Tourist arrivals rise 13% in 2006

NEW DELHI: Tourist arrivals in India rose 13 per cent in 2006 from the year before, boosting foreign exchange earnings from visitors by 14.6 per cent to $6.6 billion, the government said in a statement issued on Monday.

It said a provisional 4,429,915 visitors travelled to India in 2006, compared with 3,918,610 the year before.

In December, 547,488 tourists came to India compared to 479,411 in the same month a year before, a rise of 14.2 per cent.

Foreign exchange from tourism rose by 23.2 per cent to $822.5 million in December, the statement said.

Best known on the world tourist map as home to the Taj Mahal, India has been running a campaign to woo tourists to its grand palaces, golden beaches, ancient temples and wildlife sanctuaries.