Visa on Arrival scheme registers 23% rise

Number of foreigners availing Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme has registered 23 per cent growth in April against the same period last year.
As many as 1,408 foreigners availed the scheme in April as compared to 1,140 in the same month last year, registering a growth of 23 per cent, officials said.
While maximum number of tourists from Japan (387), followed by New Zealand (306) and Philippines (248) availed the facility, only three persons from Luxembourg and one from Laos availed it in April, they said.
As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists, the government has launched the VoA scheme for 11 countries, including Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar.

A total number of 7,152 VoAs were issued during January to April this year as compared to 5,045 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2012, registering a growth of 41.8 per cent.