Foreign tourist arrivals show steep rise during 2008: MoT

In a statement made recently in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, Kanti Singh said that India has witnessed a hike in Foreign Tourist Arrival (FTAs) during January to November 2008, as compared to the same period last year. Despite rumours of a fall in FTAs in India due to the recent crisis, about 4.84 million foreign tourists visited the country from January to November 2008 (as opposed to 4.48 million foreign tourists who visited India from January to November 2007). However, the growth rate of FTAs visiting the country from January to November 2008 has been only eight per cent, while during the same period last year, the growth rate was 14.8 per cent in comparison to the same period in 2006.

Singh said that the drop in growth rate of FTAs visiting India between 2008 and 2007 could be attributed to reasons like the global recession and terror attacks in Mumbai. He further added that to minimise the negative impact of the terror attacks on tourism, Ministry of Tourism (MoT) has requested State Governments to beef up security measures in hotels and tourist sites in their respective states.