Visa on Arrival (VOA) scheme of the Government continues to be popular with foreign tourists. It registered a growth of 37.2% during May, 2013 as compared to May, 2012. During the month, a total number of 1,114 VoAs were issued as compared to 812 during May, 2012.
The following are the other important highlights of VoAs issued during May, 2013:
(i) The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during May 2013 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (372), New Zealand (195), the Philippines (181), Singapore (139), Indonesia (136), Finland (55), Vietnam (14), Cambodia (9), Myanmar (8), Luxembourg (4), and Laos (1).
(ii) The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during January to May 2013 were Japan (3,010), New Zealand (1,486), Indonesia (1,073), the Philippines (1,060), Singapore (862), Finland (515), Vietnam (82), Luxembourg (68), Cambodia (63), Myanmar (42) and Laos (5).
(iii) During the period January to May 2013, the highest number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (4,808), followed by Mumbai (1,743), Chennai (1,157) and Kolkata (558).
As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, the Government launched the “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) Scheme in January 2010 for citizens of five countries, viz. Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. The Scheme was extended to the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.