For five years between 2014 and 2018, Tamil Nadu enjoyed a numero uno status in wooing domestic tourists. That dominance has come to an end.
The state has slipped to the second position behind Uttar Pradesh in terms of number of domestic tourist arrivals in 2019, as per a recent report on tourist inflow released by the Union tourism ministry. While Tamil Nadu recorded 49.5 crore domestic tourists last year, UP received 53.6 crore domestic travellers.
The dip in domestic tourist inflow comes despite Tamil Nadu adding 11 crore tourists who visited the state in 2019 vis-a-vis 2018. The Athi Varadar event at Kancheepuram and India-China summit at Mahabalipuram were responsible for a spike in domestic tourists in the state, but the increased inflow of tourists was not enough to beat UP.
The saving grace for Tamil Nadu, however, is that it has retained the first position in attracting the highest number of foreign tourists as per the report titled ‘India Tourism Statistics’. An estimated 68.7 lakh foreign tourists visited the state in 2019, a majority of them for spiritual purpose and some for leisure.
V K T Balan, president of Tamil Nadu Tour Travel and Hospitality Association, said that about 60% of domestic tourists come to the state for religious reasons. “The Madurai-Rameswaram-Kanyakumari circuit is gaining the maximum traction among tourists from north India... apart from this, a trend of tourist inflow from West Bengal to Kanyakumari is also on the rise (pre-Covid). The remaining tourists come for leisure and wellness,” he said.
Balan questioned the methodology adopted to determine tourist numbers. “This data is furnished by state tourism authorities based on footfall at tourism
hubs. A flaw here is that the same person could visit multiple places in a locality and every time the individual visits a new attraction, he/she is counted as a new tourist,” he said.
When contacted, state tourism department sources said that there is no tracking methodology to exactly determine the number of tourists.
Tourism promotion is also in limbo because of the pandemic even though states like Goa, Kerala and Karnataka are taking some efforts to attract visitors.
A senior tourism department official said that the state government would take all efforts to start promotion when tourist spots reopen.