Chennai: The Madurai International Airport in the State has joined the other international airports in TN such as Chennai, Tiruchi and Coimbatore in getting the e-Visa facility.
This would benefit a large number of tourists who arrive from Malaysia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, the UAE, Mauritius, US and the UK. It will be done online and it does not require any facilitation by an intermediary or agent. The move is the latest initiative of the Union Civil Aviation Ministry which has launched the UDAN scheme linking Chennai with Salem.
During the month of March, this year, a total of 2.46 lakh tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa compared to 1.46 lakh during the month of March, 2017 registering a growth of 68.8%. From January-March 2018, a total of 7.62 lakh tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa as against 4.67 lakh during January-March 2017, registering a growth of 63.0%
The percentage shares of top 15 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during March, 2018 were highest from UK (19.6%) followed by USA (9.8%), Russian Federation (6.0%), France (5.5%), China (5.3%), Germany (5.3%), Canada (4.8%), Australia (3.3%), Thailand (2.8%), Italy (2.2%), Malaysia (1.9%), Spain (1.9%) Oman (1.9%), Republic of Korea (1.9%) and Singapore (1.9%).
