3.41 LAKHS TOURISTS AVAIL ETV FACILITY
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According to a government release, as many as 3,41,683 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa (eTV) in India during the first 11 months of this calendar year.
UK continues to occupy top spot followed by USA, France and Germany amongst the countries availing eTV facility
The following are the other important highlights of eTV during November, 2015:
(i) During January-November, 2015 a total of 3,41,683 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 24,963 during January-November, 2014 registering a growth of 1268.8% . This high growth may be attributed to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against coverage of earlier TVoA scheme for 12 countries.
(ii) The percentage shares of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during November, 2015 were as follows: UK (23.93%), USA (16.33%), Russian Fed. (8.17%), France (7.64%), Germany (5.60%), Australia (4.82%), Canada (4.71%), China (3.26%), Ukraine (2.03%) and Netherlands (1.75%).
(iii) The percentage shares of top 10 ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during November, 2015 were as follows:
New Delhi Airport (45.04%), Mumbai Airport (17.72%), Goa Airport (14.62%), Bengaluru Airport (5.57%), Chennai Airport (5.16%), Kochi Airport (3.56%), Kolkata Airport (2.27%), Hyderabad Airport (2.19%), Trivandrum Airport (1.44%) and Ahmadabad Airport (0.93%).
Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), presently known as E-Tourist Visa scheme was launched on November 27, 2014. At present e-Tourist Visa facility is available for citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 Airports in India. E-Tourist Visa fee structure has been revised w.e.f November 03, 2015 by clubbing the 113 countries into four groups for charging differential rates viz. US$ 0, US$ 25, US$ 48 and US$ 60. Bank charges have also been reduced from US$ 2 to 2.5% of the e-Tourist Visa fees.