Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) stood third in India as far as tourist arrivals on e-tourist visa is concerned, accounting for 7.44 per cent of the overall arrivals in September this year.
Over two lakh tourists arrived on e-tourist visa from January to September this year. During September, a total of 31,729 tourists arrived on e-tourist visa, a release said.
The scheme was launched last November. As many as 113 countries are covered, with the Centre extending the facility to 36 more countries from August 15, 2015. Seven more Indian airports were added as designated airports for entry on e-tourist visa. They are Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Gaya, Jaipur, Lucknow, Trichy and Varanasi.
The Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi accounted for a little over half of the total e-tourist visa arrivals in September followed by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai with 20.70 per cent. The share of Chennai International Airport was 7.18 per cent.
Among the top 10 source countries availing the facility during September were the USA (18.71 per cent), UK (9.24 per cent) and Australia (8.50 per cent).
