Mumbai: The survey compiled by HVS in association with the World Travel & Tourism Council, India Initiative (WTTCII) rated Maharashtra after analysing the state-wise potential of Travel and Tourism in India, and assessing the relative competitiveness of different states in the country.
The evaluation has been carried out for 30 states. Maharashtra ranks 1 in this year’s survey moving up one position from the previous edition. The state benefits from a strong economy, good infrastructure, presence of a sizeable quantum of branded hotel rooms and a variety of demand generators to occupy these rooms. In line with these factors, Maharashtra has recorded perfect scores in four parameters – tourist visits, GSDP per capita, effectiveness of marketing campaign and aircraft movement. The state has performed well across all other parameters with the exception of its expenditure on tourism.
Ms Valsa Nair Singh, Secretary State Tourism and Cultural Affairs, GoM, said, “We are proud of being ranked as No 1. This recognition is prestigious, as Travel and Tourism is an integral part of our economy and we are happy that we stand as number one in attracting tourists. This is a team effort, through innovative promotional campaigns, marketing strategies, planned – focused and aggressive ideas we have reached such milestones and we are motivated to do better every day. Our recent thumping success of MITM attracted global buyers and sellers and we are confident to grow over the magic numbers in coming years, making Maharashtra number one destination on the world map.”
As per the Tourism Highlights 2015 Edition report by the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the total number of International Tourist Arrivals (ITA) worldwide was 1,133 million in 2014, India attracted 0.67% of the world’s international tourist arrivals out of which Maharashtra attracted 4.5 million tourists from foreign countries and over 8.4 million domestic tourists, which is largest than any other state in the country.