For two consecutive years, West Bengal has registered the third highest number of foreign tourist visits (FTV) in the country. Union minister of tourism and culture, Gajendra Singh Shekawat has released the latest data of the foreign tourist visits in the country for each state, for the years 2022 and 2023.
While a total of 85,87,562 foreign tourists visited India in 2022, in 2023, about 1,92,45,817 foreign tourists arrived in the country. The main reason behind this huge surge of arrivals within a year is attributed to the fact that since 2020 the international commercial flight operations were shut down due to the outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic and the borders were closed.
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The data released by Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat show that in 2022 and in 2023, the top three states in terms of foreign tourist arrivals have been Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal. In 2022, about 10,37,017 foreigners visited West Bengal, whereas in 2023, about 27,06,942 foreigners visited the state.
The states which have popular tourism destinations like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh etc. have recorded much lesser tourist arrivals in these two years.
The Union tourism ministry has taken several steps/initiatives over the years to encourage more foreign tourist visits in India in the past few years. The ministry’s schemes ‘Swadesh Darshan’, ‘National Mission on Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Heritage Augmentation Drive (PRASHAD)’ and ‘Assistance to Central Agencies for Tourism Infrastructure Development’ provides financial assistance to state governments/Union Territory Administrations/ central agencies for the development of tourism related infrastructure and facilities at various tourism destinations in the country.
The Durga Puja was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2021. The inscription took place during the 16th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Durga Puja Carnival and the Unesco World Cultural Heritage tag had also played a key role in increasing the foreign tourist arrivals in West Bengal.
