India is changing, albeit slowly but surely. The E-Tourist Visa regime is showing early results. During January- December, 2015 a total of 4,45,300 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa as compared to 39,046 during January – December, 2014 registering a growth of 1040.4% . Beginning late 2014 E-Tourist Visa facility is presently available to citizens of 113 countries arriving at 16 Airports in India. A total of 1,03,617 tourists arrived in India on e-Tourist Visa in December, 2015 as compared to 14,083 during the month of December, 2014 registering a growth of 635.8%. UK continues to occupy top slot followed by USA among the countries availing e-tourist visa facility. But despite the e-surge, the overall foreign tourist arrivals rose only 4.4% during January-December 2015. Apart from marketing brand India better to world travelers, ease of travel has to be a key focus. The government must quickly extend the E-Visa regime to many more countries in view of its initial success.
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