India recorded 8.4% growth in Foreign Tourist Arrivals in January, 2018 over January, 2017. Similarly, e-Tourist Visa route was most favored by tourists and there was a stunning 58.5 p.c growth in the area in January 2018, over January 2017. Here is the data from Ministry of Tourism-
10.66 lakh Foreign tourists arrived in India in January 2018 as compared to FTAs of 9.83 lakh in January, 2017 and 8.45 lakh in January, 2016.
- The growth rate was 8.4%, compared to 16.4% in January, 2017 over January, 2016.
- Among the top 15 source countries, Bangladesh stood first with 16.36% of total arrivals followed by USA (14.10%), UK (10.81%), Canada (4.63%), Russian Federation (4.49%), Australia (3.60%), France (2.76%), Germany (2.64%), Malaysia (2.63%), Sri Lanka (2.59%), China (2.27%), Japan (2.08%), Republic of Korea (1.93%), Afghanistan (1.86%) and Nepal (1.59%).
- With 28.03 per cent arrivals, the Delhi Airport remained the busiest followed by Mumbai Airport (17.47%), Haridaspur Land Check Post (7.63%), Chennai Airport (7.17%), Goa (6.19%), Bengaluru Airport (5.16%), Kolkata Airport (4.81%), Cochin Airport (3.77%), Ahmadabad Airport (3.01%), Hyderabad Airport (2.56%),Gede Rail Land Check Post (1.82%), Trivandrum Airport (1.56%), Tiruchirapalli Airport (1.25%), Ghojadanga Land Check Post (1.11%), Amritsar Airport (1.01%).
FTAs on e-Tourist Visa
During the month of January, 2018, a total of 2.40 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1.52 lakh during the month of January, 2017 registering a growth of 58.5%. UK (18.6 pc_ topped the list of 15 sources countries in availing the e-Visa facility followed by USA (10.6%), Russian Fed (6.5%), France (5.4%), Canada (5.3%), China (4.8%), Australia (4.3%), Germany (4.0%), Korea (Rep.of) (3.9%), Oman (3.4%), Italy (2.4%), Thailand (1.9%), Israel (1.4%), Netherlands (1.4%), and South Africa (1.4%).
The percentage share of top 15 ports in foreign tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during January, 2018 was:
New Delhi Airport (37.3%), Mumbai Airport (19.6%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (12.4%), Chennai Airport (7.2%), Bengaluru Airport (5.7%),Kochi Airport (5.2%), Kolkata Airport (2.7%), Hyderabad Airport (2.3%), Trivandrum Airport (2.0%), Ahmadabad Airport (1.6%), Gaya Airport (0.9%), Amritsar Airport (0.9%), Calicut Airport (0.6%), Tirchy Airport (0.6%) and Jaipur Airport (0.4%).