Positive growth registered in both Domestic and Foreign Tourist visits during 2015

Market Research Division of Ministry of Tourism compiles data on domestic and foreign tourist visits to States/Union Territories (UTs) received from Departments of Tourism of various State Governments and UT Administrations. Following are the salient features of the compilation for 2015:

 (a)     Domestic Tourist Visits to States/ UTs

 During 2015, the number of domestic tourist visits to the States/ UTs was 1432 million as compared to 1282.8 million in 2014 registering a growth of 11.63% over 2014.

·           The top ten States in terms of number of domestic tourist visits (in millions), during 2015, were Tamil Nadu (333.5), Uttar Pradesh (204.9), Andhra Pradesh (121.6), Karnataka (119.9), Maharashtra (103.4), Telangana (94.5), Madhya Pradesh (78), West Bengal (70.2), Gujarat(36.3) and Rajasthan (35.2).

·           The contribution of top 10 States was about 83.62% to the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2015.

·           Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh have maintained the first and second rank respectively in terms of DTVs in 2015. Andhra Pradesh has gained the third position leaving Karnataka and Maharashtra at the succeeding fourth and fifth positions respectively.

·           Telangana, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal have retained their previous rankings at sixth, seventh and eighth. Gujarat, showing significant improvement has risen to rank ninth leaving Rajasthan at the tenth and causing Jharkhand to slip out of the top 10 most visited states.

(b)   Foreign Tourist Visits to States/ UTs

·         During 2015, the number of foreign tourist visits (FTVs) to the States/ UTs was 23.3 million as compared to 22.3 million in 2014 registering a growth of 4.4% over 2014.

·          The top ten States in terms of number of FTVs (in millions) during 2015 were Tamil Nadu (4.68), Maharashtra (4.41), Uttar Pradesh (3.1), Delhi (2.38), West Bengal(1.49), Rajasthan(1.48), Kerala(0.98), Bihar(0.92), Karnataka(0.64) and Goa(0.54).

·         The contribution of top 10 States was about 88.4% to the total number of FTVs in the country during 2015.

·         In 2015, while the top 4 states retained their previous rankings, West Bengal improved by one rank to leave Rajasthan at sixth rank. Kerala, Bihar and Karnataka retained their ranks at seventh, eighth and ninth and Goa re-entered the top 10 most visited states causing Haryana to drop out of the ranks.