State a top destination for tourists

• Tamil Nadu is one among the top three States in attracting domestic and foreign tourists, according to the Economic Survey 2019-20.
• The Survey, quoting the 2018 figures, mentioned Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra as the other two which were in the top league.
• The three States along with Karnataka and Andhra and Pradesh accounted for nearly 65% of the total domestic tourists while they together with Delhi and Rajasthan recorded around 67% of the total foreign tourist visits

E-tourist Visa

• In September 2014, the country introduced e-tourist visa for visitors from 46 countries, the arrangement of which was available for only 12 countries. Two years later, it liberalized the visa regime in 2016 and renamed it as e-visa scheme with five sub-categories-e-tourist visa, e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-conference visa and e-medical attendant visa.
• The scheme is now available for 169 countries with valid entry through 28 designated airports and five designated seaports. With this, foreign tourist arrivals to Indian on e-visas went up from 4.45 lakh in 2015 to 23.69 lakh in 2018.