Tourism sector earns Rs 3.25 lakh cr forex in last 3 yrs

Over Rs 3.25 lakh crore worth of foreign exchange has been earned through tourism in the country, the government said on Monday. The total foreign exchange earnings through tourism in the last three years stood at Rs 3,25,478 crore. In the years 2012, 2013 and 2014, the earnings were Rs 94,487 crore, Rs 1,07,671 crore and Rs 1,23,320 crore respectively, Minister of State for Tourism Mahesh Sharma informed the Lok Sabha.

During 2014-15, the Centre received maximum number of 32 tourism-related project proposals from Andhra Pradesh followed by Arunachal Pradesh (15), Manipur (14) and Odisha (11). The Minister said the government has identified several cities to develop their tourism-related infrastructure. "In the first phase, 12 cities namely Amritsar, Kedarnath, Ajmer, Mathura, Varanasi, Gaya, Puri, Dwarka, Amravati, Kanchipuram, Vellankani and Guwahati have been identified for infrastructure development" as part of the scheme, he said.

Further, the government has launched 'Swadesh Darshan' for integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits. Under the scheme, 12 circuits including Himalayan, Buddhist and Ramayana circuits have been identified, the minister said.