Tamil Nadu received the highest footfall of foreign tourists in 2016, followed by Kerala, across all states in India, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. Tamil Nadu also ranked first in receiving total number of both domestic and foreign tourists in the country, Minister of State for Tourism Mahesh Sharma said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha member Ram Narain Dudi.
While Tamil Nadu received nearly 47.22 lakh foreign tourists, consuming 19.1 per cent share of the total number of foreign tourist visits to states across the country, Kerala received over 10.38 lakh tourists taking 4.2 per cent share. In terms of domestic tourist visits, other than Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh – both 9.5 per cent, Karnataka – 8 per cent, and Telangana – 5.9 per cent, were among the top 10 states. Kerala’s domestic tourist footfall was around 1.32 crore, whereas the Union Territory of Puducherry received 13.99 lakh domestic tourists and over 1.17 lakh foreign tourists.
