FTAs increase by 3.2 percent

The foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) in India in the first three months of 2015 have grown by 3.2 percent over the same period in 2014, the tourism ministry said on Friday.

Releasing its monthly estimates, the ministry said FTAs during January-March 2015 were 22.81 lakh -- a growth of 3.2 percent as compared to 22.10 lakh in 2014.

In March 2015 alone, FTAs were 7.30 lakh as compared to 6.93 lakh during the same month in 2014 -- a growth of 5.3 percent.

India received the highest visitors from UK (12.52 percent) followed closely by USA (12.35 percent) and Bangladesh (12.28 percent).

Other countries included Sri Lanka (4.40 percent), Germany (4.28 percent), Canada (3.39 percent), Malaysia (3.26 percent), France (3.24 percent) among others.

The top 15 countries accounted for 71.91 percent of total FTAs during March 2015.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) during March 2015 too increased from Rs.10,152 crore in 2014 to Rs.10,451 - a growth of 2.9 percent.