Over 200% rise in tourist coming on e-visa

Over 68,400 tourists arrived in India on e-visa in year as compared to 21,476 during the same month last year, recording a whopping growth of about 219 per cent.
Among the countries availing e-tourist visa facility during last month, the United Kingdom occupied the top slot, followed by the US and France, an official release said.
"A total of 68,487 tourists arrived in July 2016 on e-tourist visa as compared to 21,476 during the month of July 2015, registering a growth of 218.9 per cent," it said.
As many as 5,40,396 tourist arrived on e-tourist visa between January-July as compared to 1,47,690 during the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 265.9 per cent.

The number of tourists, availing e-visa facility, during last year has been surpassed in the first six months of the current year, the release said.
Launched on November 27, 2014, the facility was available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 airports in India till February 25. It was extended for citizens of 37 more countries from February 26, taking the tally to 150.

Among the top 10 source countries availing the facility in July, the UK share was maximum with 17.7 per cent, followed by the US (16.2 per cent), France (6.7 per cent), UAE (5.9 per cent) and China (5.4 per cent).

The share of Spain was four per cent while it was 3.9 per cent for Australia, 3.5 per cent for Germany, 3.4 per cent for Canada and 2.9 per cent for the Netherlands.
Among the top 10 ports, where tourists availing online facility arrived, during the last month, the New Delhi Airport share was highest with 44 per cent, followed by Mumbai Airport (20.77 per cent), Chennai Airport (9.43 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (9.10 per cent), Kochi Airport (5.1 per cent), and Hyderabad Airport (3.68 per cent).
The share of Kolkata Airport was 2.5 per cent, while that of Ahmedabad Airport 1.38 per cent, Thiruananthapuram Airport 1.35 per cent and Amritsar Airport 0.99 per cent.