The Hindu Business Line : Foreign tourists' inflow jumps in Bihar

PATNA: With the Bihar government giving a fresh thrust to the tourism sector through enhanced budgetary allocation, the footfalls of foreign tourists in the state have gone up by nearly four times in two years.

The number of foreign tourists visiting Bihar has shot up from 94,446 in 2006 to 3,56,446 in 2008, state's Tourism minister Mr Rampravesh Rai said. Altogether 1,77,362 foreigners visited the state in 2007, a rise of 87.79 per cent over the previous year which shot up to 3,56,446 last year, registering an increase of 100.97 per cent, he said.

Realising vast potential of Bihar, home to a number of Buddhist, Jain and Sikh shrines, for pilgrim tourism, the state's NDA government substantially increased budgetary allocations to the sector after coming to power in November 2005.

While a meagre Rs 3 crore was earmarked for tourism for 2005-06, it was raised to Rs 7 crore in 2006-07, Rs 25 crore in 2007-08, Rs 26.79 crore in 2008-09 and Rs 30 crore in 2009-10, the minister said.

He said the state government's efforts to rejuvenate and revitalise the once moribund tourism sector, which has been accorded the status of industry by the NDA regime, had resulted in the number of domestic tourists growing from 1,03,52,887 in 2007 to 1, 21,95,590 in 2008, a rise of 17.79 per cent. - PTI

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