KOLKATA: Indian airports collectively received 4% more international travellers in January to March this year, with the leisure segment driving growth by 7%, a latest study said.

The study, conducted by GfK-ForwardKeys, said comparing the first three months of this year with the same period last year, all top ten inbound tourism markets for India witnessed strong growth. International visitors from the US, Saudi Arabia and United Kingdom form the top three inbound markets for the country, accounting for 37% of the total market in the first quarter of the year.

"The ICC T20 World Cup which took place in March could have been a key driver of growth in the country's tourism in the first quarter of the year," highlighted Anant Jain, travel and hospitality industry lead, India. "There was 10% surge in tourist arrival in March this year compared to a year ago and we believe this was contributed by sports tourism to a large extent."

The four airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad together contribute to over half of all travellers' arrival in India. Current booking for the second quarter of this year showed that overseas visitors arriving at these airports are anticipated to be slower than last year, except for Bangalore, where there is already a 5% expected increase in arrivals.