Ever since the e-tourist visa facility was launched at the airport here, the number of foreign travellers availing this service and arriving here has been appreciable.
Malaysian nationals top among foreign nationals in respect of availing the facility at the airport which has direct flight connectivity to select South, South East and West Asian destinations. The number of foreigners having utilised the facility has crossed the 2,400 mark since August 15 when e-tourist visa was launched here along with a few other non-metro international airports across the country.
Airport sources told The Hindu that around 1,600 foreign nationals had used the facility to enter the country through Tiruchi airport over the past five-and-half-months. A little over 300 overseas citizens had used this facility to enter the country through Tiruchi airport every month since February, say the sources.
Tiruchi was one among the seven non-metro international airports where e-tourist visa facility was launched.
The Centre had extended the facility to more international airports to give a fillip to tourism all over the country.
After Malaysian nationals, Singapore citizens ranked second in making use of the facility to enter the country via Tiruchi. Sri Lankan citizens, Australian nationals, those from Great Britain, France and from far off St. Kitts Island have also used this facility and landed in Tiruchi.
Foreign nationals from over 110 countries including United Kingdom, Australia, France, New Zealand, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Spain, Portugal, Seychelles, The Netherlands and Sweden could use the e-tourist visa facility to enter the country.
As per the system, foreigners can apply for visa online a few days in advance of their departure and should carry with them a print out of the e-tourist visa authorisation generated online. The validity of the e-visa is 30 days from the date of arrival. Immigration officials capture the bio-metric details of the foreign tourists upon arrival at the dedicated counters set up at the Tiruchi airport. The sources said the facility could be used by foreign tourists only two times in a calendar year.
Most of the overseas tourists availing this facility had arrived at Tiruchi airport by Air Asia and Malindo Air flights, the official added.
