India: e-visa great success

The Government of India has extended the facility of e-Tourist Visa for the citizens of 161 countries including Japan for which facility of Visa on Arrival is also available. The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals on e- Tourist Visa (e-TV) during January to November, 2016 were 9,17,446 registering a growth of 168.5% over same period of previous year. It is interpreted as the success of the e-TV Scheme.

A total of 1,36,876 foreign tourists arrived in November 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 83,501 during the month of November 2015 registering a growth of 63.9%. UK (22.3%) continues to occupy top slot followed by USA (12.9%) and Russian Fed (8.7%) amongst countries availing e-tourist visa facility during November 2016.

The facility of e-Tourist Visa has been made available by the Government of India to the citizens of 155 countries, arriving at 16 International Airports in India.

The percentage shares of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during November, 2016 were as follows:

UK (22.3%), USA (12.9%), Russian Fed (8.7%), France (6.3%), China (6.1%), Germany (4.6%), Australia (4.1%), Canada (3.6%), Netherlands (1.8%) and Ukraine (1.8%).

The percentage shares of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during November, 2016 were as follows:

New Delhi Airport (44.99%), Mumbai Airport (18.53%), Dabolim (Goa) Airport (14.19%), Chennai Airport (5.26%), Bengaluru Airport (5.23%), Kochi Airport (2.99%), Kolkata Airport (2.32%), Hyderabad Airport (1.94%), Trivandrum Airport (1.32%) and Amritsar Airport (1.11%).