Agartala: Tripura has seen a steady rise in tourist footfall in the past three years with over 13 lakh people visiting the state, official sources said.

Speaking to this correspondent, a senior official of the Tripura Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) said 13,02,742 tourists have visited the state in the past three years.

Statistics show a steady rising graph with 399,447 tourists registered in 2015-2016, 419,807 in 2016-17 and 483,488 in the last financial year.

An official said number of foreign tourists has also increased substantially in the past two years.

Altogether 35,619 foreign tourists visited different spots of the state in 2015-16.

The figure rose to 39,229 next year and increased to 80,094 last year.

A report of the TTDC said revenue of Rs 2.13 crore was sourced from different tourist spots in 2015-16.

The figure rose to Rs 2.72 crore next year and increased to Rs 3.23 crore in the last financial year.

The government has also taken steps to popularise the Tripura State Museum housed in Ujjayanta palace.

According to a recent notification from the state tourism department, more than 8.2 lakh people have visited the museum in the last 56 months.

Among them, 48,000 students visited the state as part of excursion programmes and study tours, an official, who did not wish to be named, said.

Maharaja Radhakishore Manikya Bahadur built the palace in 1901 after the old palace was destroyed in an earthquake.

The palace previously housed the state's Legislative Assembly.