M A I N   N E W S

For foreigners, HP hills better than Goa beaches
Vibha Sharma/TNS

New Delhi, March 10
Foreign tourists are giving the beaches of Goa a miss to visit the pristine hills of Himachal Pradesh. A whopping 4.85 lakh foreign tourists visited the hill state in 2011 as against the 4.6 lakh that visited Goa in the same time period.

Foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) to the hill state grew by 32,000 in 2011. “The beach state hosted 4.41 lakh foreign tourists in 2010 while Himachal played host to 4.53 lakh visitors from overseas,” says State Tourism Director Arun Sharma. “This itself is a major achievement in a year beset with market recession and economic meltdown. We are expecting foreign tourist arrivals to exceed 5 lakh in 2012,” he shares.

“Himachal has come a long way in attracting foreign tourists. In 2005, a mere 2.07 lakh foreigners visited the state,” he says.

Heli-taxi services launched last year to improve connectivity in the hill state and regular flights to Kullu, Kangra and Shimla airports from Delhi have started paying dividends for the state’s tourism industry, says Sharma. “The opening up of tribal areas for foreign visitors for a fixed number of months has also contributed,” he says.

Numbers indicate a significant shift in the profile of foreign tourists vacationing in the Himachal. The state had so far been largely dependent upon guests from the UK, France and the US but it has now started receiving visitors from Australia, Italy, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.

In 2011, the UK, the US and France were the main contributors to the state’s tourism sector followed by Australia. The most-favoured districts were Shimla, Kullu and Kangra and not just during summer and holiday seasons, but throughout the year. As far as specific hill stations were concerned, Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala, Mcleodganj, Kasauli, Chail, Dalhousie, Keylong were visited by an estimated 4 lakh international tourists during the year.

Clear Choice

• A whopping 4.85 lakh foreign tourists visited the hill state in 2011, as against the 4.6 lakh that visited Goa
• Shimla, Kullu and Kangra districts were the most favoured destinations throughout the year
• An estimated 4 lakh international tourists visited Shimla, Manali, Dharamsala, Mcleodganj, Kasauli, Chail, Dalhousie, Keylong and Palampur in 2011