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British backpackers made up the highest number of foreigners flocking to India last year followed by American and French tourists, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Union Tourism and Culture Minister Ambika Soni told the House that Immigration Bureau records showed that 538,750 British tourists arrived in India in 2005. The number of American tourists who arrived in India last year stood at 521,789, French 138,130 and Canadians 133,191, she said in her reply.
Immigration Bureau figures put Nepalis at the bottom of the country-wise tourist arrival list, with 72,031 people visiting India from the neighbouring Himalayan Kingdom. Australian arrivals were a bit higher than from Nepal, with 81,625 tourists coming to India from the country last year.
In a separate reply, Soni said India recorded an estimated 11.7 per cent increase in total foreign arrivals in 2005-06 compared to those in 2004-05. Also, the country earned $4,789 million in foreign exchange from tourism between April, 2005 and January this year, 20.1 per cent more than the foreign tourism revenue in 2004-05, the minister added.