<span style="color: #222222;">Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy has said that the inflow of foreign tourists has increased after the abatement of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. In a written reply in Rajya Sabha today, Mr Reddy said, in 2021, over 15 lakh 27 thousand foreign tourists visited India while in 2022, over 61 lakh 91 thousand foreign tourists came to the country. <br />''<br />''He said, in 2021, Foreign Exchange Earnings in India through tourism were 65 thousand 70 crore rupees while in 2022, it was one lakh 34 thousand 543 crore rupees. The Minister said, post-COVID, to revive inbound tourism and to attract foreign tourists to the country, the Government of India extended the first five lakh visas to foreign tourists from potential tourism markets, free of cost. He said, the benefit of free of charge visa was available only once per tourist during the issuance of the first five lakh tourist visas. Mr Reddy informed that the scheme was valid till the 31st of March 2022.</span><br />