There has been a rise in the number of foreign tourists taking tickets on flights bound for India in September 2012. Compared to same month last year, there has been a rise of 3.2 per cent.
Official figures released by India’s tourism department reveal that a more number of foreign tourists are now taking flights tickets to India. In the month of September in 2012, as many as 4.15 lakh (0.42 million approx) foreign tourists grabbed tickets on flights bound for India. This is a growth of 3.2 per cent over the same period in 2011. Last year in the same month, 4.02 lakh (0.40 million approx) foreigners landed in India after buying flights tickets.
A total of 4.633 million foreign tourists booked India bound flights tickets during January-September as against 4.375 million who landed off from the flights in the year 2011 in the same period, registering a growth of 5.9 per cent.
“Our aim is to attract more foreign tourists as India is now all-season tourist destination. The target is to reach the 12 million mark by 2016-17 as far as foreign tourists’ arrivals is concerned,” a senior ministry official was quoted in Economic Times, leading financial daily.
Foreign exchange for the country also shot up during the period. As per tourism ministry data, forex during September were INR 6,652 crore (USD 1265.50 mn approx) as compared to INR 5,748 crore (USD 1093 mn approx) in 2011, which is an increase of 15.7 per cent.
September marks the beginning of peak tourist season in India. This is the time when vacationers start planning holidays to the country and looking for cheap tickets on flights as the sweltering summer and tricky monsoon conditions give way to pleasant weather.
