From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network

Bengaluru, Sep 10: Slowly but steadily the reputation of Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport is soaring with the airport emerging as the fifth in the country in foreign tourist arrivals.

The Kempegowda International Airport had the fifth highest percentage (6.91) of foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) from January to August this year.

Thus, the Kempegowda International Airport has become one of the top 15 airports in the country.

New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport topped the percentage share with 27.81, followed by the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, (17.34 per cent), Chennai International Airport (10.66 per cent) and Haridaspur Land check-post (8.83 per cent).

Nationality-wise, Bangladesh, with 15.79 per cent, was at the top of the list of 15 source countries, followed by the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

The monthly estimates of the FTAs compiled by the Union Ministry of Tourism on the basis of nationality-wise, port-wise data received from the Bureau of Immigration and Foreign Exchange Earnings from tourism were released on Wednesday.

According to the figures, there has been a 4.5 per cent overall growth in the FTAs in January–August 2015 over January–August 2014. For August alone, a growth of 2.3 per cent was recorded in 2015 over last year.