attracting foreign tourists and Andhra Pradesh, which is struggling to put its house in order after its bifurcation from Telangana, taking third place in the domestic tourism sector.

Highlights from the report

1) Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs)

- The number of DTVs to the states/UTs was 1,432 million as compared to 1,282.8 million in 2014, registering a growth of 11.63 percent in a year.

- The top 10 states accounting for the bulk of the DTVs (in millions) during 2015 were: Tamil Nadu (333.5), Uttar Pradesh (204.9), Andhra Pradesh (121.6), Karnataka (119.9), Maharashtra (103.4), Telangana (94.5), Madhya Pradesh (78), West Bengal (70.2), Gujarat (36.3) and Rajasthan (35.2).

- The contribution of these 10 states to the total number of DTVs during 2015 was about 83.62 percent.

- Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have maintained the first and second ranks respectively. Andhra Pradesh has taken the third place, with Karnataka and Maharashtra occupying the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

2) Foreign Tourist Visits (FTVs)

- In 2015, the number of FTVs was 23.3 million, as compared to 22.3 million in 2014, registering a growth of 4.4 percent in a year’s time.

- The top 10 states making up most of the FTVs (in millions) during 2015 were: Tamil Nadu (4.68), Maharashtra (4.41), Uttar Pradesh (3.1), Delhi (2.38), West Bengal (1.49), Rajasthan (1.48), Kerala (0.98), Bihar (0.92), Karnataka (0.64) and Goa (0.54).

- The top 10 states accounted for 88.4 percent to the total number of FTVs in the country in 2015.

- While the top four states maintained their slots from 2014, West Bengal improved by one rank to put Rajasthan at sixth. Kerala, Bihar and Karnataka continued to occupy the seventh, eighth and ninth positions, and Goa made a comeback to the top 10 list by pushing Haryana out of the list.