India’s Foreign Exchange Earnings from tourism up 20% in April – Sep 2014

The Dollar Business Bureau | @TheDollarBiz

Foreign Tourist Arrivals to India are up about 11.7% (y-o-y) in April - September 2014

  India’s Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism in the first half of FY2014-15 stands at Rs.54,170 crore (about $9 billion), which is up almost 20% compared to Rs.45,275 crore (about $7.66 billion) earned in the corresponding period last year. According to India’s Ministry of Tourism, the total number of tourist arrivals

 (Foreign Tourist Arrivals or FTAs) during April-September 2014 has increased to 30.53 lakh, up about 11.7% from 27.33 lakh recorded during the same period last year. The top source countries in September 2014 include: Bangladesh (14.79%), USA (11.88%), UK (8.33%), Sri Lanka (4.77%), Malaysia (4.18%), Japan (3.69%), Australia (3.54%), Germany (3.10%), China (2.96%), France (2.57%), Canada (2.57%), Nepal (2.49%), Singapore (2.18%), Pakistan (2.14%) and Afghanistan (1.56%).

Source - Ministry of Tourism, India

Before the slowdown in September, the growth rate of tourist inflow into India in June, July and August, 2014 grew by 9%, 12.9% and 16.9% respectively compared to corresponding months of 2013. The growth of FEE in June, July and August 2014 also increased by 17.4%, 19.3% and 26.8% in USD terms as compared to corresponding months of 2013. Tourism plays a key role in the revival of Brand India and accounts for around 12.4% of total employment in India. However, India’s tourism sector remains below its potential. In 2013, India’s FTAs grew by 4%, but it was much lower than the 27% growth seen in neighbouring Sri Lanka and 17% growth seen in Maldives. The Indian government has undertaken several measures to boost tourist inflow into the country such as a countrywide cleanliness drive, development of theme-based tourist circuits, reconstruction of tourism infrastructure in Jammu & Kashmir, skill development, reclassification of hotels, and focus on security. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked Mark Zuckerberg to promote India’s tourism potential through Facebook.

Source - Ministry of Tourism, India

Seen globally, tourism ranks fifth as an export category after fuels, chemicals, food, and automotive products. According to the UN World Tourism Organisation Network, export earnings from global tourism is estimated at around $1.4 trillion, which accounts for about 6% of global exports, 9% of global GDP and 29% of global services exports. The tourism industry is growing at the rate of around 3-4% annually and international tourist arrivals are expected to grow from around one billion in 2013 to around 1.8 billion by 2030.

This article was published on October 14, 2014.