The Government has set a target of doubling the number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) at 20 million as well as earnings from the sector by 2020, Union Tourism Minister KJ Alphons said on Thursday. In 2017, for the first time, foreign tourist arrivals touched 10 million, up from 8.8 million in 2016, when it had grown by 9.7 per cent over the previous year.
“We have crossed 10 million FTAs in 2017 and if we include non-resident Indians visiting the country, the number went up to over 17 million,” the minister said. On the revenue side, without sharing the absolute numbers the minister said, “In dollar terms our earnings have gone up by 20.2 per cent, which is a very good growth compared to the world tourism that grew by less than 5 per cent.”
Addressing the media on the sidelines of the annual tourism event OTM 2018 here Alphons said “these are very encouraging numbers and government is working towards doubling both the arrivals and forex exchange earnings in the next three years.”