There has been a significant increase in the number of foreign tourists visiting India in 2023 with 7.24 million footfalls till October 31 this year as compared to 6.44 million for the corresponding period in 2022.
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This is an increase of 55.6% as compared to last year, the Union Tourism Ministry informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The numbers though were still below the pre-pandemic levels. In 2018 and 2019, India has seen 10.56 million and 10.93 million foreign tourist arrivals respectively, which dipped to 2.74 million in 2020 and further to 1.52 million in 2021, majorly due to COVID-induced lockdown.
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There was a sharp increase in foreign footfall in 2022 as the pandemic waned. The year witnessed a foreign tourist arrival of 6.44 million, a massive jump of 321.5%, Union Tourism Minister G. Kishen Reddy said replying to a question by BJP member from Karnataka S. Muniswamy.
Mr. Reddy said a total of ₹5,294.11 crore had been sanctioned under the Swadesh Darshan 2 scheme for development of tourism destinations across the country, while ₹1,629.17 crore had been sanctioned under the Prashad scheme.
Financial assistance
Swadesh Darshan 2 is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Tourism which provides financial assistance to the State governments and union territories and Central agencies for development of tourism infrastructure at various destinations.
The Prasad (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spiritual Augmentation Drive) scheme focuses on developing and identifying pilgrimage sites across India for promoting religious tourism. It aims to integrate pilgrimage destinations in a prioritised, planned and sustainable manner to provide a complete religious tourism experience. The growth of domestic tourism hugely depends on pilgrimage tourism.