The prolonged turmoil over the state bifurcation issue has cast a clear spell on the tourism sector in Andhra Pradesh, with arrival of foreign visitors dipping drastically over the last three years.
From a peak of 7.6 lakh in 2009, foreign tourist arrival reduced by more than half last year with just about three lakh visitors entering the state, a tourism official said here.
But for the two-week long Convention on Bio-Technology in October 2012, international tourist arrival in the state in general and Hyderabad in particular would have been much less, as figures indicate.
The "advisories" issued by different countries asking their citizens to stay away from Hyderabad certainly hit tourist inflows into the state capital that normally draws huge visitors every year.
"Foreign tourist arrival was affected since 2009 because of the perceived danger in Hyderabad, which necessarily was not there. International tourists were concerned about law and order situation and safety aspects. And they go by the advisories their governments issue," a senior official of the tourism department told PTI.
With the bifurcation issue almost settled, foreign tourists influx is likely to pick up from this year, he said.
"In order to woo back the foreign tourists, AP Tourism is projecting itself aggressively. Hyderabad and other parts of the state are now peaceful and we expect the foreign tourist visits to immensely to go up from here," he said.
However, the agitations over statehood issue did not impact the flow of domestic tourist visits which registered a strong growth during the same period, sources in the state tourism department said.
Andhra Pradesh topped the country in attracting 127 million domestic tourists from across the country in 2009 while the state ranked seventh in terms of international tourist arrivals with 7,60,000 visitors.
Interestingly, Andhra Pradesh, which remained the favourite among domestic tourists, topped the list again in 2012 with 20.72 crore arrivals, but did not make it to the top 10 states in receiving foreign travellers as only 2,92,822 foreigners visited AP.
