Tourism And Aviation Sector Seem To Be Unaffected By Demonetisation 

Since the ‘Demonetisation’ policy was put into action by the current Government of India, many critics of the move shared doubts how it will affect many sectors of the country, tourism and aviation being two of them. But their doubts are not valid if data is to be understood.

As the following tweet by the Union Minister of Civil Aviation P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju shows the month of December in 2016 had a better record compared to November 2016 with regards to number of passengers and recorded a 23.9 per cent growth.

The case for tourism also shows that the sector was not adversely affected by demonetisation. In December of last year, the government received Rs. 16,805 crore Foreign Exchange Earning through Tourism. There was also a 13.6 per cent growth in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in comparison to the same period in 2015.

The FTAs during December 2016 were 10.37 lakh as compared to FTAs of 9.13 lakh during December, 2015. Additionally the growth rate in Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from Tourism during December 2016 over December, 2015 was 18.7 per cent as compared to the growth of 9.0 per cent in December, 2015 over December, 2014.

Even in the month of November when the policy of demonetisation was announced, the Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) was about 8.91 lakh foreign tourists visited India, which was itself a growth of 9.3 per cent over the same month in 2015. Hence it will not be grossly incorrect to say that the foreign guests of our country were not deterred by the policy of demonetisation.