A growth of 26.5 percent has been recorded in the number of tourists availing of the tourist Visa on Arrival(VoA) Scheme during the period January to November, 2013.
A total number of 17,594 VoAs have been issued in this period as compared to 13,903 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2012 registering a growth of 26.5 per cent.
The following are the other important highlights of VoAs issued during November, 2013:
(i) During the period January to November 2013, a total number of 17,594 VoAshave been issued in this period as compared to 13,903 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2012 registering a growth of 26.5 per cent.
(ii) During the month of November, 2013, a total number of 1,824 VoAs were issued under this Scheme as compared to 1,630 VoAs during the month of November, 2012, registering a growth of 11.9%.
(iii) The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during November 2013 for nationals of the eleven countries were New Zealand (424), Japan (400), the Philippines (326), Singapore (264), Indonesia (244), Finland (99), Myanmar (30), Vietnam (15), Cambodia (11), Luxembourg (9) and Laos(2).
(iv) The number of VoAs issued under the Scheme during January to November, 2013 were Japan (5,704), New Zealand (3,349), the Philippines (2,615), Indonesia (2,400), Singapore (2,070), Finland (889), Vietnam (181), Myanmar (143), Luxembourg (126), Cambodia (100), and Laos (17).
(v) During the period January to November 2013, the highest number of VoAswere issued at New Delhi airport(9,772) followed by Mumbai (3,614), Chennai (2,458), Kolkata (1,206), Bangalore (250), Kochi(135), Hyderabad (113), andTrivandrum(46).
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 extended to the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.
