For the first time this year the foreign tourist arrivals for a month has shown an increase over the corresponding month last year, bringing hope for the tourism sector that the almost year-long slump was finally over. Latest figures show India received 3.41 lakh visitors in June, which is slightly more than 3.40 lakh for the same month in 2008. In percentage terms, the increase is a nominal 0.2 per cent, but extremely significant for an industry that has been facing the brunt of the economic slowdown for quite some time now.

The number of tourists coming to India had been steadily increasing for the last two months and the figures for June are consistent with the trend being observed since May.

However, the total foreign tourist arrivals in the first six months of this year continue to be substantially lower than the corresponding period last year. Since January, the country has received 24.67 lakh visitors, compared to 27.19 lakh that came to India in the first six months of 2008 — a decline of 9.3 per cent.