Government of India introduces e-visa facility for 43 nations to promote tourism.
The Indian government has opened its e-visa facility for 43 nations, in a bid to promote the country’s tourism sector. This has been expected to increase the sector’s current contribution of 7 percent to the Gross Domestic Product.
Countries that have access to the first phase of the facility include Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, UAE, Jordan, Kenya, Fiji, Finland, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Oman and Philippines.
Visitors from the listed countries, who intend to visit India, will now have to apply for an e-visa on the designated website and pay an online fee to get an electronic travel authorization (ETA) within two days. Except for high-risk nations, the e-visa service will be provided in a phased manner to almost every country.
The e-visa will be valid for 30 days and a tourist will be able to avail the facility twice in a year. Although, there are countries that already get visa-on-arrival, the system was manual and was responsible for many delays, which the IT-based system would take care of.
Currently, the e-visa facility is available at nine international airports – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram and Goa.
Photo Credits: rediff.com
