The Government of India has revealed that during the month of February 2013, a total number of 1,947 Visa on Arrival(VoA) were issued as compared to 1,259 VoAs during the month of February 2012, registering a growth of 54.6percent.
During the period January-February 2013, a total number of 3,637 VoAs were issued as compared to 2,618 VoAs during corresponding period of 2012 registering a positive growth of 38.9 percent.The number of VoAs issued under this scheme during February 2013 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (874), New Zealand (286), Indonesia (246), the Philippines (197), Singapore (171), Finland (110), Cambodia (18), Luxembourg (18), Vietnam (17), Myanmar (8) and Laos (2).The number of VoAs issued under the Scheme January-February 2013 were Japan (1403), New Zealand (653), Indonesia (427), the Philippines (406), Singapore (357), Finland (277), Cambodia (35), Vietnam (33), Luxembourg (29), Myanmar (14) and Laos (3).During the period January-February 2013, the highest number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (2123) followed by Mumbai (792), Chennai (513) and Kolkata (209).
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.
