MOT aims at 10% growth in inbound

Vinod Zutshi, Secretary – Tourism, Govt. of India, expects inbound tourism to flourish in 2016 after witnessing a growth of 6.8 per cent in Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during January 2016. “We are aiming at a 10 per cent growth in FTAs this year. February 2016 alone received a total of 1,17,210 tourists visiting India on e-Tourist Visa (eTV), recording a growth of 369.1 per cent month on month- the effects of eTV will be observed this year.” Commenting on the expansion of domestic tourism Zutshi added that it would grow even further in the coming years. “Domestic tourism has flourished immensely. We had about 1.45 billion domestic tourist visits in 2015 and expect a 15 growth this year. Additionally, we are aiming to reach 2.2 billion domestic tourist visits by 2019.”