Maharashtra recorded the maximum foreign tourist visits, according to the latest report from the Union Ministry of Tourism. Tamil Nadu and New Delhi are in the second and third position on the list. While Maharashtra received nearly 4.8 million tourists, Tamil Nadu welcomed 3.4 million people and New Delhi played host to 2.2 million foreigners.

The statistics released by the Ministry for 2011, says the number of Foreign Tourist Visits (FTVs) to Indian states/union territories was 19.5 million as compared to 17.9 million in 2010 and 14.4 million in 2009. This year, the number of FTVs registered a growth of 8.85 percent over 2010 as compared to a growth of 24.6 percent in 2010 over 2009. It is the third consecutive year where the number of foreign tourist visitors has increased.

The report said the contribution of top 10 States was about 90.1 per cent to the total number of foreign tourist visits in the country for 2011.

The percentage shares of top five States were Maharashtra 24.7 per cent, Tamil Nadu 17.3 per cent, Delhi 11.1 per cent, Uttar Pradesh 9.7 per cent and Rajasthan 6.9 per cent.