Visas on arrival see 39 percent rise in 2013's first half

The number of Visas on Arrival (VoA) issued to tourists from 11 selected countries has gone up by 38.8 percent in the first six months of 2013 as compared to the like period last year, an official release said.

Between January to June 2013, a total number of 9,328 VoAs were issued as compared to 6,721 during the same period of 2012, registering a growth of 38.8 percent.

In June, 1,062 VoAs were issued as compared to 864 during the same month last year, the release said.

The maximum number of VoAs were issued to tourists from Japan (275) closely followed by Indonesia (208).

Visitors from the Philippines and New Zealand were issued 171 VoAs each, Singapore 152, Finland 44, Myanmar 15, Vietnam 14, Laos 5, Cambodia 4 and Luxembourg 3.

The highest number of visas were issued at the Delhi airport (5,362) followed by Mumbai (1,970), Chennai (1,369) and Kolkata (627).

The government launched the Visa on Arrival scheme in January 2010 for citizens of Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.

The scheme was extended to the citizens of Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.