Foreign tourists in New Delhi. (TOI file photo by Kamaljeet Singh)

Foreign tourists in New Delhi. (TOI file photo by Sanjeev Rastogi)

NEW DELHI: Delhi appears to have seen a drop of around 30% in foreign tourists. According to the latest footfall figures of the Archaeological Survey of India , based on ticket sales at the three world heritage sites in the city — Qutab Minar, Humayun’s Tomb and Red Fort — there has been a sharp decrease in ticket sales to foreign tourists (who pay more than Indian tourists) in 2013-14, upsetting a trend of a steady rise since 2010 Commonwealth Games.This has got the tourism industry worried with several industry experts attributing the sharp decline in foreign tourist arrivals to the adverse publicity attracted by Delhi after the December 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape which was reported in great detail in foreign capitals and created an impression — possibly exaggerated — that the city was very unsafe for women.Two other reasons are attributed to the fall — one, recession in the west and, two, under-reporting of ticket sales at ASI monuments as has been hinted by CAG.However, there seems to be a general consensus that the Nirbhaya case has badly hit tourism to the city. While ASI is worried by the trend, as it has invested heavily on promoting Delhi’s history, this is also a setback for the state government which is pitching for the national capital to be declared a Unesco world heritage next year — a tag which Delhi can justifiably aspire for, dotted as it is with historical monuments.ASI sources said there was a drop is in both Indian and foreign visitors, although the fall in the number of foreign visitors is more pronounced. ASI also garners much bigger revenue from foreign tourists. Tour operators said that there are hardly any single women tourists to India. “Most of them now come in groups,” said an operator.In 2010-11, Humayun’s Tomb saw 6,38,714 visitors (Indian and foreign) which increased to 12, 25,484 visitors by 2012-13, an increase of over 100%. But then the figure dropped to 8,83,411 visitors in 2013-14, a drop of 29.3%. Similarly, Qutab Minar saw 30,91,609 visitors in 2011-12 which increased to 35, 56,162 visitors by 2012-13 which then dropped to 32,84,826 visitors in 2013-14.The drop in visitors is not just at the world heritage sites. The trend was visible across all Delhi’s ticketed monuments, including Jantar Mantar, Purana Qila and Safdarjung Tomb.Senior ASI officials sought to emphasize recession as a key factor for the drop. “Recession has played a huge factor in reducing the number of foreign visitors to India. Even at the Taj Mahal in Agra, visitor intake has dropped by 11%. We are trying to understand why tourists were shying away all of a sudden," said a senior ASI official. But they conceded that the Nirbhaya case has also played a substantial role in reducing foreign tourist visits to the national capital."Women tourists preferred to skip Delhi after the incident. Then a number of tourists also planned visitors to elsewhere in India instead of Delhi," said an official.Sources in ASI also pointed out that the number of visitors with free access to ticketed sites was also increasing. When questioned on the reduction in footfalls, ASI officials said: "As per the lIU report there is decrease in foreign visitors. May be due to recession or due to safety concern after Nirbhaya incident. It is also noticed a significant increase in permitting free entry of foreign and Indian delegates approached by different ministries as well as departments and organizations."Experts say that reduction in footfalls could also be partially due to manipulation in the ticketing system, which is still done manually at all ticketed monuments. The CAG report 2013 pointed out that manual checking of tickets in centrally-protected monuments was prone to errors and manipulation. To overcome this, ASI has been proposing to start e-ticketing at all monuments, with first priority in world heritage sites. While ASI did a trial run for e-ticketing at Qutab Minar last October, it is yet to implement it any other protected monument.