Thanks to the aggressive advertising campaign launched by the tourism ministry, an increasing number of foreign tourists are coming to “Incredible India”.

The estimated number of foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in 2007 touched 5 million as compared to 4.45 million in 2006, registering a growth rate of over 12 per cent in 2007 over 2006.

With this, foreign exchange earnings (FEE) have also gone up to $11.96 billion in 2007 as compared to $ 8.93 billion in 2006. The growth rate in FEE in 2007 over 2006 is 33.8 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 19.2 per cent in 2006 over 2005.

In Rupee terms, the FEE in 2007 was Rs 49413 crore as compared to Rs 40375 crore in 2006 with a growth rate of 22.4 per cent as compared to the growth rate of 21.9 per cent in 2006 over 2005.

Senior tourism ministry officials said the impressive performance of the tourism sector is a result of the positive image created about the country through successful branding of “Incredible India”. The promotional campaigns run by the Union ministry of tourism have led to immense interest in India as a tourist destination, they said.

India has been awarded ‘Favourite Country of the Year’ in the ‘Conde Nast Traveller Readers’ Travel Awards-2007, a renowned travel trade magazine, and has also won WTA’s ‘Asia’s Best Destination Award’ for the year 2007.