E-visa gives fillip to tourism sector: Economic Survey

Says there was an increase in growth on both foreign tourist arrivals at 7.1% and foreign exchange earnings at 6.6% in the year 2014

Easing of the Indian tourism visa regime through the expansion of Visa on Arrival enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) will give a fillip to foreign tourist arrivals in the country, the Economic Survey for 2014-15 said here Friday.

"There was an increase in growth on both foreign tourist arrivals at 7.1% and foreign exchange earnings at 6.6% in the year 2014," the survey, which was tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Lok Sabha, said.

"However, India's share of world tourism is a paltry 0.6% of international tourist arrivals compared to 7.8% in France and 6.4% in the US," it added.

India now allows e-visa for 42 countries.