Visa on Arrival Scheme becomes more Popular Twenty Six Percent Growth in 2012

The “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) Scheme of the government has increasingly become popular with the tourists. The scheme registered a growth of 26 % in the year 2012 over the figures of 2011. A total number of 16,084 VoAs were issued during 2012 as compared to 12,761 VoAs issued during 2011. The highest number of 4604 VoAs were issued to the tourists from Japan followed by New Zealand ( 3150 ) and The Philippines ( 2444).

The following are the other important highlights of VoAs issued during the year 2012:

( i) The number of VoAs issued during 2012 were Japan (4,604), New Zealand (3,150), the Philippines

(2,444), Indonesia (2,426), Singapore (1,974), Finland (914), Vietnam (186), Cambodia (157), Luxembourg (110), Myanmar (109) and Laos (10).

(ii) During 2012, the highest number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (9,596), followed by Mumbai (3,276), Chennai (2,273) and Kolkata (939).

(iii) During the month of December 2012, a total number of 2,181 VoAs were issued as compared to 1,640 VoAs during the month of December 2011, registering a growth of 33.0%.

(iv) The number of VoAs issued during December 2012 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (691), New Zealand (505), Indonesia (310), Singapore (256), the Philippines (239), Finland (104), Vietnam (34), Myanmar (20),Cambodia (13), Luxembourg (9) and Laos (0).

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.