Bangladesh has accounted for the highest share of foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in India, followed by the USA and UK in September 2016, resulting in total foreign exchange earning of INR 11,781 through tourism in for the month. Futhermore, 13.4 per cent growth in FTAs has been registered in September 2016 over the same period last year, as revealed by a PIB release.
FTAs during September 2016 were 6.15 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.42 lakh during September 2015 and 5.09 lakh in September 2014. Whereas, FTAs during the period January-September 2016 were 62.07 lakh, marking a growth of 10.5 per cent as compared to 56.15 lakh with a growth of 4.8 per cent in January-September 2015 over the same period in 2014.
The percentage share of FTAs in India during September 2016 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (20.58 per cent), followed by USA (10.96 per cent), the UK (7.97 per cent), Malaysia (4.98 per cent), Sri Lanka (3.98 per cent), Australia (3.47 per cent), China (3.36 per cent), Germany (2.83 per cent), Japan (2.79 per cent), Canada (2.58 per cent), Nepal (2.16 per cent), France (2.15 per cent), Singapore (2.08 per cent), Afghanistan (1.57 per cent) and Pakistan (1.36 per cent).
The percentage share of FTAs among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (30.99 per cent), followed by Mumbai Airport (16.28 per cent), Haridaspur land check post (11.62 per cent), Chennai Airport (8.30 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (6.01 per cent), Kolkata Airport (4.43 per cent), Kochi Airport (3.22 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.01 per cent), Gede Rail (2.28 per cent), Tiruchirapalli Airport (1.99 per cent), Ahmedabad Airport (1.72 per cent), Trivandrum Airport (1.49 per cent), Ghojadanga land check post (1.29 per cent), Amritsar Airport (1.01 per cent) and Attari-Wagh Land check post (0.99 per cent).
FEEs during September 2016 have been recorded at INR 11,781 crore as compared to INR 10,415 crore in September 2015 and INR 9,057 crore in September 2014. The growth rate in FEEs during September 2016 over September 2015 was 13.1 per cent as compared to the growth of 15 per cent in September 2015 over September, 2014. Whereas, FEEs from tourism during January-September 2016 were INR 1,12,068 crore with a growth of 14.5 per cent as compared to the FEE of INR 97,843 crore with a growth of 10.1 per cent during January-September, 2015 over January-September 2014.
