Foreign tourist arrivals up by 18.1 pct this October

The Ministry of Tourism on Monday reported an 18.1 percent increase in the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in October this year, as compared to the corresponding period last year.

According to Nationality-wise, Port-wise data received from the Bureau of Immigration (BOI), the Ministry noted that the number of FTAs in October, 2017 was 8.76 lakh, while that of October 2016 was 7.42 lakh, ths establishing a growth rate of 18.1 percent year-on-year.

FTAs during the period January- October 2017 were 79.96 lakh, reporting a growth of 15.8 percent over the same period of the previous year. The percentage share of FTAs in India during October 2017 saw tourists from Bangladesh emerge on top (21.66 percent), followed by USA (11.57 percent), UK (10.23 percent), Sri Lanka (3.79 percent), Canada (3.36 percent) and Germany.

On the other hand, FTAs from China, Nepal and Rep. of Korea were the least as per data, with FTA figures of 1.93, 1.66 and 1.48 percent respectively.

In terms of ports, Delhi Airport saw the maximum FTAs, registering figures of 32.56 percent, followed by Mumbai Airport (14.02percent), Haridaspur Land Check Post (11.29percent), Chennai Airport (6.10percent), Bengaluru Airport (5.19percent) and Kolkata Airport (4.55percent). Amritsar and Trivandrum airport reported lowest figures of 1.53 and 1.20 percent respectively.

Looking at available figures on FTAs arriving on e-tourist visa, during the month of October 2017, a total of 1.76 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 1.05 lakh during the month of October 2016, thus registering a growth of 67.3 percent YoY.

In the time period from January- October 2017, a total of 12.43 lakh foreign tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 7.81 lakh during the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 59.2 percent.

Maximum tourists that arrived on e-tourist visa in October 2017 were from the UK (18.2 percent), followed by the USA (9.7 percent), France (6.3 percent), Germany (6.0 percent) and Australia (4.3 percent). On the other hand, lowest figures in this regard were reported from Italy (2.2 percent), Netherlands (1.9 percent) and Malaysia (1.6 percent).

In terms of usage of ports, New Delhi Airport emerged on top with 53 percent, followed by Mumbai Airport (16.6 percent), Bengaluru Airport (5.5 percent), Chennai Airport (5.3 percent) and Dabolim (Goa) Airport (4.5 percent). Lowest figures in this regard came from Gaya Airport (0.6 percent), Calicut Airport (0.4 percent) and Trichy Airport (0.4 percent).