59.7 Percent Growth in "Tourist Visa on Arrival" (VoA) Scheme : August, 2014

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 Government extended this Scheme to the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011. Recently Govt of India has extended Visa on Arrival (VoA) Scheme for South Korea for which Ministry has started receiving data w.e.f 15th April 2014. The following are the important highlights of VoAs issued during August, 2014.

(i) During the month of August 2014, a total of 2,705 VoAs were issued under this Scheme as compared to 1,694 VoAs during the month of August 2013, registering a growth of 59.7%.

(ii) During January-August 2014, a total number of 17,120 VoAs were issued as compared to 12,176 VoA during corresponding period of 2013 registering a growth of 40.6%.

(iii) The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during August 2014 for nationals of the twelve countries were South Korea (876), Japan (566), Singapore (364), the Philippines (316), New Zealand (233), Indonesia (226), Finland (49), Vietnam (25), Luxembourg (22), Myanmar (19), Cambodia (6) and Laos (3) .

(iv) The number of VoAs issued under the Scheme, during January-August 2014 were Japan (3,454), South Korea (3,030), New Zealand (2,590), Singapore (2,372), the Philippines (2,326), Indonesia (2,025), Finland (692), Myanmar (266), Vietnam (169), Cambodia (93), Luxembourg (89) and Laos (14).

(v) During January-August 2014, the highest number of VoAs were issued at New Delhi airport (8,009) followed by Mumbai (3,320), Chennai (2,318), Bangalore (1,214), Kolkata (1,120), Kochi (526), Hyderabad (429) and Trivandrum (184).

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