After a sustained decline for the past three years, foreign tourist inflow in the country has registered a 16 per cent growth during January-October, 2003 against the same period last year, according to the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India.
The inflow of foreign tourists during 2003 said was likely to increase to the level achieved in 2000.
Since 2000, when 2.64 million foreign tourists visited the country, the number steadily declined to 2.54 million in 2001 and 2.35 million in 2002, he said.
The reasons for the decline, FHRAI secretary general Shyam Suri said, were September 11 terrorist strike on US, border tension between India and Pakistan and foreign government -- specially US and UK -- issuing advisory against visiting India and Pakistan. Countries like the US and UK contribute over 40 per cent of foreign tourist inflow to India.
Out of the total number of foreign tourists visiting the country, 75 per cent were leisure travellers while the rest were business travellers, he said.
The Federation, which would hold its annual convention in Kolkata on November 7-9, was focusing on development of regional tourism to raise tourist inflow from SAARC and ASEAN nations.