While the travel trade is upset over disinterest shown to the destination by holidayers from Europe, Kerala Tourism has claimed that tourist arrivals from Europe have registered a 4.8 per cent increase until October this year.
A total of 4,20,247 European travellers reached the State between January and October this year compared to 4,01,063 during the whole of last year. This is amid many West European countries struggling to protect their economies in the aftermath of the Greek debt crisis and the downturn in China.
“The Chinese downturn and the turmoil in many emerging economies have had a negative impact on the European economy slowly recovering from the 2009 financial meltdown, but Europe will certainly rebound from the present situation,” Minister for Tourism A.P. Anil Kumar said in a release here.
The State has witnessed a growth of 4.5 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals between January and August 15 this year.
As many as 1,25,795 tourists visited Kerala this year from the United Kingdom, Kerala's number one market in Europe, as against the 1,19,605 in last year.
The number of tourists from France this year was 75,216 till October compared to 73,368 last year.
A total of 61,962 German nationals also visited Kerala this year as against 59,225 in the whole of last year.
From Italy
From Italy, one of the countries affected by the sluggish recovery, 20,489 tourists visited the State up to October against the 19,740 last year.
The figure for Finland is 4,895 compared to 4,620 in 2014.
A total of 12,541 tourists from the Netherlands reached the State until October against the 11,632 last year. From Portugal, the figure is 1,787 compared to 1,635 last year.
The State has registered an arrival of 9,884 tourists from Belgium till October compared to the 9,524 last year. The number of visitors from Denmark until October this year has been 12,228 compared to 11,667 in 2014.
Even from Spain, severely affected by the financial meltdown, the number of visitors to our State so far this year has been more than last year’s, at 9,912 compared to 9,411 in 2014.
