Kendrapada: Foreign tourist arrivals in Odisha nearly doubled from 45,273 in 2023 to 87,854 in 2024, but the state accounted for just 0.42% of total foreign tourist visits to India last year, tourism minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat informed the Lok Sabha on Monday.The minister said Odisha had received 22,121 foreign tourists in 2022, 2,269 in 2021 and 10,206 in 2020, while the figure stood at 1.15 lakh in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted global travel.
Replying to a question by Tangella Srinivas on foreign tourist footfall across coastal states and union territories, Shekhawat said Maharashtra topped the list in 2024 with 3.7 million foreign tourists (17.69%), followed by West Bengal with 3.12 million (14.92%) and Gujarat with 2.27 million (10.86%).Other coastal states and UTs recorded significantly lower numbers, including Tamil Nadu (11.61 lakh; 5.55%), Kerala (7.38 lakh; 3.53%), Karnataka (4.85 lakh; 2.32%), Goa (4.67 lakh; 2.23%) and Andhra Pradesh (2.62 lakh; 1.25%). Among UTs, Puducherry received 17,819 foreign tourists, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 11,497, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 2,626, while Lakshadweep recorded 898 foreign visitors.The minister said the Centre supports coastal and beach tourism through schemes such as Swadesh Darshan, Swadesh Darshan 2.0 and Challenge-Based Destination Development, which provide financial assistance to states and UTs for tourism infrastructure based on approved project proposals.He said projects have also been sanctioned under the Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment (SASCI) scheme to develop iconic tourist destinations and promote them globally.Shekhawat clarified that while feasibility studies are conducted for projects under these schemes, there is no proposal at present for a separate nationwide policy exclusively for coastal tourism development.
