Category Archives: MOT

The foreign tourist visit to all States and UTs has been increasing over the years and in the year 2016,the visits by foreign tourists registered a growth of 5.92 per cent over 2015, according to a statistics report by Ministry of Tourism. The report says that number of foreign tourist visits to States/Uts during last 13 years has been registering an increasing trend overall, except for marginal decline in foreign visits in the years 2009 and 2012. The top five states in foreign tourist visits in 2016 were Tamil Nadu (4.72 million), Maharashtra(4.67million), Uttar Pradesh (31.53 million). Meanwhile, the report says that, there has been continuous increase in domestic tourist visits to States/ UTs with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.03 per cent from 1991 to 2016. The top five states in domestic tourist visits in 2016 were Tamil Nadu (343.8 million), Uttar Pradesh (211.7 million), Andhra Pradesh (153.2 million, Madhya Pradesh (150.5 million) and Karnataka (129.8 million).

According to data from Bureau of Immigration, Government of India, Bangladesh, USA and UK were the top three countries in terms of FTAs in India during February 2018. The top 10 source countries accounted for 61 per cent of the total inbound tourist flows in the year 2017. The introduction of e-Visa has led to a strong surge in Foreign Tourist Arrival resulting in a Y-o-Y growth of 62% in February 2018 compared to February 2017. UK, USA and France were the top three source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during February 2018.

Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during 2017 were USD 27,742 mn with a growth of 17.0 per cent over 2016, according to a latest FICCI-Yes Bank Report. This growth trend is dependent on many external factors including exchange rate and socio–political scenario, however, despite global undulations, FEEs have consistently contributed a significant share to the Tourism GDP of India. The rising flow of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) is clearly a function of the stellar growth performance of emerging tourism trends like MiCE along with spiritual travel and medical tourism. Furthermore, it goes without saying that FTAs have been able to garner considerable resources for the country and started contributing significantly to the economy. Foreign tourists tend to spend more in India than almost any other country worldwide due to its size as well as diversity of culture and geography. These are positive signs for the industry, and indicate significant potential going forward.

The Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with Google India has launched a 360° Virtual Reality (VR) experience video for the global “Incredible India” tourism campaign. Incredible India in 360 degrees takes through a journey across Hampi, Goa, Delhi and Amritsar, and will explore the places and people that make each of these iconic Indian sites incredible. Describing India as a destination of diverse experiences, KJ Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism said, “India is an iconic destination that offers unique experiences of climate, geography, culture, art, literature, and food”. The minister also said that government wants to give people in India and across the world an opportunity to immerse in our country’s rich heritage. And, through the partnership with Google, it wants to engage new and global audiences and offer them immersive content in a never-before-seen manner. The minister added that taking virtual reality to the common man at a low-free cost will further enable an increase in the tourist footfall in Iconic monuments and other tourist destinations with a focus on Museums.

India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has recently signed a MoU with Hyderabad-based firm, Suraas Impex for developing a mega tourism destination project at Bhairav Lanka in Kakinada, East Godavari District of Andhra Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs 550 crores. This is the first-of-its-kind project for the state-owned ITDC, which got preferred against several private contenders. ITDC will be the Consulting Agency as well as Implementing Agency for the DPR and the execution which shall be taken up in three stages, i.e., preparing the DPR, implementation of project costing around Rs 550 crores and implementation of second phase of the project. ITDC has been the prime mover in the progressive development, promotion and expansion of tourism in the country. The Division has completed 67 infrastructure projects for Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Culture and various state governments. The division has also prepared more than 85 DPRs for various tourism projects in the country. The corporation provides Engineering Consultancy Services through its full-fledged Ashok Consultancy & Engineering Services Division. It undertakes development of tourism infrastructure projects from concept to commissioning.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) this March were 10.26 lakh as compared to FTAs of 9.05 lakh in March 2017, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism. FTAs during the period January-March 2018 were 31.27 lakh with a growth of 9.9 per cent over the same period of previous year. The percentage share of FTAs in India during March 2018 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (19.59 per cent) followed by UK (11.56 per cent), USA (10.79 per cent), Russian Federation (3.89 per cent), Sri Lanka (3.72 per cent), Malaysia (3.36 per cent), Canada (3.35 per cent), Germany (3.19 per cent), China (2.67 per cent), Australia (2.62 per cent), France (2.58 per cent), Japan (2.11 per cent), Thailand (2.00 per cent), Singapore (1.64 per cent) and Afghanistan (1.60 per cent).

