New Delhi, Jan 31 (SocialNews.XYZ) The foreign exchange earning growth of the tourism sector slumped to two per cent from 18 in the last two years, the Economic Survey 2019-2020 presented in Parliament on Friday flagged.
The government also stated that "this trend, however, is not unique to India, as the growth (YoY) in international tourist arrivals globally also slowed down from 7.1 per cent in 2017 to 5.4 per cent in 2018".
Similarly, growth in tourism foreign exchange earning, which reached 18 per cent in mid 2017 started falling starting 2018. In mid 2018, it reached to four per cent and between January and October 2019 it reached to 2 per cent.
The growth in foreign exchange earnings from tourism sector have slowed in 2018 and 2019 after registering strong growth until 2017. Foreign exchange earnings totalled $24 billion in January-October 2019, with a growth (YoY) of 2 per cent.
Also the growth in foreign tourist arrivals to Indian reached 14 per cent in mid 2017 and thereafter it started falling. In mid 2018 it reached to 4 per cent and between January 2019 and October 2019 it reached to 2.7 per cent.
The survey also pointed that India ranked 22nd in the world in terms of international tourist arrivals in 2018, improving from the 26th position in 2017.
India ranks 13th in the world and 7th in Asia and Pacific in terms of tourism foreign exchange earnings, accounting for close to 2 per cent of the world's tourism foreign exchange earnings.
India now accounts for 1.24 per cent of world's international tourist arrivals and 5 per cent of Asia and Pacific's international tourist arrivals.
The report also stated that foreign tourists from the top 10 countries visiting India -- Bangladesh, the US, the UK, Sri Lanka, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, China, Germany and Russia -- accounted for 65 per cent of the total foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2018.
Looking at tourism trends at the state level, the top five states attracting domestic tourists are Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, accounting for nearly 65 per cent of the total domestic tourist visits in the country in 2018.
The top five states attracting foreign tourists are Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan, accounting for about 67 per cent of the total foreign tourist visits in the country in 2018.
To facilitate international tourism, India introduced the e-Tourist Visa regime in September 2014 for 46 countries. Prior to the launch of the scheme, the e-Visa facility was available for only 12 countries.
The government further liberalized the visa regime in 2016, renaming it to e-Visa scheme with five sub-categories i.e. ae-Tourist Visa', ae-Business Visa', 'e-Medical Visa', 'e-Conference Visa' and 'e-Medical Attendant Visa'.
The e-Visa scheme is now available for 169 countries with valid entry through 28 designated airports and 5 designated seaports. With this, foreign tourist arrivals to India on e-visas have increased from 4.45 lakh in 2015 to 23.69 lakh in 2018 and stood at 21.75 lakh in January-October 2019, recording nearly 21 per cent year-on-year growth from the previous year.
Source: IANS
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