9.56 lakh foreign tourist arrivals in Feb

The number of foreign tourists arriving in India increased 13 per cent to 9.56 lakh in February as compared to 8.47 lakh in the same month last year, the government today said.
During January-February, foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) were at 19.40 lakh, recording a growth of 14.7 per cent as compared to 16.91 lakh in the same period last year, the Tourism Ministry said in a release.
Bangladesh topped the list of countries with highest share of 17.46 per cent in total FTAs during February, followed by the UK (12.20 per cent), the US (11.83 per cent), Russia (4.29 per cent), Canada (4.26 per cent) and France (3.25 per cent).

The share of Germany was 3.11 per cent, while that of China was 2.96 per cent, Sri Lanka 2.91 per cent, Australia 2.62 per cent, Malaysia 2.55 per cent, Japan 2.26 per cent, Thailand 1.83 per cent, Afghanistan 1.73 per cent, and Nepal 1.50 per cent.
During February this year, as many as 1.70 lakh tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 1.17 lakh during the month of February, 2016, registering a growth of 45.2 per cent.
During January-February 2017, a total of 32.18 lakh tourists arrived on e-tourist visa as compared to 20.54 lakh during January-February 2016, recording a growth of 56.7 per cent.

UK topped the list of countries availing e-tourist visa facility with a share of 26.1 per cent, followed by the US (11 per cent), France (7.3 per cent), Russia (7.3 per cent), China (5.1 per cent) and Germany (4.8 per cent).
The share of Canada was 3.9 per cent, while that of Australia was 3.4 per cent, Korea 2.2 per cent, the Netherlands 1.9 per cent, Ukraine 1.5 per cent, South Africa 1.5 per cent, Spain 1.3 per cent, Singapore 1.2 per cent and Sweden 1.2 per cent.