New Delhi: Bharat has witnessed a surge in its popularity among foreign tourists, as clarified by Union Minister for Tourism, Culture, and Development, G Kishan Reddy. By October of this year, the country had welcomed over 72 million international visitors.
Addressing the Lok Sabha, Minister Reddy highlighted an unprecedented surge in the number of tourists. In 2018 and 2019, the tourist count stood at 10.56 million and 10.93 million, respectively. However, due to the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, tourist arrivals decreased to 2.74 million in 2020 and further declined to 1.52 million in 2021. The trend reversed in 2022, witnessing an upsurge to 6.44 million visitors. A total of 72 million tourists arrived in Bharat during the initial ten months of this year.
Within the first seven months of this year alone, Goa had recorded one and a half times more tourists compared to the entire year 2022. Minister Reddy added that 76 new projects have been sanctioned across the country, amounting to a total cost of Rs 5,294.11 crore. The minister expressed his collaborative efforts with the Ministry of Mines aimed at transforming the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) into a tourism hub.
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