Foreign tourists are shunning India in the wake of the New Dehli bus rape and murder followed by two attacks on women visitors.

A survey said the attacks have altered how tourists view India and led to a sharp fall in their numbers, especially women.

The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry said that in the first three months of the year the number of foreigners travelling to India dropped by 25 per cent. The number of women tourists has dropped by 35 per cent.

The gang rape of the 23-year-old university student on a bus in the heart of the Indian capital in December shocked a country often inured to such sexual violence.

The study surveyed 1,200 tour operators from across India.

Since the December rape there have been two widely publicised incidents where foreign women travellers have been attacked.

Last month a Swiss woman was gang raped in central India as she and her husband camped in a remote forest.

In the second incident a young British woman was forced to jump out of the window of her hotel room to avoid a sexual attack in Agra, the city that is home to the Taj Mahal.

According to the study, the three incidents have hurt tourism and nearly 72 per cent of the tour operators said cancellations of holiday bookings came mostly from women tourists, most of them from Britain, the US, Canada and Australia.

The study said that travellers planning trips to India had instead opted for other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam.

The winter months from November to March mark the peak tourist season in India.