Kerala has witnessed a healthy increase in both foreign as well as domestic tourist arrivals, thanks to various tourist-friendly initiatives launched by the State Government, a Kerala tourism department official said here on Thursday.
Kerala Tourism was showcasing its achievements here to promote its coastal tourism in northern states of the country.
"The foreign tourist arrivals in 2014 was 9.25 lakh, registering an increase of nearly 9 per cent over previous year. The domestic tourist arrivals were nearly 1.16 crore last year, registering an increase of about 8 per cent over previous year," K Rajkumar, Deputy Director, Department of Kerala Tourism said.
The total revenue, from the tourism sector touched Rs 24,885.44 crore in 2014, showing an increse of 12.11 per cent over previous year, he added.
Rajkumar said that bulk of the foreign tourists which Kerala attracts come from United Kingdom, Germany, France and the United States while on domestic front, each year the tourists from states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Delhi-NCR and Punjab visit the State, whose star attractions are its beaches, backwaters and Ayurveda.