During the month of April 2017, total of 1.14 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 0.7 lakh during the month of April 2016, registering a growth of 63.4 per cent. The January-April 2017 period saw a total of 5.82 lakh tourists who availed e-Tourist Visa as compared to 3.91 lakh during January-April 2016, registering a growth of 48.8 per cent. Tourists from UK (21.6%) availed the most number of eTVs, followed by USA (10.2%), China (6.1%), Russian Fed (6.1%) and France (5.1%). The top five ports in tourist arrivals on e-TV during April, 2017 were New Delhi Airport (48.6%), Mumbai Airport (20.4%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (7.2%), Bengaluru Airport (5.4%) and Chennai Airport (5.1%). The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in April 2017 were 7.40 lakh as compared to FTAs of 5.99 lakh in April 2016 with a growth rate of 23.5 per cent. FTAs during the period January- April 2017 were 35.85 lakh with a growth of 15.4 per cent, as compared to the FTAs of 31.08 lakh with a growth rate of 10.1 per cent. The percentage share of FTAs in India during April 2017 among the top five source countries was highest from Bangladesh (23.07%) followed by USA (10.65%), UK (10.51%), Germany (3.28%) and Australia (3.15%), while the percentage share among the top five ports was highest at Delhi Airport (29.20%) followed by Mumbai Airport (15.48%), Haridaspur Land checkpost (12.88%), Chennai Airport (6.56%) and Bengaluru Airport (5.67%).
Read More »eTV for 37 more countries from Feb 26
Starting tomorrow, February 26, 2016, the e-Tourist Visa (e-TV) facility will be extended to 37 more countries, bringing the total count of countries under the scheme to 150. The new 37 countries included in e-Tourist Visa scheme are Albania, Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cape Verde, Comoros, Cote d’lvoire, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Iceland, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Moldova, Namibia, Romania, San Marino, Senegal, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The e-TV facility was launched by the Government of India on November 27, 2014. Till now the scheme has been extended to 113 countries at sixteen Indian airports designated for providing e-Tourist visa service. Over 7.50 lakh Visas have been issued under the scheme ever since it has been launched. On an average 3,500 e-Tourist Visas are being granted daily to foreign nationals.
Read More »