THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Domestic tourist arrivals have shot up by 11.39 percent during 2017, double the 5.67 percent growth in 2016. The total revenue from the sector in 2017 has also shown an increase, of 12.6 percent; the rate of growth bettering the 11.12 percent achieved in 2016. The growth in domestic tourist footfalls, and the increase in total revenue, is significant as it was widely believed that GST would seriously affect the tourism sector. Foreign tourist arrivals have also grown in the period, by 5.15 percent. But this is marginally lower than the foreign tourist arrival growth achieved in 2016, 6.23 percent.
In terms of tourism revenue, total foreign exchange from the tourism sector increased 8.29 percent to Rs 8392.11 crore. In 2016, it was Rs 7749.51 crore, a growth of 11.51 percent. However, the total direct earnings from the sector grew to Rs 26,000.33 crore from Rs 23098.15 crore, a growth of 12.56 percent. The total revenue, both direct and indirect, has also recorded an increase of Rs 3725.12 crore, a 12.6 percent growth. It increased to Rs 33383.68 crore from Rs 29658.56 crore last year. In 2016, the growth in total revenue was 11.12 percent.
“Such a growth comes at a time when the tourism industry is suffering from adverse factors like enhanced GST rates and allied hurdles. The growth figures point to the immense popularity Kerala Tourism enjoys beyond the borders,” tourism minister Kadak-ampally Surendran said. The minister said that the growth in domestic tourist arrivals recorded in 2017 had been the highest in the last nine years.
The Tourism policy 2017 has set an ambitious target of increasing domestic tourist arrivals by 50 percent by 2021. It also wanted foreign tourist arrivals doubled by this period. To achieve this, a growth of around 9 percent was required for domestic tourist arrivals, which has been achieved in 2017. But to double foreign tourist arrivals, an annual growth rate of 15 percent was called for. 2017 managed to achieve a growth of just 5.15 percent.
