Tamil Nadu No 4 in tourism rankings

Chennai: Tamil Nadu has ranked fourth among the top five states in the country in tourism rankings from the hospitality industry’s standpoint which took into account 11 parameters. Interestingly, the nation-wide survey has found that no state spends more than one per cent on tourism.

Tamil Nadu ranked fourth overall is on top when it comes to tourist visits and medical tourism has been a large contributor to the visits, according to the Hotelivate State Ranking Survey. But, in terms of Ease of Doing Business the state has dropped six places since the last survey and the state government spends the least on tourism expenditure (just 0.015 per cent of total expenditure). If the expenditure were to be upped, this is a state with great potential in tourism, finds the 5th biennial Hotelivate State Ranking Survey for Tourism done in association with the World Travel & Tourism Council-India Initiative (WTTC-II).

Delhi, Maharashtra, Goa followed by Tamil Nadu and Gujarat are in the list of top five states in tourism, as per the survey. State expenditure on tourism, number of tourist visits, number of branded hotel rooms, GSDP per capital, literacy, aircraft movement, ease of doing business, urbanisation, road and rail network, marketing campaigns and some intangible aspects are among the eleven parameters that the surveyors had looked at.

While Assam got the award for best policy and leadership in tourism among the states, Telangana bagged the honours for ‘Investment attractiveness,’ Rajasthan for Marketing Innovation award and among the North Eastern states, which were grouped in a separate category, Sikkim topped.

The purpose of this survey, according to author of the report, Manav Thadani, chairman HVS, was to encourage the states to pull up their socks and do
more.