A total of 83,501 foreign tourists arrived in the country on e-Tourist Visa in November 2015 as compared to 2,968 during the month of October, 2014 registering a growth of 2713.4 per cent, according to a PIB release. UK continues to occupy top spot followed by USA, France and Germany among the countries availing E-tourist Visa facility.
During January to November, 2015, a total of 3,41,683 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 24,963 during the same period last year, registering a growth of 1268.8 per cent. This growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against coverage of earlier tourist visa on arrival (TVoA) scheme for 12 countries.
UK, as a source country, registered highest percentag share with 23.93 per cent, followed by USA (16.33 per cent), Russia (8.17 per cent), France (7.64 per cent), Germany (5.60 per cent), Australia (4.82 per cent), Canada (4.71 per cent), China (3.26 per cent), Ukraine (2.03 per cent) and Netherlands (1.75 per cent).
In terms of top 10 airports, the percentage share was led by New Delhi Airport (45.04 per cent), followed by Mumbai Airport (17.72 per cent), Goa Airport (14.62 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (5.57 per cent), Chennai Airport (5.16 per cent), Kochi Airport (3.56 per cent), Kolkata Airport (2.27 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (2.19 per cent), Trivandrum Airport (1.44 per cent) and Ahmadabad Airport (0.93 per cent).
At present, e-Tourist Visa facility is available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 airports in India. E-Tourist Visa fee structure has been revised w.e.f November 3, 2015 by clubbing the 113 countries into four groups for charging differential rates viz. US$ 0, US$ 25, US$ 48 and US$ 60. Bank charges have also been reduced from US$ 2 to 2.5 per cent of the e-Tourist Visa fees.
