Wednesday, November 16 2005 12:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: India plans to double its foreign exchange earnings from tourism in the next three years and make it the number one foreign exchange earner, Tourism Minister Renuka Chowdhury said.

"We earned 4.8 billion dollars in foreign exchange from tourism in 2004 and we expect it to cross 10 billion dollars in the next three years," she said.

Chowdhury, who was here to participate in the World Travel Market, 2005, said "India, today, is a transformed tourist destination, competing to give the best, in fact the 'incredible'."

The unprecedented growth and a successful campaign has resulted in the National Geographical Traveller calling India "The Land of Mystery and Majesty," she said. The Lonely Planet in a survey of 167 countries selected India as one of the top 5 destinations of the world. Even Conde Nast traveller in its Readers' Survey for 2005 has selected India as one of the top destinations of the world.

It is also a matter of great pride for us that our efforts are getting international acknowledgement," she said, adding India has won the 2005 PATA Grand Award in the Heritage category for the 'Ajanta Ellora Conservation and Tourism Development Project' and the PATA Gold Award in the Print Media category for India's Incredible-Taj campaign.

"All around us we see these telltale signs, of the tourism boom which India is experiencing," she said.