New Delhi: Travellers from the US availed the e-Tourist Visa scheme most in April followed by Russia and Australia, as the total number of foreign visitors using the facility went up over 19,000.
With the government extending e-Tourist Visa scheme to more countries, a total of 19,139 foreign tourists availed the facility in April as compared to 2,167 in the corresponding period last year, registering a growth of 783.2 per cent.
According to Tourism Ministry data, USA (31.83 per cent) is ahead of other countries in percentage shares of availing e-Tourist Visa facility during April, followed by Russian Federation (12.27 pc), Australia (11.42 pc), Germany (9.37 pc), Republic of Korea (4.67 pc), Ukraine (4.36 pc), Thailand (3.56 pc), Mexico (2.93 pc), New Zealand (2.67 pc) and Japan (2.37 pc).
While the Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA), presently known as e-Tourist Visa scheme, was launched on November 27, 2014 for 43 countries, it was extended to the citizens of Guyana and Sri Lanka in January 2015 and April 2015 respectively.
The facility was further extended to the nationals of 31 countries in May 2015.
A total of 94,998 tourists took the e-Tourist Visa during January-April period this year as compared to 8,008 of during the same period last year, registering a growth of 1,086.3 per cent.
