Number of tourists in Uttar Pradesh crossed the state’s total population in 2017

A surprising fact has been recorded about Uttar Pradesh, which says that tourist visiting Uttar Pradesh in 2017 was more than the state’s total population. According to the recorded data, number of tourists was more than 23.7 crore (including domestic and foreign) last year, which is more than Uttar Pradesh’s massive population which is 22.7 crore.
The same report also mentioned that the total tourist footfall in Uttar Pradesh has increased by 9% as compared to last year. While Agra was the most visited by foreign tourists, Allahabad saw the most numbers of domestic visitors.

Director General of UP Tourism Awanish Awasthi, however is not happy or impressed with the news. He said that these numbers are ok but nowhere compared to states such as Goa, Jammu & Kashmir, and Kerala, which are too much ahead of UP. He also said that UP has a potential to do a lot more.
In the year 2016, India experienced 161.3 crore domestic tourists footfall, wherein Karnataka alone accounted for 21%, and then was UP with 13% share. The same year, around 2.4 crore foreigners came to India wherein Tamil Nadu accounted for 19%, and 18.9% share went to Maharashtra followed by UP with 12%.


According to Awasthi, “A structure is being given to the state’s tourism sector through initiatives like a formal policy rolled out during the UP Investors’ Summit. It aims at drawing investment and creating attraction, and destinations by adding value through options like theme, adventure, and balloon or caravan tourism. We are also focusing on a number of things for foreign tourists who bring the swing factor in the tourism economy.”

UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is pushing tourism, and trying to boost the industry with various measures to attract tourists. The first and foremost aim is to make UP the most favoured tourist destination by the 2023 in the country. Second, they want to promote the state as a leading MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) destination.

This target can only be achieved by boosting number of tourists in the state. Benchmark has been set at an yearly increase of 15% in domestic, and 10% in foreign tourist arrivals in or over the next five years.