700% increase in tourist arrivals using e-visa facility

New Delhi: The number of foreign tourists availing of e-Tourist visa facility has increased by over 700 percent in May as compared to the same period last year.[caption id="attachment_2282268" align="alignleft" width="380"] Reuters[/caption]A total of 15,659 tourists arrived in May availing e-Tourist visa facility this year as compared to 1,833 during the same month last year, registering a growth of 754.3 percent.Relaxing the visa regime, the government has launched e-Tourist Visa scheme for 77 countries including the US, Russia, Israel, Germany and China to attract more tourists.According to Tourism Ministry data, total number of 1,10,657 tourist arrived on e-Tourist Visa during January-May 2015 as compared to 9,841 during January-May 2014, registering a growth of 1024.4 per cent.Maximum (37.82 per cent) tourists came from the US followed by Germany (9.35 per cent), Australia (8.95 per cent), Russian Federation (5.85 per cent), Japan (2.89 per cent) and Singapore (2.43 per cent).PTI