196.6% growth in eTV tourist arrivals in August

A total of 66,097 tourists arrived in August 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 22, 286 during the month of August 2016 registering a growth of 196.6 percent, revealed the Ministry of Tourism. During Jan-Aug this year, a total of 6,06,493 tourist arrived on eTV as compared to 1,69,976 during Jan-Aug last year, registering a growth of 256.8 per cent. UK continued to be the highest source market with 19.4 per cent share, followed by USA (13.2 per cent) and China (6.7 per cent). The other top major source markets included France (6.4 per cent), Spain (6.1 per cent), UAE (5.5 per cent), Germany (4.6 per cent), Australia (3.7 per cent), Canada (3.5 per cent) and Korea Republic (2.4 per cent). New Delhi Airport contributed the highest percentage share of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on eTV during August with 45.30 per cent, followed by Mumbai Airport (21.53 per cent), Chennai Airport (8.82 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (7.58 per cent), Kochi Airport (4.60 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.52 per cent), Kolkata Airport (2.07 per cent), Amritsar Airport (2.01 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (1.44 per cent) and Trivandrum Airport (1.36 per cent). This high growth may be attributed to introduction of eTV for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 113 countries.