April 13, 2018
This follows a 15.6% jump in FTAs to 10.2 million in 2017, which was driven by India’s improving stand across a variety of fields, including leisure tourism, medicine, education and commerce
At current rate, FTAs this year is estimated to top last year’s record by roughly 21 per cent; This is encouraging at a time when the Indian Government is trying to increase foreign interactions
India is currently the seventh largest stakeholder in the global tourism industry; A key factor behind the rise in FTAs has been the Government’s initiatives to simplify e-visa applications
Through the expansive “Incredible India” campaign as well as other policy measures, the Government is trying boost FTAs into India, which generated US$27 billion in income in 2017
Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) into India increased by 10 per cent over the first quarter of 2018, owing to strengthening political, trade and cultural ties. FTAs during the period January-March 2018 were 3.1 million as compared with 2.8 million a year earlier. This follows a 15.6% jump in FTAs to 10.2 million over the course of 2017, which was driven by India’s improving stand across a variety of fields, including leisure tourism, medicine, education, trade and investment. Out of these arrivals, a total of 762,000 lakh tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa, registering a growth of 63 per cent.
At the current rate, FTAs this year is estimated to top last year’s record by roughly 21 per cent. This is encouraging at a time when the Indian Government is trying to increase interactions between the nation’s entities and people with the world. This will facilitate exchange of the best of resources and innovations to benefit a vast pool of beneficiaries. Resultantly, a variety of foreign entities, both private and state-run, have sought to increase dealings with India as reflected in the rise of FTAs.
Meanwhile, FTAs in March 2018 were recorded at 1 million, registering a growth of 13.4 per cent. The percentage share of FTAs in India during March 2018 among the top 15 source countries was highest from Bangladesh (19.6 per cent) followed by the UK (11.6 per cent), USA (10.8 per cent), Russian Federation (3.9 per cent), Sri Lanka (3.7 per cent), Malaysia (3.4 per cent), Canada (3.4 per cent), Germany (3.2 per cent), China (2.7 per cent) and Australia (2.6 per cent). Out of these arrivals, 246,000 applications were registered online, marking a growth of 68.8 per cent.
India is currently the seventh largest stakeholder in the global tourism industry. Through the “Incredible India” campaign and other policy measures, the Government is trying boost FTAs into India, which generated US$27 billion in income during calendar year 2017. India’s bilateral as well as multilateral ties with foreign nations have steadily grown over the years, thereby providing room for expansion of relations, including increased people-to-people exchanges. A key factor behind the steady rise in FTAs has been the Government’s initiatives to simplify e-visa applications.