Disturbances in some foreign countries could have led to one per cent decline in arrivals of tourists from other nations to Kerala last year as against the average annual growth of seven per cent, a senior official of the state's Tourism Department said here today. 

Kerala witnessed 7.94 lakh foreign and 1.01 crore domestic tourist arrivals in 2012 as compared to 7.33 lakh and 93.88 lakh respectively in 2011, P Muraleedharan, state's Tourist Information Officer, told reporters here. 

Foreign exchange earnings had gone up from Rs 4,221.99 crore in 2011 to Rs 4,548 crore in 2012 and total revenue, both direct and indirect from tourism touched Rs 21,125 crore in 2012, compared to Rs 19,037 crore in 2011, he said.

However, there could have been a overall marginal decline in 2013 due to international disturbances, by which less number of foreign tourist were reported. 

A correct picture would emerge only after two to three months, Muraleedharan said. 

He said government has taken initiatives to enhance the travel experience and add to array of tourist sites, like Seaplane Project in PPP mode, by which the three International Airports -- Kochi,Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode, would be linked to major tourist spots -- Kumarokam and Bolgatty, Punnamada and Ashtamudi and Bekal, respectively, he said.

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