There prevails a popular opinion that Goa, Kerala, and Jammu and Kashmir are the most sought after tourist spots in India for all foreign travelers. However, contrarily, the most visited state in India is Tamil Nadu.
Reports from the Indias Ministry of Tourism state that about 20 percent of total foreign visitors are in Tamil Nadu. The state stands atop in spite of the tragic flood encountered in 2015. In this year, there were 23 million foreign visitors. The same was 22 million in 2014. With this, there is 4.4 percent increase in visitors.
Here is a list of most frequently visited states
- Tamil Nadu 4.68
- Maharashtra 4.41
- Uttar Pradesh 3.1
- Delhi 2.38
- West Bengal 1.49
- Rajasthan 1.48
- Kerala 0.98
- Karnataka 0.64
- Goa 0.54
- Bihar 0.92
Maharashtra accounts for 18.9 percent of overall visits, Uttar Pradesh contributed to 13.3 percent and Delhi 10.2 percent.
These ten states accounted for 88.4 percent of the total foreign visits in India in 2015. This is also inclusive of some of the important cities where tourists visit for time being before they visit other parts across the country.
The states Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand have seen surge in number of foreign visitors in the recent years. These are gaining popularity among the public. With Jharkhand, there is surge in popularity by 72.6 percent and 70.8 percent with Andhra Pradesh.
Some of the other states seeing good rise in popularity are Gujarat, Puducherry, Kerala, Bihar, Telangana, and Haryana where there are many facilities incorporated newly for the comfort of travelers.
At the same time, there is decline in total number of visitors at Jammu and Kashmir. There is 32 percent decline in total number of tourists as compared to 2014 and it now has just 58,568 foreign tourists.