India records impressive growth in tourism sector in 2010
19th July 2011 India registered an impressive growth of 24.2 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals in 2010. Similarly domestic tourist visits also showed a growth of 10.7 per cent last year. The number of domestic tourist visits to the states/ UTs during 2010 was 740 million as compared to 669 million in 2009 and 563 million in 2008.
According to PIB release, the top ten states in terms of number of domestic tourist visits (in millions) during 2010 were Andhra Pradesh (155.8), Uttar Pradesh (144.8), Tamil Nadu (111.6), Maharashtra (48.5), Karnataka (38.2), Madhya Pradesh (38.1), Uttarakhand (30.2), Rajasthan (25.5), West Bengal (21.1) and Gujarat (18.9). The contribution of top 10 states was about 85.5 per cent to the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2010. The percentage shares of top five states were Andhra Pradesh (21.0 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (19.6 per cent), Tamil Nadu (15.1 per cent), Maharashtra (6.5 per cent) and Karnataka (5.2 per cent).
The number of foreign tourist visits (FTVs) during the year 2010 was 17.9 million as compared to 14.4 million in 2009 and 2008. This shows an impressive growth of 24.2 per cent over 2009 as compared to a decline of 0.1 per cent in 2009 over 2008.
The top ten states in terms of number of FTVs (in millions) during 2010 were Maharashtra (5.1), Tamil Nadu (2.8), Delhi (1.9), Uttar Pradesh (1.7), Rajasthan (1.3), West Bengal (1.2), Kerala (0.66), Bihar (0.64), Himachal Pradesh (0.45) and Goa (0.44). The contribution of top 10 states was about 90.3 per cent to the total number of FTVs in the country during 2010. The percentage shares of top five states were Maharashtra (28.5 per cent), Tamil Nadu (15.7 per cent), Delhi (10.6 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (9.4 per cent) and Rajasthan (7.2 per cent).
