DELHI
As per the HVS India ‘India State Ranking Survey 2013’, the national average expenditure on tourism for the 29 states in 2012-13 has been mere 0.18 per cent. While the North Eastern state of Sikkim ranks first in terms of tourism spend (1.83 per cent) in the total state budget Tripura is the lowest spender (0.01 per cent) among the States. However, the third States Ranking Survey notes improvement in national average spend on tourism between the first survey in 2008-09 and the third survey in 2012-13, from 0.10 per cent to 0.18 per cent.
Sikkim has in fact trebled their tourism spend between the first survey and the current survey. Similarly, Goa, currently at number two (1.04 per cent) has increased their tourism spend from 0.2 per cent in 2009, an increase of 420 per cent,& the report notes. The third and fourth positions were shared by Jammu & Kashmir (0.62 per cent), and Uttarakhand (0.30 per cent). Among the states, which moved up in the state ranking in terms of tourism spend, Punjab leads with moving 14 positions up in rankings. From the 29th position in 2009, Punjab moved to 15th position. Similarly, Karnataka moved 12 ranks in the last five years, the survey report notes.
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