218.9% growth in eTV tourist arrivals in July

A total of 68,487 tourists arrived in July 2016 on e-Tourist Visa (eTV) as compared to 21,476 during the month of July 2015 registering a growth of 218.9 per cent. Status of achievements in respect of eTV availed by International tourists visiting India last year in 2015 has been surpassed in the first six months of the current calendar year 2016. During January- July 2016, a total of 5,40,396 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1,47,690 during January-July 2015, registering a growth of  265.9 per cent. This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 77 countries. The percentage shares of  top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities  during  July, 2016  were as follows: UK (17.7%), USA (16.2%), France (6.7%), UAE (5.9%), China (5.4%), Spain (4.0%), Australia (3.9%), Germany (3.5%), Canada (3.4%) and Netherland (2.9%). The percentage shares of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during  July, 2016  were as follows: New Delhi Airport (44.00%), Mumbai Airport (20.77%), Chennai Airport (9.43%), Bengaluru Airport (9.10%), Kochi Airport (5.10%), Hyderabad Airport (3.68%), Kolkata Airport (2.50%), Ahmadabad Airport (1.38%), Trivandrum Airport (1.35%)  and Amritsar Airport (0.99%).