India’s forex earnings from tourists up slightly at $1.31 billion in April

India's foreign exchange earnings from tourists arrivals during April 2012 stood at $1.31 billion, compared with $1.29 billion during April 2011 and $1.01 billion in April 2010, showing year-on-year growth of 1.2 per cent and 27.3 per cent, respectively.

The country's foreign exchange earnings from foreign tourist arrivals during January-April 2012 stood at $6.27 billion, up 14.6 per cent from $5.47 billion in January-April 2011, which in turn had grown 12.4 per cent from the previous January-April of 2010.

In rupee terms, foreign exchange earnings from tourists during April 2012 stood at Rs6,745 crore, compared with Rs5,724 crore in April 2011 and Rs4,518 crore in April 2010, showing year-on-year growth of 17.8 per cent and 26.7 per cent, respectively.

Foreign exchange earnings from tourism during January-April 2012 rose 28.5 per cent to Rs31,713 crore from Rs24,676 crore in January-April 2011, which in turn was up 10.8 per cent compared with the corresponding period of 2010.

Foreign tourist arrivals in the country during April 2012 was higher at 4.52 lakh compared to tourist arrivals of 4.38 lakh during April 2011 and 3.72 lakh in April 2010, showing a growth of 3.3 per cent in April 2012 over March 2011.

The lower growth in April 2012 is attributed in part to high base growth rate in April 2011 over April 2010.

Foreign tourist arrivals during January-April 2012 were 2.43 million, with a growth of 8.3 per cent compared to the tourist arrivals of 2.25 million, with a growth of 12.1 per cent during January-February 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.