A growth of 29.4 percent has been recorded in the total number of tourists availing of the tourist Visa on Arrival (VoA) Scheme during the period January to August, 2013. A total number of 12,176 VoAs have been issued in this period as compared to 9,412 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2012 registering a growth of 29.4 per cent.
During the month of August, 2013, a total number of 1,694 VoAs were issued under this Scheme as compared to 1,750 VoAs during the month of August, 2012. The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during August 2013 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (678), New Zealand (257), the Philippines (249), Indonesia (234), Singapore (175), Finland (43), Luxembourg (23) Vietnam (16), Myanmar (13), Cambodia (3), and Laos (3).
The number of VoAs issued under the Scheme during January to August 2013 were Japan (4,290), New Zealand (2,165), Indonesia (1,688), the Philippines (1,652), Singapore (1,338), Finland (646), Vietnam (126), Luxembourg (102) Cambodia (78), Myanmar (78)and Laos (13).
As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, 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 later extended to the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.
