NEW DELHI: Demonetisation had no affect on foreign tourist arrival on e-tourist visa in the country as it registered a growth of over 56 % in the month of December last year.
According to the officials of ministry of tourism, a total of 1,62,250 foreign tourists arrived in December 2016 on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 1,03,617 during the month of December 2015. UK (22.4%) continues to occupy top slot followed by USA (16.4%) and Russian Federation (7.7%) amongst countries availing e-tourist visa facility.
The facility of e-Visa has been made available by the Government of India to the citizens of 161 countries, arriving at 16 International Airports in India. During January-December 2016, a total of 10,79,696 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 4,45,300 during January-December 2015, registering a growth of 142.5% , officials said.
Moreover, the New Delhi based airport received maximum number of tourists (36.6 %) followed by Mumbai airport (23.1 %). Goa was at third position with 13.6 % of foreign tourists and Chennai was at fourth position with 6 % of them.
The percentage shares of top 10 source countries availing e-Tourist Visa facilities during December, 2016 were UK (22.4%), USA (16.4%), Russian Fed (7.7%), China (5.3%), Australia (4.6%), France (4.1%), Germany (4.0%), South Africa (3.7%), Canada (3.7%) and Republic of Korea (2.0%).