The number of foreign tourists availing the Visa on Arrival (VoA) rose by over 27 percent from January-September this year compared to the same period last year, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Tourism. A total number of 10,816 VoAs were issued this year as compared to 8,505 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2011 – a growth of 27.2 percent, the statement said.
The latest figure suggests that Japanese tourists made maximum use of VoA offer with over 3,000 availing of the measure since January. As many as 3,106 tourists from Japan, 2,045 from New Zealand, 1,689 from Indonesia, 1,678 from Philippines and 1,313 from Singapore and 647 from Finland availed of the visa on arrival facility between January and August this year, an official release said.
The month of September also saw a 41.7 per cent jump in issuing visa on arrival for tourist as 1,404 of them availed of the facility compared to 991 VoAs during September last year.
In order to attract more foreign tourists to India, the government in 2010 launched a VoA scheme for countries like Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore. In 2011, the scheme was extended to accommodate six more countries – Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar.
Meanwhile, the growth in foreign tourist arrival (FTA) has slipped to 3.2 per cent during last month as against the 8.7 per cent growth registered during the same month last year.
During September this year, 4.15 lakh tourists came to India as against 4.02 during the same month last year. The tourist arrival in the January-September period of 2012 has seen 5.9 per cent jump to 4.6 million as against 4.3 million during the same period last calendar year. The growth has been lower as against 9.9 per cent clocked in the January-September 2011.
Moreover, Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) during the month of September 2012 were Rs 6,652 crores as compared to Rs 5,748 crores in September 2011 and Rs 4,678 crores in September 2010. The growth rate in FEE in rupee terms in September 2012 over September 2011 was 15.7 per cent as compared to 22.9 per cent in September 2011 over September 2010. FEEs from tourism in rupee terms during January-September 2012 were Rs. 66,061 crore with a growth of 22.9 per cent, as compared to the FEEs of Rs 53,761 crores with a growth of 16.6 per cent during January-September 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.
FEEs in US$ terms during the month of September 2012 were US$ 1219 million as compared to FEEs of US$ 1208 million during the month of September 2011 and US$ 1015 million in September 2010. The growth rate in FEEs in US$ terms in September 2012 over September 2011 was 0.9 per cent as compared to the growth of 19 per cent in September 2011 over September 2010. FEEs from tourism in terms of US$ during January-September 2012 were US$ 12,492 million with a growth of 5.1 per cent, as compared to US$ 11,886 million with a growth of 18.7 per cent during January-September 2011 over the corresponding period of 2010.
