An empirical evaluation of tourist arrival in the state of Bihar, India

Abstract

This paper tends to analyze the tourist footprint in Bihar from the year 2001 to 2018. The findings of this paper support that there is a significant and positive increase in domestic and foreign tourist arrivals in the state. Paper also reveals that 71 percent of total tourist arrivals in the state take place in its ten major regions i.e. Patna, Gaya, Bodhgaya, Bihar, Rajgir, Nalanda, Raxaul, Munger, Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, and Bhagalpur. Moreover, from Jan 2015 to Dec 2018, Gaya, Bodhgaya, and Rajgir account for the highest number of foreign arrivals whereas Patna, Gaya, and Rajgir account for the highest number of domestic tourist arrivals. The findings of this paper significantly help the state tourism sector and stakeholders to develop and adopt the best strategies for the overall development of Bihar tourism. The study has further research scope, in terms of attempting the same by enlarging the database, organization wise and across different organization.