Indian Tourism Industry enjoying growth in 2004

Indian tourism grew aggressively in the year 2003 with foreign exchange earnings growing by 23% and earnings in Indian rupees crossing the 17,200 crores mark from the previous figure of 14,000 crores. There has also been a significant growth of 16% in the number of international tourist arrivals.

For 2004 the scenario seems to be even brighter. For the first quarter January to March, there has been a growth of 22.7% in tourist arrivals and 30.7% growth in foreign exchange earnings over the previous quarter Jan - Mar 2003. 

As per the W.T.T.C’s (World Travel and Tourism Council) forecast released recently at the London stock exchange, India is the second fastest growing travel and tourism economy in the world with its annualized growth projected at 8.8% between 2005 and 2014. The forecast was released on behalf of WTTC by Oxford Economic forecasting using United Nations standard for Tourism Satellite accounting. The forecast released covered 174 countries, with Montenegro in 1st place, India 2nd and China in 3rd place.

Among numerous awards Lonely Planet in a recent poll of independent travelers in 134 countries selected India among the top 5 International Holiday destinations. The top five in the survey were Thailand, Italy, Australia, India and New Zealand.