Domestic tourism growing in double digits

Domestic tourism in India continued to grow in double digits with the number of domestic tourist visits to the various tourist destinations in the country rising to 851 million in 2011 from 748 million in 2010 and 669 million in 2009.

During 2011, the number of domestic tourist visits to various places within the country posted an increase of 13.8 per cent year-on-year, compared to an 11.8 per cent growth in 2010 over 2009.

The top ten states in terms of number of domestic tourist visits  during 2011 were: Uttar Pradesh (155.4 million), Andhra Pradesh (153.1 million), Tamil Nadu (137.5 million), Karnataka (84.1 million), Maharashtra (55.3 million), Madhya Pradesh (44.1 million), Rajasthan (27.1 million), Uttarakhand (25.9 million), West Bengal (22.3 million) and Gujarat (21.0 million).

The top 10 states accounted for about 85.3 per cent of the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2011. The percentage shares of top 5 states were: Uttar Pradesh (18.3 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (18 per cent), Tamil Nadu (16.2 per cent), Karnataka (9.9 per cent) and Maharashtra (6.5 per cent).

Uttar Pradesh has occupied the first rank in terms of domestic tourist visits in 2011, whereas Andhra Pradesh, which was at first place in 2010, has moved down to the second rank.

During 2011, the number of foreign tourist visits to the he various states and union territories in India was 19.5 million as compared to 17.9 million in 2010 and 14.4 million in 2009. This year, the number of foreign tourists to states/UTs registered a growth of 8.85 per cent over 2010 as compared to a growth of 24.6 per cent in 2010 over 2009. The top ten states in terms of number of foreign tourist visits during 2011 were Maharashtra (4.8 million), Tamil Nadu (3.4 million), Delhi (2.2 million), Uttar Pradesh (1.9 million), Rajasthan (1.4 million), West Bengal (1.2 million), Bihar (0.97 million), Kerala (0.73 million), Karnataka (0.57 million) and Himachal Pradesh (0.48 million).