Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTA) in India between January and September 2021 have reduced even further by 73.4 compared to the same time last year. As per information received from the Bureau of Immigration, FTAs during the full year 2020 were 27,44,766 as compared to 1,09,30,355 in 2019 registering a negative growth of 74.9 per cent.
The data, sourced from the Bureau of Immigration, however showed that on a month-on-month basis in 2021, there is an increase in inbound tourists. In fact, for the first time in months, FTAs crossed the 1 lakh mark in September.
In August over 84,955 people flew into India, whereas in September over 1.06 lakh FTAs travelled to India. However, in October this figure went up to 1.81 lakh, Minister of Tourism, G Kishan Reddy, in a response to the Loksabha said.
The reducing number of covid-19 cases and rising number of eligible vaccinated people is one of the reasons for this rise. The Indian government is also gradually easing the air bubble related flights which is bringing in more passengers into the country.