New Delhi, Andhra Pradesh again managed to attract the maximum number of domestic tourists in 2007 while the Indian capital drew the most foreigners for the second consecutive year, tourism ministry figures show.

According to latest tourist figures provided by the ministry, Andhra Pradesh, famed for its temples and especially the Tirumala Tirupati shrine, attracted 127 million domestic tourists - an increase of 14 percent from 2006.

Delhi also saw a jump in its tourist figures with 2.01 million foreigners visiting it in 2007. In 2006, 1.9 million foreign travellers had come to the capital.

These figures were collected from hotels and other accommodations by the ministry of tourism.

Apart from Andhra Pradesh, the other most favoured destinations for Indians were Uttar Pradesh (116 million), Tamil Nadu (71 million), Karnataka (37.8 million) and Rajasthan (25.9 million). In 2006 also, these states were the top five destinations for domestic tourists.

The five states accounted for about 72 percent of the total domestic tourist visits in 2007.

For foreigners, the other top four favoured places besides Delhi were Maharashtra (1.9 million), Tamil Nadu (1.7 million), Uttar Pradesh (1.49 million) and Rajasthan (1.40 million).

These five states accounted for about 65 percent of the total foreign tourist arrivals in India in 2007, said the official. Last year, the total share of these five states was 64.31 percent.

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