Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Kanha, Bandhavgarh and Pench National Parks in the state have emerged as the favourite destinations of foreign tourists visiting the state this year. The three Parks have witnessed a big jump in the number of tourists from abroad visiting them, as compared with last year.
The three Parks together had drawn 47,136 foreign tourists in 2023, whereas in the first five months (January-May 2024) of this year alone, 40,634 foreign tourists visited them. In the Jan-May 2023 period, their number was 34,300. Almost 45% of the 91,000 foreigners who have visited the state till May this year, visited to these National Parks. Bandhavgarh, the home to 135 of the 745 tigers counted in the state in the 2023 census, is the top destination of the foreign tourists.
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In 2023, around 22,000 foreigners had visited the national park whereas the number was 16,600 in the five months of last year. This year in the first five months, their number has almost touched 20,000. It was followed by Kanha, which holds 105 tigers. Around 16,000 foreigners visited Kanha last year (11,915 till in Jan-May 2023), whereas their number had crossed 13,000 till May this year. The figures for Pench National Park were 8,224 (total 2023), 5,524 (Jan-May 2023) and 7,165 (Jan-May 2024). The number of domestic tourists visiting these parks, however, has not grown.
Around 1.60 lakh of them had visited Bandhavgarh last year, whereas their number was 76,864 this year till May. In the case of Kanha, the corresponding figures were 2.15 lakh and 1.16 lakh and in the case of Pench, 1.55 lakh and 60,000 respectively. This year, till May, 2.79 crore domestic tourists had visited Ujjain. Last year till May, their number was 4.70 crore.
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In 2023 as whole, the temple town had witnessed 5.28 crore domestic tourists The corresponding figures for Maihar, which is the second most popular tourist destination, were 56.8 lakh (till May this year), 76.94 (till May last year) and 1.68 crore (total 2023). Pachmarhi, the state’s only hill station, saw 95,000 domestic visitors till May this year, as compared with 4.01 lakh last year.
However, foreign tourists had little interest in these destinations. Till May this year, not a single foreigner had visited Ujjain and Maihar. Last year, only 66 had visited Ujjain and none had travelled to Maihar. The number of foreigners visiting Pachmarhi last year was just 23 whereas their number was 58 till May this year.