99 Percent Growth in “Tourist Visa on Arrival” (VoA) Scheme in June, 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 June, 2014. (i)  During the month of June 2014, a total of 2,112 VoAs were issued under this Scheme as compared to 1,062 VoAs  during the month of June 2013, registering a growth  of 98.9%. (ii)  During January-June 2014, a total number of 11,953 VoAs were issued as compared to 9,328 VoA during corresponding period of 2013 registering a growth of 28.1%. (iii)  The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during June 2014 for nationals of the twelve countries were South Korea (663), Singapore(410),  Japan (261),  the Philippines (228),  Indonesia (217),  New Zealand (214), Finland (51), Myanmar (27), Vietnam (20), Cambodia (14) Laos (4)    and  Luxembourg (3)  (iv)The number of VoAs issued under the Scheme, during January-June 2014 were Japan (2,564), New Zealand (2,080), Singapore (1,725),         the Philippines (1,689), Indonesia (1,592), South Korea (1,225),       Finland (600), Myanmar (217), Vietnam (116), Cambodia (72), Luxembourg (64), and Laos (9). (v)During January-June 2014, the highest number of VoAs were issued at New Delhi airport (5,542) followed by Mumbai (2,428), Chennai (1,607), Bangalore (820), Kolkata (782), Kochi (346), Hyderabad (305) and Trivandrum (123).