OREANDA-NEWS. The Government has launched Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) enabled by Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) on 27th November 2014 for 43 countries. Prior to it, only the normal TVoA scheme was in operation for 12 countries. The following are the important highlights of TVoA (including ETA enabled) issued during December, 2014:

(i) During the month of December 2014, a total of 14,083 TVoA were issued as compared to 2,700 TVoA during the month of December 2013, registering a growth of 421.6%. During January –December 2014, a total number of 39,046 TVoA were issued as compared to 20,294 TVoAs during the corresponding period of 2013 registering a growth of 92.4%. This high growth is due to introduction of ETA enabled TVoA for 43 countries in November 2014.

(ii) The percentage share of top 10 source countries for TVoA, in India during December 2014, were as follows:

USA (24.26%), Russian Federation (15.06%), Republic of Korea (11.01%), Ukraine (8.16%), Australia (7.98%), New Zealand (5.08%), Japan (4.30%), Singapore (4.27%), Germany (4.05%) and the Philippines (3.10%).

(iii) The percentage share of different ports for TVoA, in India during December 2014, were as follows:

New Delhi (35.78%), Mumbai (21.05%), Goa (18.24%), Chennai (7.17%), Bengaluru (5.76%), Kochi (4.54%), Hyderabad (3.13%), Kolkata (2.35%), and Trivandrum (1.98%).