Bangalore : India has repossessed its position as the most preferred Asian destination by recording a 24.2 percent growth in the number of foreign tourist visits during 2010 which went up to 17.9 million compared to 14.4 million in the previous year.
The tourism ministry released the data which demonstrate a maximum of 5.1 million foreign tourists visited Maharashtra, making it the top state in 2010 followed by Tamil Nadu (2.8 million) and Uttar Pradesh (1.7 million)
The other states and Union Territories which pulled in foreign tourists were Delhi (1.9 million), Rajasthan (1.3 million) and West Bengal (1.2 million). Those states and UTs which attracted less than a million tourists in 2010 were Kerala (0.66 million), Bihar (0.64 million), Himachal Pradesh (0.45 million) and Goa (0.44 million).
Among domestic destinations, Andhra Pradesh holds its position in the top slot, recording 155.8 million domestic tourists last year, thanks to pilgrims heading to Tirupati. Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu concord the second and the third positions respectively with 144.8 million and 111.6 million domestic tourists.
A ministry official said, "The growth in domestic tourist visit in 2010 was about 11 percent in comparison against the previous year." The other states that topped the list were Maharashtra (48.5 million), Karnataka (38.2 million), Madhya Pradesh (38.1 million), Uttarakhand (30.2 million), Rajasthan (25.5 million), West Bengal (21.1 million) and Gujarat (18.9 million). These top 10 states contributed about 85.5 percent of total number of domestic tourists visit in 2010.
