The government departments excel in one thing — churning out data sets, numbers, tables and more data. Take, for instance, the data sets on the monthly foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in India that continues to grow if the estimates compiled by the tourism ministry is anything to go by. As per the latest data that compares the FTA in March this year with those of March 2015 and March 2014, there is a 12.1 per cent growth in foreign tourists arrivals in India. The total FTA in March 2016 stood at 8.17 lakh compared to 7.29 lakh in last March and 6.90 lakh the year before.
Overall, the FTAs during January-March 2016 stood at 25.08 lakh clocking a growth of 10 per cent compared to the FTAs of 22.81 lakh during the same period a year ago. Foreign exchange earnings during March 2016 was also up, as per the data, to Rs 13,115 crore as compared to Rs 11,133 crore in March 2015.
Interestingly, FTA data has been indicating for some months that Bangladesh tops the list of nationalities that arrive in India. This is followed by United Kingdom, United States and Germany.
This was not the case in previous years. In terms of e-tourist visa arrivals, Delhi, Mumbai and Goa are the top three destinations of foreign tourists. All is well so far. But when the state of Goa, presumably attracting the highest share of FTAs during the year, reports early departures of foreign tourists and end of foreign charter services that ferry the Russians, Brits, French, Americans and several other nationalities, it is but natural that certain questions come to mind immediately.
Interestingly, the state of Rajasthan, an exotic attraction for foreign tourists, has also been witnessing a gradual dip in FTAs as per local reports.
One cannot but help ask questions like why is there a surge in FTA from Bangladesh? Why are FTAs from Russia, the US, the UK, Canada and Germany not growing? Which cities attract the maximum foreign tourists? What is the average per capita spend by a foreign tourist in India? What facilities are they getting in return? The government seems to be content with compiling estimates of FTAs based on inputs from the Bureau of Immigration. But if one refers to another set of statistics with regard to foreign tourists in India as compiled by the National Crime Records Bureau, it appears Delhi, Goa and Uttar Pradesh top the list of crime against foreign tourists. Of course, the data is dated and from 2014; the 2015 statistics are yet to be officially released. But it leads to more questions about how India may be perceived by foreign tourists, the so called Athithi (guests).
Can’t we get a more robust and integrated data set on FTAs? Is anyone listening?
BW Reporters
Ashish Sinha is an experienced business journalist who has covered FMCG, auto, infrastructure, tourism, telecom among several other beats. Ashish has keen interest in the regulatory scenario impacting different sectors. He writes on aviation, railways, post and telegraph, infrastructure, defence, media & entertainment, among a wide variety of other subjects.
