Chennai: Chennai appears to be vying with Delhi and Mumbai in ensuring prompt arrival of foreigners. New Delhi airport saw the maximum frequency of tourists arriving and leaving the country on e-tourist visas in 2016, followed by the Mumbai airport, Bengaluru, Chennai airport, Kochi, Goa, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Trivandrum and Ahmedabad airports.
UK nationals top all nations in availing e-tourist visa facility to visit India, followed by those from USA, Russia, Australia and Germany. According to sources, nearly 80 per cent of the visitors were granted visas within three days. The e-Tourist Visa facility is available to citizens of 150 countries. A major factor spurring the high growth of tourists to India on e-visas is attributed to the increase in the number of countries under the e-tourist visa facility.
As per data available with the tourism ministry, during January-May, 2016, a total of 4,34,927 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as against 1,10,657 during the same period in 2015, thus registering a growth of 293 per cent. The e-Tourist Visa ensures the visitor apply online for an Indian Visa from their home country without visiting the Indian Mission and also pay the visa fee online. Once approved, the applicant receives an email authorising the person to travel to India with a printout of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitor will have to present the authorisation to immigration authorities.
