Madhya Pradesh ranked fifth in domestic tourism among the states in the country in 2008 and is fastly growing as an important tourism centre with almost double the inflow of tourists as compared to 2006.
As per information released by the Union Ministry of Tourism recently, Madhya Pradesh, which was on ninth place in domestic tourism in 2007 in the country, reached the fifth rank in 2008 by moving up four notches in comparison to the previous year.
It attracted more than 2.20 crore tourist from the country in 2008 but in 2006, their number was around 1.10 crore showing that tourist inflow had doubled in a span of two years. In 2007, nearly 1.38 crore tourists came to the state from various parts of the country.
Andhra Pradesh stood first with attracting more than 13.26 crore tourists which is 23.6 per cent of the domestic tourists in the country while Uttar Pradesh with around 12.48 crore (22.2 per cent) got second rank in 2008.
However, the next challenge for the Tourism Department in the state is to improve its foreign tourist visits in which Madhya Pradesh is still not among the top 10 performers in the country.
The state got ninth rank in 2004, 12th in 2005, 10th in 2006, 9th in 2007 and now it is in the fifth position in 2008 in domestic tourism in the country.
A record 2,20,88,927 domestic tourists visited Khajuraho, Sanchi and Bhimbhetka and tiger reserves among others in 2008 which is 3.9 per of the total domestic tourists in the country.
With securing fifth rank, Madhya Pradesh beat states like Uttarakhand, Kerala and Goa which have been traditionally regarded as tourist hotspots.
The aggressive marketing campaign and improvement in infrastructure are the main reason behind the state has increased the inflow of tourism, Madhya Pradesh Tourist Development Corporation officials said.
Besides, Madhya Pradesh's image as a tourist destination has improved among travel community such as tour operators and agents and they are recommending tourists to visit the state, they said.
The officials said that there was not much impact of global economic recession on domestic tourism in the state.
However, some destinations like Khajuraho which attracts substantial foreigners has been affected due to it, they said.
They said that the state still needs to improve on the foreign tourist visit front as it is not able to get a place among the top 10 in 2008 as far as foreign tourist visits are concerned.
Madhya Pradesh stood 13th in 2006 and 12th in 2007 to attract the foreign tourists in the country.
