Americans, Britons visited India the most in 2008

Monday, 17 August 2009, 23:29 IST   |    2 Comments
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Americans, Britons visited India the most in 2008
New Delhi: Tourists from the U.S. and Britain topped the list of foreign arrivals in India in 2008, while there was a decline in travellers from Pakistan. According to latest figures issued by the tourism ministry, 827,866 Americans visited India in 2008, followed closely by 787,197 Britons. The arrivals from Britain saw a decline of 1.1 percent in 2008, while that from the U.S. rose 3.6 percent. Interestingly, neighbouring Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were third and fourth on the list, accounting for 540,092 and 228,548 tourists respectively. During the same period, 223,587 Canadians, 217,816 French and 209,252 Germans visited India. They were followed by the Japanese (150,732), Australians (148,055) and Malaysians (119,040). "Tourists from these 10 countries constituted about 64.34 percent of the total arrivals to India," according to a statement. However, there was a decline in number from five countries, including Pakistan, Finland and South Africa. Arrivals from Pakistan declined 25.1 percent, compared to 2007. Similarly, arrivals from Finland and Kenya declined 10 percent. The number of travellers from Mauritius and South Africa fell 8.5 percent and 6.2 percent respectively. About 5.37 million foreign tourists visited India in 2008. The first five months of 2009 showed a sharp decline in the number of foreign tourists arrivals in the country, compared to the same period in 2008. But a slight increase was witnessed from June, officials said. Elsewhere, the maximum growth was seen in tourists from West Asia and Eastern Europe in 2008, which witnessed tourist footfall increasing 20.9 percent and 18.5 percent over that of 2007. There was also an increase in tourists from central and south America and South East Asia.
Source: IANS