Foreign tourist arrivals in 2023 at 7.24 million till October, says govt

More than 7.2 million foreign tourists arrived in India this year till October, the government said on Monday.

Union Culture Minister G Kishan Reddy said this in a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha.

He was also asked if the government is developing some tourist destinations for the promotion of tourism and attracting foreign tourists.

Reddy shared data on foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) during the five years since 2018.

Foreign tourist arrivals stood at 10.56 million (in 2018), 10.93 million (in 2019), slipping to 2.74 million (in 2020), 1.52 million (in 2021) and 6.44 million (in 2022), according to the data sourced from the Bureau of Immigration.

In 2023, the (provisional) foreign tourist arrival figures till October stood at 7.24 million.

"The (Union) Ministry of Mines has taken up the proposal to develop infrastructure/facilities of erstwhile Bharat Gold Mines Limited (Kolar Gold Fields) into tourist destination/site with the Ministry of Tourism," Reddy added.

In a separate query, he was asked whether the government announced 17 iconic tourism sites to develop those into world class tourist destinations and to serve as a model for other tourist sites during the Union Budget for 2019-20.

Reddy responded that the scheme for 'Development of Iconic Tourism Destinations' formulated by the Union Ministry of Tourism "was not approved".

"However, the Ministry of Tourism has sanctioned 76 projects for a total amount of Rs 5,294.11 crore in the country, including two projects in Maharashtra and one project in Odisha," he said.