Tirumala (Andhra) - tops in Domestic Tourist destination

With the Tirumala Balaji Temple attracting visitors in hordes, Andhra Pradesh has become the top tourist destination, in the country recording 206.8 million domestic tourists last year. Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh stood second and third, with 184.1 million and 168.4 million domestic tourists.

Tamil Nadu occupied the second slot in the country in terms of domestic as well as foreign arrivals by attracting over 18.77 crore tourists during 2012, a 34% jump over the previous year, when it played host to 14 crore people. Interestingly, Andhra Pradesh led the pack in domestic tourists with 20.68 crore arrivals, but did not make it to the top 10 States in receiving foreign nationals.

Maharashtra was favourite among foreign tourists with 51 lakh arrivals, whereas it attracted 6.63 crore domestic visitors. Tamil Nadu rose from the third rank in domestic arrivals in 2011 to second slot by replacing Uttar Pradesh, which has moved down from the first position to third with the arrival of 16.8 crore visitors.

#	Domestic tourists arrivals	Foreign tourists arrivals
1	Andhra Pradesh	Maharashtra
2	Tamil Nadu	Tamil Nadu
3	Uttar Pradesh	Uttar Pradesh
4	Karnataka	Rajasthan
5	Maharashtra	Delhi
6	Madhya Pradesh	West Bengal
7	Rajasthan	Karnataka
8	Uttarakhand	Goa
9	Gujarat	Kerala
10	West Bengal	Madhya Pradesh

  The top 10 States in terms of domestic arrivals contributed 84.5% of domestic tourists’ arrivals in 2012. Tamil Nadu, New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Bihar attracted over one million foreign tourists in 2012. The top 10 States attracted 90% of total foreign tourists into the country.

Performance of Tamil Nadu:- 

Tamil Nadu occupied the second slot in the country in terms of domestic as well as foreign arrivals by attracting over 18.77 crore tourists during 2012, a 34% jump over the previous year, when it played host to 14 crore people. Interestingly, Andhra Pradesh led the pack in domestic tourists with 20.68 crore arrivals, but did not make it to the top 10 States in receiving foreign nationals.

If Tirupati was the star attraction for Andhra Pradesh, Chennai, Mamallapuram, Kancheepuram, Udhagamandalam, Thanjavur, Kodaikanal, Madurai and Rameswaram attracted both domestic and foreign visitors for Tamil Nadu. Most of the foreign tourists came from USA (3.26 lakh), Sri Lanka (3 lakh), UK (2.90 lakh), France (1.50 lakh), Malaysia (2 lakh), Singapore (1.9 lakh), Australia (1.4 lakh) and Cannada (1 lakh).