Indian tourism has taken a plunge in terms of its foreign exchange earnings in 2019 compared to the last decade, according to the recently published government’s data. Even though the major reason for this is considered to be the widespread rallies against the citizenship amendment bill, there is more to it.
The rising pollution in the northern India along with the protests against CAA prompted many countries including Israel, US, Singapore, UK, and Canada to issue advisories to their citizens for reconsidering their travel plans to India.
According to the data provided by the Bureau of Immigration and Tourism Ministry, there was an increase in the number of tourists traveling to India in 2017 and 2018, but a considerable decline was seen in 2019.
As per RBI, in 2019, the earnings from tourists increased by 8.2% (about Rs 2.2 Lakh Crore), while it was 9.6% in the year before (2018).
There are serious concerns about the decrease in the number of tourists visiting India in 2019, especially during the last few months of the year. Neeraj Balani, the Indian Managing Director for SOS International was quoted as saying - “ We saw a significant spurt in queries (from potential travelers) and we issued more advisories cautioning corporate travelers last year than we have done in the recent past.”
There are records of people from all across the world cancelling their meetings that were to be held in India, especially towards the end of 2019. Concerns about traveling specifically to the North-Eastern part of the country were also cited.
Because of the declining air quality of Delhi, not just foreign tourists, but even the domestic travelers were seen reducing the duration of their visit to the national capital, if not cancelling it all together
