PTI, New Delhi :
With 113 countries availing e-visa facility, India’s Tourism Ministry boasted of attracting over 8 lakh foreign tourists in 2015.
Despite the number of inbound tourists going up steadily in 2015, Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma attracted attention for not so positive reasons as the development over Dadri incident and Nehru Memorial kept him busy for a considerable period.
There were about 8.15 lakh foreign tourists till November as against 7.65 lakh for the corresponding period last year, a growth of 6.5 per cent.
However, foreign exchange earnings from tourism witnessed a decline. Government earned Rs 11,610 crore forex till November as against Rs 12,988 crore for the same period last year, a decrease of 10.6 per cent.
“The perception about tourism in India in the world scenario changed in the last year and the positive results are expected to be fructified in the coming days with a significant rise in the inbound tourists to various destinations in the country,” Sharma told PTI.
He said a new tourism policy aiming at robust growth in the sector is likely to be unfolded shortly.
“We are in the process of finalisation of the policy and it will be out soon. Aim is to make robust growth in the sector expanding the horizon,” he said, adding “our aim is to attract one per cent share of world tourist arrivals.”
With 113 countries availing e-visa facility, India’s Tourism Ministry boasted of attracting over 8 lakh foreign tourists in 2015.
Despite the number of inbound tourists going up steadily in 2015, Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma attracted attention for not so positive reasons as the development over Dadri incident and Nehru Memorial kept him busy for a considerable period.
There were about 8.15 lakh foreign tourists till November as against 7.65 lakh for the corresponding period last year, a growth of 6.5 per cent.
However, foreign exchange earnings from tourism witnessed a decline. Government earned Rs 11,610 crore forex till November as against Rs 12,988 crore for the same period last year, a decrease of 10.6 per cent.
“The perception about tourism in India in the world scenario changed in the last year and the positive results are expected to be fructified in the coming days with a significant rise in the inbound tourists to various destinations in the country,” Sharma told PTI.
He said a new tourism policy aiming at robust growth in the sector is likely to be unfolded shortly.
“We are in the process of finalisation of the policy and it will be out soon. Aim is to make robust growth in the sector expanding the horizon,” he said, adding “our aim is to attract one per cent share of world tourist arrivals.”
