The foreign exchange earnings (FEE) from tourism also witnessed more than 10 per cent growth in May. The FEE in May were Rs 5562 crore as compared to Rs 5047 crore in May 2011 and Rs 4358 crore in May 2010.
There were total 28.05 lakh foreign tourists during January-May 2012 as compared to 26.02 lakh for the corresponding period last year, an increase of 7.8 per cent.
However, less number of foreigners availed Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme in May this year as compared to the last year, according to the Tourism Ministry data.
A total number of 812 VOAs were issued in May as against 865 VoAs during the same period last year, registering a decline of 6.1 per cent.
However, on the whole during January-May 2012, a total number of 5857 VoAs were issued as compared to 5004 VoAs during corresponding period of 2011 registering a positive growth of 17 per cent.
As a step to attract more foreign tourists to India, government had launched the Visa on Arrival scheme in January 2010 for citizens of five countries - Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore - visiting India for tourism purposes.
The scheme was extended for six more countries including Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.