Highest number of tourists on e-Tourist Visa in India
TravelBizNews —
New Delhi: More than 2 Lakh ( 200,000 ) tourists visited on e-Tourist Visa during January -Sept 2015 showing an increase of 945 % over the same period last year according to official figures.
Government of India launched Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), known as e-Tourist Visa scheme on 27 November 2014. At present e-Tourist Visa facility is available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 Airports in India.
During January- September this year, a total of 2,01,705 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 19,290 during January- September, 2014 .This high growth is attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against coverage of earlier TVoA scheme for 12 countries.
Similarly, Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) register a growth of 6.1 % in September 2015 over the same period in 2014 .Bangladesh accounts for the highest share of FTAs in September this year.
FTAs during September this year were 5.40 lakh and FTAs during the period January- September 2015 were 56.08 lakh showing a growth of 4.6% over the same period last year.
The top 15 source countries are Bangladesh followed by USA , UK , Malaysia , Sri Lanka , Australia , China , Japan , Germany , Canada , Nepal , France ,Singapore , Pakistan and Afghanistan .These top 15 countries account for 72.% of total FTAs during September 2015 according to press information bureau statement.
Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEEs) from tourism in India in January- September 2015 is estimated more than Rs 91,737 crore (US$ 14.453 billion).
Oct. 12, 2015
