New Delhi: A total of as many as 68,487 tourists from other parts of the world arrived India in July this year as compared to 21,476 during the same period last year. This is a whopping 219 per cent growth in tourist arrival, and according to the Ministry of Tourism, all the credits for this robust growth goes to the introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 77 countries.
The top 10 countries who have availed the e-Tourist Visa facility during July 2016 are UK (17.7 per cent), USA (16.2 per cent), France (6.7 per cent), UAE (5.9 per cent), China (5.4 per cent), Spain (4 per cent), Australia (3.9 per cent), Germany (3.5 per cent), Canada (3.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (2.9 per cent). When the January-July period of 2016 is compared to that of 2015, the quantum of growth increases even more. A total of 5,40,396 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa during this period in 2016 as compared to 1,47,690 during first six months of last year, thus registering an amazing growth of 266 per cent.