The safe image of Kolkata has augured well with the metropolis recording a steady rise in the number of foreign tourists in the last few years, Tourism ministry sources said.
"West Bengal is a very safe state and there have been no reports of foreigners being raped or killed in the state in the last few years," the sources said.
While around 1.26 lakh foreign tourists visited the city in 2007, 98,307 foreign tourists visited the City of Joy in 2006. In 2005, the figure was 86,974, the sources said.
Compared to 2006, there was about a 29 per cent rise in the number of foreign tourists visiting the city last year, the sources said.
In 2006, the rise in the number of foreign tourists was only 12.5 per cent compared to the number of foreign tourists who visited the metropolis in 2005, according to figures released by the Regional Tourist office here.
