Marginal growth in foreign exchange earnings from tourism in dollar terms

 The Dollar Business Bureau The foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) in US$ terms increased by 0.7% to US$ 1.674 billion in March 2015, as compared to FEEs of US$ 1.662 billion registered during the month of March 2014. This is in comparison to a decline of 5.3% in March 2014 over March 2013, said a PIB release. FEEs from tourism in US$ terms during January- March 2015 were US$ 5.310 billion with a growth of 1.1% as compared to the US$ 5.253 billion with a decline of 6.9% during January- March 2014 over January- March 2013. In rupee terms, the growth rate was better with FEEs during the month of March 2015 touching Rs.10,451 crore as compared to Rs.10,152 crore in March 2014 and Rs. 9,545 crore in March 2013. The growth rate in FEEs in rupee terms during March 2015 over March 2014 was 2.9%. FEEs from tourism in rupee terms in January- March 2015 were Rs. 33,036 crore with a growth of 1.7% as compared to the FEE of Rs. 32,473 during January- March 2014. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during the Month of March 2015 were 7.30 lakh as compared to FTAs of 6.93 lakh during the month of March 2014 and 6.40 lakh in March 2013. There has been a growth of 5.3% in March 2015 over March 2014. FTAs during the period January- March 2015 were 22.81 lakh with a growth of 3.2%, as compared to the FTAs of 22.10 lakh with a growth of 7.9% in January- March 2014 over January- March 2013. During the month of March 2015, a total of 25,851 tourist arrived by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) enabled Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) as compared to 1,958 TVoA during the month of March 2014, registering a growth of 1220.3%.  During January- March 2015, a total of 75,859 tourist arrived by ETA enabled TVoA as compared to 5,841 TVoA during January- March 2014, registering a growth of 1198.7%. Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) This high growth may be attributed to introduction of ETA enabled TVoA for 44 countries as against coverage of earlier TVoA scheme for 12 countries only. The percentage share of top 10 source countries for ETA enabled TVoA, in India during March 2015, were as follows - USA (33.25%), Germany (14.64%), Russian Federation (13.13%), Australia (8.37%), Republic of Korea (6.39%), Ukraine (4.21%), Mexico (2.93%), Japan (1.99%), New Zealand (1.91%) and Israel (1.68%) . The percentage shares of different ports for ETA enabled TVoA, in India during March 2015, were as follows - New Delhi (47.32%), Mumbai (18.55%), Goa (12.03%), Bengaluru (6.27%), Chennai (5.60%), Hyderabad (2.93%), Kolkata (2.78%), Kochi (2.68%) and Trivandrum (1.84%).    

This article was published on April 10, 2015.