56.6% growth in foreign tourists arrival on eTV in Dec 2016

A total of 162,250 foreign tourists arrived in December 2016 on e-Tourist Visa (eTV) as compared to 103,617 during December 2015 registering a growth of 56.6 per cent. The UK (22.4%) continues to occupy top slot followed by USA (16.4%) and Russia (7.7%) amongst countries availing eTV facility during December 2016. The number of e-Tourist Visa availed by foreign tourists visiting India during the month of December, 2016 has registered a substantial growth rate over the corresponding month of 2015. During January-December 2016, a total of 10,79,696 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 4,45,300 during January-December 2015, registering a growth of 142.5 per cent. This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 161 countries as against the earlier coverage of 113 countries. The percentage shares of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during December, 2016 were as follows: New Delhi Airport (36.6%), Mumbai Airport (23.1%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (13.6%), Chennai Airport (6.0%), Bengaluru Airport (5.1%),Kochi Airport (4.7%), Kolkata Airport (2.5%), Hyderabad Airport (2.4%), Trivandrum Airport (1.9%) and Ahmadabad Airport (1.7%).