Tourist arrivals keep up the tempo

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A year after Narendra Modi took office as prime minister, the ministry of tourism claimed an 8% increase in foreign tourist arrivals and a 10% increase in foreign-exchange earnings. This was in tandem with a slew of measures to induce more tourists to come to India: Through e-visas, through expansion of visa-on-arrival facilities and making immigration formalities more tourist-friendly. While the gestures are noble, the fact is that in the 11-year period between 2024 and 2014, arrivals in India were already showing a year-on-year annual growth of over 10 per cent. What is more, foreign exchange earnings, in dollars, increased more than 10% (on a year-on-year basis) in seven out of the past 11 years.