Northeast India Sees Spike in Foreign Tourist Visits

By Yuthika Bhargava

A view of the Sela Lake surrounded by snow-clad hills in Arunachal Pradesh. Sela Lake attracts large number of tourists. File photo: Ritu Raj Konwar

In positive news for tourism sector in the north-eastern states of the country, foreign tourist visits in the region grew by 27.9 per cent in 2013 over the previous year.

The number of foreign tourist visits (FTVs) stood at 84,820 in 2013, as compared to 66,302 in 2012, according to official data released on Tuesday.

The states had seen 12.5 percent growth in 2012 over 2011 when the number stood at 58,920.

Sikkim saw maximum FTVs at 31,698, followed by Assam (17,738), Tripura (11,853), Arunachal Pradesh (10,846) and Meghalaya (6,773).

Among the eight north eastern states, highest growth in FTVs during 2013 over 2012 was observed in Manipur (154.7 per cent) followed by Arunachal Pradesh (111.2 per cent), Tripura (51.2 per cent), Nagaland (32.7 per cent), Meghalaya (27.5 per cent), Sikkim (19.7 per cent), Mizoram (7.5 per cent) and Assam (0.5 per cent).