Gujarat's tourist footfall continues robust growth

Tourist flow grew from 38.3 mn in FY16 to 44.8 mn in FY17

While the Khushboo Gujarat ki campaign featuring popular actor Amitabh Bachchan gave the much needed push to Gujarat's tourism sector, now that the campaign is well past its prime, the state has managed to hold on to the impressive growth rates in tourist footfalls. On a much enlarged base, it has managed to accomplish a 16.94% growth in tourist arrivals in FY17 over the previous year. 

Tourist flow grew from 38.3 million in FY16 to 44.8 million in FY17. Tourist flow from other Indian states grew 22%. Business remained the dominant purpose of visit, at 55% share of tourist flow, followed by spiritual tourists at 36% share. 

According to data collected from the Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation Limited (GITCO), which manages the Tourist Flow Information System (TFIS) for the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd (TCGL), shows that the growth in tourist flow was 263% compared to 2006-07. The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of tourist flow during a five-year period between 2006-07 to 2011-12 was 12.62%, while the CAGR of tourist flow during the last five year period between 2011-12 to 2016-17 is 14.91%, marking an improvement.  

R M Patel, chief consultant, GITCO highlighted that tourist flow from other Indian states rose from 9.39 million in 2015-16 to 11.4 million in 2016-17. During the year, 519,000 non-resident Indians (NRIs) and 405,000 foreigners visited Gujarat as well. Leisure tourist flow increased from 2.5 million in FY16 to 3.1 million in FY17. However, spiritual tourists footfall has grown by 24.6% while business tourist arrival has grown by 14.7%.  

Patel said that together these two segments (spiritual and business tourists) comprise 91% of the tourists coming to Gujarat. 

Gujarat, however, has to gear up to attract more leisure tourists. Shravan Gupta, Executive Director - Leisure Businesses, FCM Travel Solutions India felt that the distances between spots at times deters many leisure tourists interested in coming to Gujarat. "Better infrastructure at tourist spots and better connectivity is likely to boost leisure tourism in Gujarat," he added. 

Tourist Origin (No. in Lakhs)

Origin	2014-15		2015-16		2016-17
	No	%	No	%	No	%
Within Gujarat	245.94	75.2	281.8	73.6	324	72.3
Other Indian States	74.63	22.8	93.99	24.5	114.76	25.6
NRI	3.89	1.2	4.23	1.1	5.19	1.2
Foreigner	2.45	0.7	3.09	0.8	4.05	0.9
Total	326.91	100	383.12	100	448	100