NEW DELHI: Demonetisation did not impact the movement of domestic tourists as higher double digit growth rate of 16.5% has been witnessed in the domestic tourists visits (DTVs) in the month of January 2017 over January 2016. During 2016, the number of DTVs in the country was 1653 million as compared to 1432 million in 2015 registering a growth of 15.5 %.
Tourism ministry officials said that Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh top the list of states visited by Indian tourists last year. As per data released by the ministry, a total of 344.3 million domestic tourists visited Tamil Nadu in 2016 while 229.6 million Uttar Pradesh.
The number of domestic tourist visits compiled by Union Tourism Ministry after receiving data from the states and the Union Territories, increased to 1,653 million last year as compared to 1,432 million in 2015.
Similarly, Madhya Pradesh received 184.7 million tourists, Andhra Pradesh 158.5 million and Karnataka 129.8 million last year. Maharashtra recorded 115.4 million tourists visits last year, while West Bengal (74.5 million), Telangana (71.5 million), Gujarat (42.8 million) and Rajasthan (41.5 million).
Officials claimed that the domestic tourism sector continued its growth momentum with recording a jump of 15.5 per cent in tourists visits to various states and Union Territories during 2016.
In 2015, the growth was 11 per cent over 2014, showing the the sector is continuing with its forward march as government hinges on tourism for boosting economic growth.