India’s forex earnings from tourists up 26 per cent in December

Foreign exchange earnings from tourist arrivals in the country rose 26 per cent year-on-year to Rs8,870 crore during December 2011 against Rs7,039 crore in December 2010. It was Rs7,042 crore in December 2009.

Foreign exchange earnings from tourists in rupee terms during 2011 rose 19.6 per cent to Rs77,591 crore against Rs64,889 crore in 2010, which was up 18.1 per cent compared to the 2009 earnings.

In dollar terms, foreign exchange earnings from tourists arriving in the country during December 2011 rose 8.3 per cent to $1.69 billion against $1.56 billion during December 2010. It was $1.51 billion in December 2009.

The growth rate in forex earnings from tourists during 2011 rose 16.7 per cent to $16.56 billion compared to $14.19 billion in 2010, which in turn grew 24.6 per cent over 2009.

Arrival of foreign tourists during December 2011 was up 5.2 per cent at 7.15 lakh compared to arrival of 6.80 lakh tourists during December 2010, which again was up 10.4 per cent over the 6.16 lakh tourists visited the country in December, 2009.

The growth rate of 5.2 per cent in December 2011 was also higher than the 4.7 per cent growth rate observed in November 2011.

Foreign tourist arrivals in India during 2011 rose 8.9 per cent to 6.29 million from 5.78 million tourists in 2010, which again was up 11.8 per cent from the 2009 figures.

The growth rate of 8.9 per cent in 2011 is better than UNWTO's projected growth rate of 4 per cent to 5 per cent for the world in 2011 and 7 per cent to 9 per cent for Asia and the Pacific.