Ambedkar Udyan, Lucknow

Panchmari, Madhya Pradesh

NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu has bagged the top spot as the country’s most popular tourist destination among foreign and domestic tourists in 2016. Uttar Pradesh, on the other hand, has emerged as the second most popular destination among domestic tourists, and as the third in foreign tourist visits. For foreign tourists, Maharashtra is second most popular choice, after Tamil Nadu.Uttar Pradesh was ranked 2nd most popular with domestic tourists and third among foreign tourists.Goa has failed to be attractive enough to make it to the top 10 list of popular destinations for domestic tourists, while bagging the 9th place on the foreign tourists’ popularity charts. Gujarat, despite its aggressive tourism marketing campaigns, has failed to make the cut on the foreign tourists list. It has finished, however, at the 9th spot in popular destinations among domestic tourists.Tourist arrival data, compiled by the Market Research Division of the ministry of tourism, also suggests 2016 was a happy year on the tourism front, where domestic tourism saw a 12.68% jump, while the foreign arrivals increased by 5.92%.MP has gained popularity with domestic tourists and is ranked at number 4The top ten states in terms of number of domestic tourist visits during 2016 were Tamil Nadu, followed by Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, West Bengal, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The ministry’s survey also suggested the Top 10 performing states contributed to about 84.21% of the total domestic tourist visits during 2016.While Tamil Nadu, UP and Andhra have retained the top rankings, Madhya Pradesh has gained in popularity among domestic tourists and moved up to fourth position. MP has emerged as the fastest growing state on the domestic tourism front, followed by Punjab, and Andaman & Nicobar Island.Punjab, which failed to be counted in 2015, also inched its way into the Top 10 list of favourite destinations among foreign tourists in 2016. It also registered the fastest growth rates among foreign tourist visits in percentage during 2016, ahead of Sikkim and Chhattisgarh.