TN second in foreign tourist arrival despite covid-19

CHENNAI: The number of foreign visitors to Tamil Nadu have reduced with only 4.07 lakh tourists visiting the State in 2022 compared to 2021 figure of 12.3 lakh, which is the second highest in the country.

In the policy note, which was tabled by the Minster of Tourism K Ramachandran in the Assembly, however, said that despite the impact of the covid-19 restrictions, in 2021, Tamil Nadu ranked second among other states in foreign tourist visits, with 1.23 million foreign visitors to Tamil Nadu.

He claimed that countries contributing a significant share of tourists visiting Tamil Nadu are the USA, the UK, Australia, Canada, China, Malaysia, Germany, Russia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

“The group of monuments at Mahabalipuram, one of the six UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the State, ranked as the most visited heritage monument among foreign tourists, representing a share of almost 45 per cent of tourist visits,” he said adding “Mamallapuram received 1,44,984 visitors, while the second-ranked monument, the Taj Mahal, received 38,922 visitors”.

The Minister said Tamil Nadu features six monuments on the list of the top 10 most popular heritage monuments visited by foreign tourists, including Fort Museum (Thirumayam), Fort Vattakottai, Gingee Fort, Rock Cut Jain Temple (Sittannavasal) and Tiger headed Rock cut temple, Saluvankuppam. On the domestic tourist visit, in 2021, Tamil Nadu contributed to a significant 17.02 per cent of domestic tourist visits, with over 115 million tourists visiting the State.

In six out of the last seven years, Tamil Nadu ranked first in domestic tourist visits, continuing its dominance in the domestic tourism market. Pointing out that domestic tourism in India witnessed a surge of 11.05 per cent in 2021, in alignment with global trends of domestic rediscovery, the minister said the provisional statistics for 2022 show that domestic tourism in Tamil Nadu has recovered to approximately 45 per cent of its pre-pandemic levels.