India’s foreign exchange earnings through tourism declined in the first half of this year with a muted growth in the number of India-bound tourists, compared to the year-ago period.
Foreign exchange earnings from tourism stood at $16.757 billion between January and July 2019, as against $17.059 billion in the corresponding period last year, posting a -1.8% growth vis-à-vis a 12.1% surge last year, according to data from the ministry.
Foreign tourist arrivals during the period were 60,84,353 as compared to 59,57,816 in the previous corresponding period — a marginal growth of 2.1%. Travel service operators pointed to a combination of factors like fears of a global recession after the US-China trade war, the Pulwama attack in February and the subsequent tension between India and Pakistan, and a decline in the quality of tourists.
Rajeev Kohli, joint MD, Creative Travel, said India is seeing tourism growth from markets like Bangladesh, which have low per-person revenue. “The quality of foreigners coming to India has gone down from the key source markets. Luxury hotels have seen a decline in foreign tourist arrivals.”
Bangladesh led the list of top 15 countries of origin for the India-bound tourists this year with a 23.67% share, followed by the US at 16.02%, UK at 10.12%, Malaysia at 3.15%, China at 2.78% and Sri Lanka at 2.75%.