Nearly 10 percent of foreign tourists visit Goa: Survey

PANAJI - Nearly 10 percent of the five million foreign tourists arriving in India visit Goa, according to a survey by the state government.

The survey, which was tabled in the assembly Tuesday, also said that Goa alone contributed Rs.35,000 crore ($700 million) in foreign exchange revenue to the central government.

The actual tourist (domestic and foreign arrivals combined) inflow to the state has reached to 2.5 million mark for the calendar year 2009, said the survey compiled by the state directorate of planning and statistics.

Analysing the tourist arrival figures over the last few years, it said that the 26/11 terror strike in Mumbai had impacted the inflow in 2008.

2008 witnessed a negative growth of -8.7 per cent in the total tourist arrivals to the state. This could be attributed to the terrorist attack in Mumbai, the survey said.

But the situation improved in 2009. More than 2.5 million tourists visited the state by the end of December.

To meet the increased tourist traffic inflow, nearly 300 hotels had been added to the bouquet of 2,444 hotels in the state, the survey said.

– Indo Asian News Service