Growth of 10.7 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) has been recorded in April 2016 over the same period in 2015, revealed a PIB release. Bangladesh accounted for highest share of tourist arrivals followed by the USA and the UK in April 2016, whereas, ₹ 11, 637 crores foreign exchange earnings (FEE) was recorded through tourism in April 2016.
FTAs during the April, 2016 were 5.99 lakhs as compared to 5.42 lakhs during April, 2015 and 5.35 lakhs in April, 2014. There has been a growth of 10.7 per cent in April, 2016 over April, 2015. FTAs during the period January-April, 2016 were 31.08 lakh with a growth of 10.1 per cent as compared to 28.23 lakhs with a growth of three pr cent in January-April, 2015 over January-April, 2014.
The percentage share of FTAs during April, 2016 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (18.09 per cent) followed by the USA (12.24 per cent), the UK (9.58 per cent), Sri Lanka (3.71 per cent), Malaysia (3.23 per cent), China (3.14 per cent), Australia (3.05 per cent), Germany (3.02 per cent), France (2.86 per cent), Canada (2.83 per cent), Russia (2.81 per cent), Japan (2.50 per cent), Nepal (2.07 per cent), Singapore (1.85 per cent) and Thailand (1.61 per cent).
Whereas, the percentage share of FTAs among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (29.12 per cent) followed by Mumbai Airport (16.85 per cent), Haridaspur Land check post (9.77 per cent),Chennai Airport (7.82 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (6.66 per cent), Kolkata Airport (4.16 per cent), Cochin Airport (3.51 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.07 per cent), Goa Airport (2.84 per cent), Gede Rail (2.31per cent ), Trivendrum Airport (1.54 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (1.44 per cent), Tiruchirapalli Airport (1.31 per cent) Attari-Wagah (1.13 per cent), and Ghojadanga land check post (0.96 per cent).
FEEs during April, 2016 were ₹ 11,637 crore as compared to ₹ 10,091 crore in April, 2015 and ₹ 9,179 crore in April, 2014. The growth rate in FEEs during April, 2016 over April, 2015 was 15.3 per cent as compared to the growth of 9.9 per cent in April, 2015 over April, 2014. FEEs from tourism during January-April, 2016 were ₹ 52,048 crore with a growth of 15.7 per cent as compared to the FEE of ₹ 44,966 crore with a growth of five per cent during January-April, 2015 over January-April, 2014.
