Visa on Arrival Scheme Registeres a Growth of 23 Percent During April 2013

Visa on Arrival (VOA) scheme of the government continues to be popular with foreign tourists. It registered a growth of 23.5% during April, 2013 as compared to April, 2012. During the month, a total number of 1408 VoAs were issued as compared to 1140 during April, 2012.

The following are the other important highlights of VoAs issued during April, 2013:

(i) During the period January to April, 2013, a total number of 7,152 VoAs were issued as compared to 5,045 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2012, registering a growth of 41.8%.

(ii) The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during April, 2013 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (387), New Zealand (306), the Philippines (248), Indonesia (198), Singapore (152), Finland (74), Vietnam (15), Myanmar (12), Cambodia (12), Luxembourg (3), and Laos (1).

(iii) The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during January to April, 2013 were Japan (2,638), New Zealand (1,291), Indonesia (937), the Philippines (879), Singapore (723), Finland (460), Vietnam (68), Luxembourg (64), Cambodia (54), Myanmar (34) and Laos (4).

(iv) During the period January to April 2013, the highest number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (4,193), followed by Mumbai (1,558), Chennai (956) and Kolkata (445).

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.

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