Tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa register a growth of 955.9% in January-June 2015 over the same period last year

USA accounts for about 42% tourists arrived on e-Tourist visa in June 2015

The Government of India launched Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), presently known as e-Tourist Visa scheme, on 27th November 2014 for 43 countries. The Government extended this Scheme to the citizens of Guyana and Sri Lanka in January, 2015 and April 2015 respectively. The e-Tourist Visa facility was further extended to the nationals of 31 countries in June 2015.

The following are the important highlights of e-Tourist Visa during June, 2015:

(i) During the month of June 2015 a total of 15,557 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 2,112 during the month of June, 2014 registering a growth of 636.6%.

(ii) During January-June 2015 a total of 1,26,214 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 11,953 during January-June 2014 registering a growth of 955.9% .

(iii) This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 76 countries as against coverage of earlier TVoA scheme for 12 countries.

(iv) The percentage shares of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facility during June 2015 were as follows:

USA (41.71%), Australia (9.67%), Germany (7.21%), Canada (4.86%), Republic of Korea (4.29%), France (3.38%), Singapore (2.73%), UAE (2.70%), Russian Federation (2.53%) and Mexico (2.47%).

(v) The percentage shares of different ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during June 2015 were as follows:

New Delhi (43.11%), Mumbai (22.27%), Bengaluru (11.70%), Chennai (9.83%), Hyderabad (4.85%), Kochi (3.83%), Kolkata (2.89%), Trivandrum (1.14%) and Goa (0.38%).

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