More people travelled to the state for holidays in 2023 over the previous year. Tourist destinations in the state received a good number of domestic and foreign tourists compared to previous years.
The trend continues now as Ooty, Kodaikanal, Kolli Hills, Kanya Kumari, Rameswaram and a few other popular tourist spots keep registering a good crowd. Foreign tourists have already booked hotel rooms for July, when the season begins.
The state received 28.61 crore domestic tourists in 2023, a 33 per cent rise over the previous year, and 11.75 lakh foreign tourists, a 97 per cent increase when compared to the previous year.
An increase in the number of long weekends, around 16 last year, is believed to be one of the reasons for a surge in domestic tourists, while foreign tourists arrivals were decent in the June-Sept tourist season, tour operators said.
A majority of leisure travellers were those from neighbouring states, while pilgrims came in large numbers from northern states because of good train and air connectivity, said a state tourism department official. A study by Thomas Cook showed that there was a 25 per cent increase of tourists to drivable destinations.
Sriharan Balan of Madura Travels said that in addition to Ooty, Kodaikanal, Yercaud and Yelagiri, people are preferring Kolli Hills, Madurai, Rameswaram, and Kanyakumari “The rooms are full for the summer months. Pilgrims from Andhra Pradesh visited Tiruvannamalai in large numbers. We can say that around 90 per cent of tourists have been from Andhra.”
The e-pass for Ooty and Kodaikanal has also been a hit. Around 3.66 lakh tourists have e-passes for Ooty while 2.78 lakh tourists have e-passes for Kodaikanal as of May 9. Daily arrivals are approximately 39,000-1 lakh.
“The e-passes will help the govt find out the number of visitors and improve infrastructure,” said Balan.
The Lakshadeweep Islands Tourism Development Authority formed under the Central Tourism Ministry will start the Mangalore-Lakshadweep tourist liner service after few trial runs starting from today. But we do not know how rough will be the sea once the monsoon starts. The LITDA has already ramped up the facilities at the receiving point in Kadmatt, which is the nearest port of arrival from the mainland, the officials said.
The state also received a good inflow of foreign tourists, mostly from southeast Asian countries.J Sethuraman of Travel XS, which handles inbound tourists, said, “Last year was good for foreign tourist arrivals. Many from Europe visited. This year too, the season is looking upbeat as many tourists from abroad have booked rooms from July onwards when the peak season begins.”
However, an increase in the cost of holidays in India has affected arrivals from Europe. The cost of a package is high compared to previous years, he said.
“Flight tickets, which used to be sold for 500–600 euros, now cost more than 1,200 euros. Tourists who used to spend some 3,000 euros for a trip are now spending more than 3,500 euros. One section of tourists has fallen off the map,” he said.
He said foreign arrivals will increase if there are direct flights from Tamil Nadu to Japan, Australia, and Europe. “There is good traffic from Japan. But tourists spend 20 hours travelling via Singapore. A direct flight will take only seven hours,” Sethuraman said.
