Popularity of e-visas soars exponentially in India

Technology has changed the way we look at things, and, in the bargain, has made things easier to access.

Likewise, e-visas have also surged in popularity in India. Propped by an impetus given by the Government of India in 2014, it allows citizens from various countries coming to India being given a visa on arrival. Currently, visitors from 150 countries can come to India with an e-visa. Done with a view to promoting tourism, e-visas are said to have encouraged first-time tourists to come to India, more any other tourism initiative.

For instance, April 2016 saw tourists coming to India on e-visas registering a growth of 266 percent. The month of August in 2015 saw e-visas contributing to a rise of 421.6 percent growth of tourists coming to India.

Numbers revealed by the Ministry of Tourism showed that while April 2015 had witnessed 19,139 tourists arriving in India using e-visas, the numbers rose to 70,045 in April 2016.

The most people entering India with an e-visa were from the United Kingdom, who made up for 18.82 percent of these visa holders, followed by travellers from the United States and Russia, with 14.08 percent and 8.16 percent respectively. Visitors from China and Thailand accounted for a share of 6.31 percent and 2.09 percent respectively.

The number of tourists coming to India rose from 94,998 in the January–April 2015 period to 391,000 tourists during the same period for the year 2016, registering a year-on-year growth of 311 percent.

While the capital New Delhi accounted for 46.48 percent of all tourist arrivals with an e-visa, Mumbai, Goa and Bengaluru saw e-visa tourists make up 19.09 percent, 9.96 percent and 6.48 percent of the total arrivals utilising the e-visa facility respectively.

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