The terror of the Naxals seems to have failed to overpower the zeal of the country’s domestic tourists as well as foreigners to explore the tribal areas and eco-tourism in the Maoist-hit States.
As per the latest data from the Union Tourism Ministry, while Domestic Tourist Visits (DTVs) in the left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected States reported an increase in footfall to 62.43 crore in 2013 from 59.23 crore in the previous year for Foreign Tourist Visits (FTVs) it was 88 lakh against 66 lakh during the same period.
However, while tourists hotspots in Jharkhand and Maharashtra were the favourite among the foreigners, Indian preferred to venture mostly Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh which reported double digit growth.
In fact, it was the tourist hotspots in Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh which topped the list in most preferred destinations as it witnessed 51 per cent growth rate in 2013 over the previous year with 22 lakhs against 15 lakhs making visit to the State during the corresponding period.
According to the available statistics, Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand just managed to be in the positive bracket with not many domestic visitors visiting these states.
However, worst hit was Andhra Pradesh which was avoided by the tourists, both domestic and foreign, during 2013. It reported a steep decline of 26 per cent and 23 per cent respectively in DTVs (15.21 crore) and FTVs(22.35 lakhs) footfalls in 2013 over the previous year.
During 2013, besides Andhra Pradesh, foreigners gave a miss to Bihar and Chattisgarh which has reported negative growth.Overall, the domestic tourist visits across the country also reported a rise, though marginally from 104.50 crore in 2012 to 114.52 crore in the following year, as per the data.