During the month of October, a total of 56,477 e-Tourist Visa were issued compared to 2,705 during the month of October, 2014 registering a growth of 1987.9%. The government attributed the high growth rate to introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 113 countries as against coverage of earlier Tourist Visa on Arrival scheme for 12 countries. During January-October, 2015 a total of 2,58,182 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 21,995 during January-October, 2014 registering a growth of 1073.8% , the government said in a release. The top 10 countries availing the e-Tourist Visa facilities during October, 2015 were UK (22.80%), USA (16.70%), France (7.09%), Germany (7.02%), Australia (5.53%), Canada (4.39%), Russian Federation. (3.99%), China (2.93%), Ukraine (2.14%) and Spain (2.11%). The percentage shares of different ports in tourist arrivals on e-Tourist Visa during October, 2015 were New Delhi Airport (50.93%), Mumbai Airport (20.54%), Bengaluru Airport (5.90%), Chennai Airport (5.61%), Goa Airport (4.39%). Government of India launched Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) scheme on 27th November 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 with effect from 3rd November 2015 by clubbing the 113 countries into 4 groups for charging differential rates. Bank charges have also been reduced from $2 to 2.5% of the e-Tourist Visa fees. Past developments: - The government issued 15,557 e-tourist visas in the month of June 2015 registering a growth of…
