'Negative media publicity led to poor visitor turnout at CWG'

Adverse media publicity about the Commonwealth Games brought in fewer visitors to India and to Delhi than expected, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Prakashbapu Patil informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Adverse media publicity about the Commonwealth Games brought in fewer visitors to India and to Delhi than expected, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Pratik Prakashbapu Patil informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

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The Commonwealth Games were held in Delhi Oct 3-14 this year.

Patil said: "It has been assessed that the number of visitors has been less than expected. This could have been due to adverse media publicity."

"Some of the participants dropped out from the event because the dates of the event were clashing with their earlier scheduled training and competition programme," he added.

According to the minister, the expected number of visitors during the Games was 100,000. However, between the period Oct 1-14, the foreign tourist arrivals in Delhi were 75,606.

Similarly, as against the expected number of participants in the Games, there were 6,572 participants. The expected number was 8,000.