India has become a favourite destination of foreign tourists who prefer to stay here for a fairly long time and buy a lot of local products, making India top the list of countries where international tourists spend most of their time travelling.

United Nation World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO)'s executive director Marcio Favilla told TOI on Sunday, "In 2011, 990 million international arrivals of foreign tourists were recorded all over the world while by the end of 2012 the figure will cross the mark of the 1-billion mark.

This international movement of tourists is generating business of over 1 trillion dollars in a year." Favilla, who was in the city to take part in the International Buddhist Conclave-2012, said a growth of 4 per cent in the business of tourism industry is expected by the end of 2012.

Favilla revealed that tourists in India spend around 1,000 US dollars. But, in India where about six and a half million foreign tourists arrived in 2011, per-person expenditure was 2,700 dollars, he added and said this is because foreign tourists prefer to stay here for long period, hire guides and buy Indian products.

In comparison to India, per-person expenditure in Europe is recorded at 1,200 dollars. The distinctive features, he said, were responsible for growth of tourism in India.

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