Tamil Nadu has topped the chart in terms of foreign tourist arrivals for the year 2010, said Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) Managing Director A. Chittaranjan Mohandoss on Tuesday.
Last year too, the State topped the list. During January to December 2009, the State received 23.69 lakh foreign tourists and in 2010 it was 28.05 lakh. However, the numbers have more than doubled since 2005 from 11.79 lakh. The official announcement regarding the rankings would be made very soon.
Mr. Mohandoss attributed the steep rise in the number of arrivals to music and dance festivals in Chennai and Mamallapuram, medical tourism, beach tourism, business-cum-pleasure, rail-cum-road tourism, hill tourism, temple tours, adventure tourism, eco-tourism and education tourism.
Besides, TTDC officials participated in International Travel Marts and conducted awareness programmes in Berlin, Macau, Spain, London, Switzerland, Malaysia, Singapore, Madrid, Kathmandu, Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai.
Talking to The Hindu , Mr. Mohandoss said “recently we received about 100 tourists from London in five batches. This was followed up by the visit of 80 tourists from Macau. After our recent visit to Spain, 18 tourists are expected to visit Chennai next month. We have taken into account those tourists who had stayed in our hotels and the numbers could be much more, if we include other hotels too.”
According to Mr. Mohandoss, TTDC is on the verge of introducing heritage tours to showcase the rich cultural heritage, monuments of Chera, Chola, Pandya and Pallava periods.
