Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has recorded 9.3 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in November 2016 over the same period last year. FTAs during November, 2016 have been marked at 8.91 lakh as compared to 8.16 lakh during November 2015 and 7.65 lakh in November 2014. The USA, with 15.53 per cent, has accounted for the highest share of tourist arrivals followed by the UK (11.21 per cent) and Bangladesh (10.72 per cent). Additionally, INR 14, 474 crore was earned in foreign exchange through tourism in November 2016.
FTAs during the period January-November, 2016 were 78.53 lakh with a growth of 10.4 per cent as compared to 71.14 lakh with a growth of 4.7 per cent during January-November 2015 over the same period in 2014.
Following the USA, UK and Bangladesh, other source countries among the top 15 list include Canada (4.66 per cent), Russia (4.53 per cent), Australia (4.04 per cent), Malaysia (3.65 per cent), Germany (3.53 per cent), China (3.14 per cent), France (2.88 per cent), Sri Lanka (2.49 per cent), Japan (2.49 per cent), Singapore (2.16 per cent), Nepal (1.46 per cent) and Thailand (1.37 per cent).
The percentage share of FTAs during November 2016 among the top 15 ports was highest at Delhi Airport (32.71 per cent), followed by Mumbai Airport (18.51 per cent), Chennai Airport (6.83 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (5.89 per cent), Haridaspur Land check post (5.87 per cent), Goa Airport (5.63 per cent), Kolkata Airport (3.90 per cent), Kochi Airport (3.29 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.14 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (2.76 per cent), Trivandrum Airport (1.54 per cent), Trichy Airport (1.53 per cent), Gede Rail (1.16 per cent), Amritsar Airport (1.15 per cent), and Ghojadanga land check post (0.82 per cent).
Whereas, foreign exchange earnings (FEE) of INR 14,474 crore during November 2016 as compared to INR 12,649 crore in November 2015, has seen a growth of 14.4 per cent. FEEs from tourism during January-November 2016 were INR 138,845 crore, with a growth of 14.7 per cent, as compared to the FEE of INR 121,041 crore with a growth of 9.7 per cent during January-November 2015 over January-November 2014.
MoT compiles monthly estimates of FTAs on the basis of nationality-wise, port-wise data received from Bureau of Immigration (BoI) and FEE from tourism on the basis of data available from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
