India Sees Over 15 Per Cent Increase In Foreign Tourist Arrival

A compiled report on monthly estimates of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) and FTAs on e-Tourist Visa published by the Ministry of Tourism has highlighted a 7.4 per cent surge in the number of FTAs in July 2017, as compared to July last year.

The report, which was prepared based on nationality-wise, port-wise data received from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI) noted that the number of FTAs in July, 2017 were 7.88 lakh as compared to FTAs of 7.34 lakh in July, 2016 and 6.28 lakh in July, 2015.

However, the report states that FTAs during the period January-July 2017 were 56.74 lakh, compared to 49.03 lakh FTAs in the corresponding time period last year, thus registering a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 15.7 per cent.

Among the top number of FTAs, Bangladesh has emerged on top of the chart, with a share of 20.12 per cent, followed by tourists from the United States of America (16.26 per cent) and the United Kingdom (10.88 per cent).

Meanwhile, the percentage share of FTAs in terms of airports saw Delhi achieve the top spot with 25.95 per cent, with Calicut Airport ranking lowest with a share of 0.73 per cent. With regards to FTAs arriving on e-tourist visas, the report highlighted that in July, 2017, a total of 1.19 lakh tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 0.68 lakh in July last year, thus registering a growth of 73.3 per cent YoY.

In the time period of January to July, 2017, 8.36 lakh tourists arrived on e-tourist visa, compared to 5.40 lakh in the corresponding period last year, achieving a YoY growth of 54.7 per cent. (ANI)