10 lakh e-Tourist Visa to be given in 2016

More than 10 lakh foreigners are expected to avail the highly successful e-Tourist Visa facility being offered to 150 countries in 2016, almost double than the last year.

Official sources said that in 2015, around 5 lakh foreign tourists have availed the e-Tourist Visa facility, which is around 25 per cent of the total tourists arriving in the country.

"We are planning to issue around 10 lakh e-TV this year," the sources said.

TVoA (tourist visa on arrival), enabled by Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), popularly known as e-Tourist Visa scheme, was launched on November 27, 2014.

Under the e-Tourist Visa scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising him or her to travel to India after it is approved and he or she can travel with a print-out of this authorisation.

On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities who would then stamp the entry into the country.

Till now, the scheme has been extended to 150 countries at 16 Indian airports designated for providing e-Tourist visa service.

Since the launch of the scheme, more than 7.50 lakh visas have been issued. At present, on an average, 3,500 e-Tourist Visas are being granted daily to foreign nationals.

According to an official estimate, during January-November of 2015, 3,41,683 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 24,963 during the corresponding period of previous year.

The UK accounted for 23.93 per cent share of availing e-Tourist Visa facility during November 2015, followed by the US (16.33 per cent), Russian Federation (8.17 per cent), France (7.64 per cent), Germany (5.60 per cent) and Australia (4.82 per cent).

Canada had a share of 4.71 per cent, while that of China stood at 3.26 per cent, Ukraine at 2.03 per cent and the Netherlands at 1.75 per cent.