India shines big at ITB Berlin: Tourism minister
The Incredible India pavilion won the Best Exhibitor Award in the ITB Berlin 2018 convened at Berlin, Germany from 7th March to 10th March, 2018.
India was represented by the Minister of State (Independent charge) for Tourism K. J. Alphons along with Joint Secretary Suman Billa and a couple of Tourism Ministry officials.
More than 100 countries participated in the ITB- Berlin meet with their respective Tourism Ministers.
India’s Incredible India (Ministry of Tourism) presented its short film named “Yogi of the Racetrack ” in the meet, which has got 3.2 million hits in 60 hours. At the event in Germany, the minister spoke about the country’s 5000 year-old civilisation, beautiful beaches, backwaters, desserts, coastline, Himalayas, and immense possibilities for millennials who are looking for adventure.
Foreign tourists arrivals to India increased to 10 million last year. “It is for the first time that the tourist arrivals crossed the 10 million mark, said Tourism Minister K J Alphons.
The country earned an income of $27 billion (1.80,000 crores) from Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in 2017. He also said that the total employment in tourism sector is 43 million.
Kannanthanam also pointed out that Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh were the states that topped in tourist arrivals.