E-tourist visa: Foreigners throng Indian shores

By NewsGram Staff Writer

New Delhi: The e-tourist visa scheme launched last year by the government has increased foreign tourist inflow in the country by almost 170,000 till August this year, registering a whopping 893 per cent growth over the previous year, a ministry of tourism report has stated.

The e-tourist visa facility has been made available in 113 countries, the ministry of tourism statement said.

This year, "During the period of January-August, a total of 1,69,976 tourists arrived on e-tourist visa, as compared to 17,120 during the same period last year, registering a growth of 892.9 per cent. During August alone, 22,286 tourists arrived as compared to 2,705 last year", the report said.

While the US occupied the highest percentage (26.93 per cent) share of the total number of tourist arrivals, Germany (10.00 per cent), UAE (8.92 per cent), France (8.76 per cent) and Australia (7.20 per cent), accounted for the other leading numbers.

On the national scale, the percentage share of tourist arrival was highest for New Delhi (42.67 per cent), while Mumbai (23.40 percent) and Bengaluru (10.37 percent) also saw a healthy influx of foreign tourists.