New Delhi, July 25 (TNN): Is Goa losing its popularity as the quintessential party destination? Latest data shows that Goa has dropped from the top 10 states in 2014 with a little more than half a million foreign tourist visitors. Incidentally, the number of foreign tourists visiting the beach destination has increased from 0.49 million in 2013 to 0.51 million in 2014.
The number of foreign tourist visits to states has increased to 22.57 million in 2014 as compared to 19.95 million in 2013 according to the Union tourism ministry. Among the states that have topped the charts is Tamil Nadu that received 4.66 million, Maharashtra with 4.39 million followed by Uttar Pradesh with 2.91 million visitors. Delhi ranked four with 2.32 million visitors while Rajasthan ranked fifth with 1.53 million visitors.
Surprisingly, Kerala—one of India's best known international destinations—ranked seventh with 0.92 million visitors.
"There has been a significant impact of the downturn in the Russian economy on Goa. There are also issues of safety and law and order that have come up in the recent months,'' Sharat Dhall, Yatra.com president said on the drop in Goa's popularity. Dhall said that this was a temporary blip. "Goa's allure has not diminished. Every survey that we conduct, irrespective of the season, Goa remains one of the top three destinations for foreign and domestic travellers,'' he added.
Travel industry sources said that Maharashtra and Delhi account for a large number of foreign tourists because the international airports at the two cities serve the country, besides the high number of business travelers.
TN and UP are probably receiving a large number of foreign travelers of Indian origin who visit their state for business and leisure, they say.
Despite the worldwide slowdown in travel, India's domestic travel continues to thrive registering almost 12% growth. The number of domestic tourists who traveled in 2014 increased from 1145 million in 2013 to 1282 million. Tamil Nadu topped the charts here too recording 327.6 million domestic tourists. Other states that scored high on the domestic charts included Uttar Pradesh with 182.8 million visitors, Karnataka (118.3 million), Maharashtra (94.1 million) followed by Andhra Pradesh with 93.3 million visitors.