Gujarat tourism grows 17%, even 7 years after campaign

The ‘Khushboo Gujarat Ki’ campaign is well past its prime.  Amitabh Bachchan's appearance in the campaign, which first went on air in 2010, had given a shot in the arm to Gujarat’s tourism sector then. But, the state still manages to hold on to impressive growth rates in tourist footfalls. On a much-enlarged base, it has accomplished a 16.94 per cent growth in tourist arrivals in FY17 over the previous year.

Gujarat’s tourist inflow grew from 38.3 million in FY16 to 44.8 million in FY17. Tourist inflow from other Indian states grew 22 per cent. Business remained the dominant purpose of visit, at 55 per cent of tourist inflow, followed by spiritual tourists at 36 per cent. According to data collected from the Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation (Gitco), which manages the Tourist Flow Information System for the Tourism Corporation of Gujarat Ltd, the growth in tourist inflow was 263 per cent compared to 2006-07.

The compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of tourist inflow during a five-year period between FY07 and FY12 was 12.62 per cent, while the CAGR of tourist inflow during the past five-year period between| FY12 and FY17is 14.91 per cent, marking an improvement.

R M Patel, chief consultant, Gitco, highlighted tourist inflow from other Indian states rose from 9.39 million in FY16 to 11.4 million in FY17. During the year, 519,000 non-resident Indians (NRIs) and 405,000 foreigners visited Gujarat as well. Leisure tourist inflow increased from 2.5 million in FY16 to 3.1 million in FY17. Spiritual tourists’ footfalls have grown 24.6 per cent while business tourist arrivals have grown  14.7 per cent.

Patel said, together, these two segments (spiritual and business tourists), made up 91 per cent of the tourists coming to Gujarat.

Gujarat, however, has to gear up to attract more leisure tourists. Shravan Gupta, executive director for leisure businesses, FCM Travel Solutions India, said the distances between spots at times deter many leisure tourists interested in visiting Gujarat. “Better infrastructure at tourist spots and better connectivity are likely to boost leisure tourism in Gujarat,” he said.