Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh recorded a substantial increase in flow of both domestic and foreign tourists in the past three years, state`s Tourism Minister Pema Khandu said.
"An amount of 1.65 crore was earned as revenue by the department from tourists in the period," Khandu said in reply to a question raised in the Assembly on Friday.
The Minister informed that his department was giving more stress on advertisements, capacity-building of stakeholders and promotional activities to raIse tourists` flow in the state.
"Apart from focusing on rural tourism, the department is resolute to encouraging local entrepreneurs to take up tourism as industry for their income generation as well as for uplifting state economy," Khandu said.
He said during 2009, over 1.99 lakh tourists (including 3,945 foreign), visited the state while the figure rose to over 2.32 lakh (3,395 foreign) in 2010 and last year over 2.37 lakh (foreign 4,753) tourists visited the state.
"The state government has constructed 23 tourist lodges in various tourist circuits during the period," he added.
PTI