KJ Alphons, Union Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism has said that the Ministry is targeting to increase India’s share of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in world’s international tourist arrivals to 1 per cent by 2020 and to 2 per cent by 2025. The share of India’s FTAs in during 2016 was 0.71 per cent, while the share of India’s International Tourist Arrivals (which includes Foreign Tourist Arrivals and arrival of Non Resident Nationals) in world’s International Tourist Arrivals during 2016 was 1.18%. Ministry of Tourism has two flagship schemes – Swadesh Darshan – Integrated Development of Theme Based Tourist Circuits, and PRASHAD – Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive for creation of tourism infrastructure, generating pro-tourism culture in the people. MOT has launched Social Awareness Media Campaigns with the objective of sensitising stakeholders in the tourism industry as well as the general public about the importance of good conduct and behaviour towards tourists and reinforce the spirit of ‘Atithi devo Bhava’.

Post efforts by India Convention Promotion Bureau (ICPB), the Ministry of Home Affairs will shortly launch an online module for submission of applications by the organisers of international conferences for seeking clearance from the Ministry. The clearance will be generated through the online system and sent to organisers. A copy of the clearance will also be endorsed to all Indian Missions/Posts. Commenting on the same, Chander Mansharamani, Vice Chairman, ICPB, said, “It’s a great news for all of us in the convention industry. We have been persistently following up with the Ministry of Tourism on the need for grant of conference visa. We are sure this will help us to bring in more number of international conferences to India in the future.” Ministry of Tourism has informed that revised instructions have been issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India vide circular number No 25022/8/2018-FCC, dated February 28, 2018, relating to the grant of Conference Visa to foreign nationals coming to India to attend international conferences/seminars/workshops.  

According to the data released by Ministry of Tourism, Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during the month of February 2018 were ₹17, 407 crore as compared to ₹15,790 crore in February 2017 and ₹13,661 crore in February 2016. The growth rate in FEEs in February 2018 over February 2017 was 10.2 per cent, compared to the growth of 15.6 per cent in February 2017 over February 2016. The FEEs during the period of January-February 2018 were ₹35,132 crore with a growth of 10.0 per cent, as compared to the FEE of ₹31,925 crore in January-February 2017 with a growth of 16.8 per cent over January- February 2016.

Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) this February were 10.53 lakh as compared to FTAs of 9.56 lakh in February 2017 and 8.49 lakh in February 2016, according to the latest data released by the Ministry of Tourism. The growth rate in FTAs in February 2018 over February 2017 was 10.1 per cent as compared to 12.7 per cent in February 2017 over February 2016. FTAs during the period January-February 2018 were 21.19 lakh with a growth of 9.2 per cent over the same period of previous year, as compared to the FTAs of 19.40 lakh with a growth of 14.6 per cent in January-February, 2017 over January-February, 2016. The percentage share of FTAs in India during February 2018 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (18.28 per cent) followed by USA (12.40 per cent), UK (11.75 per cent), Canada (4.36 per cent), Russian Federation (4.20 per cent), France (3.24 per cent), Malaysia (3.14 per cent), Germany (3.04 per cent), Sri Lanka (2.89 per cent), China (2.33 per cent), Japan (2.09 per cent), Thailand (1.92 per cent), Afghanistan (1.65 per cent) and Nepal (1.41 per cent).