COUNTRY-WISE DISTRIBUTION OF FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS (FTAS) FOR 2009

Ministry of Tourism (MOT) has now prepared the provisional Country-wise distribution of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) for 2009. A      statement giving the details of FTAs for Top 15 countries is attached.

The following are the important highlights of the country-wise FTAs for 2009:

Ø       Though the overall FTAs declined by 3.3% in 2009 over 2008, FTAs from some regions of world observed positive growth; Africa (17%), Central and South America (9.6%) and South East Asia (4.7%).

Ø       The share of top 15 countries was almost same (72.9%) in 2009 as compared to 72.6% in 2008.

Ø       The ranks of top 8 countries  remains the same (number one being USA, followed by UK, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, etc.). There has been changes in the ranks of the countries from 9 to 15. Nepal is the new entry to top 15 in place of Republic of Korea. While Russia and Malaysia have gained in the rank, Japan, China, Singaporeand Italy have lost rank.

Ø       The share of USA has marginally increased from 15.2% in 2008 to 15.7% in 2009 even though the absolutenumber of FTAs have marginally decreased during this period for USA.

Ø       The largest decline in the share, from 10.3% in 2008 to 9.0% in 2009, is for Bangladesh (rank 3).

Ø       The Share of other top 15 countries have seen only marginal changes in 2009 as compared to 2008.

Ø       Out of the total decline of 1.74 lakh in the FTAs in 2009 as compared to 2008, top 15 countries accounts for 65% of the decline.

Ø       The largest decline of 48% was observed for Bangladesh followed by UK 16%, and Japan 12%.

Ø       Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Russia and Australia have even seen an increase in the FTAs of 12.7%, 10.7%, 3.8%, and 1.5% respectively in 2009 over 2008.

Ø       Among other countries largest positive growth during 2009 over 2008 was observed for Kenya (63.1%), followed by Afghanistan (56.5%), Nigeria (26.7%), Brazil (25.9%) and Argentina (18.5%). However, the individual share of these countries in total FTAs was very small.

Ø       As regards, the decline among other countries in FTAs in 2009 over 2008, it was highest for Pakistan (46.7%) followed by UAE (32.2%), Sweden (26.4%) and Bhutan (23.5%). Again these countries contributed quite less in the overall  FTAs of the country.