Progress of Tourist Visa on Arrival Scheme in February 2012

During the month of February 2012, a total number of 1259 Vis on Arrival (VOAs) were issued as compared to 1026 VoAs during the month of February 2011, registering a positive growth of 22.7% excluding the nationals of Indonesia. During the period January-February 2012, a total number of 2618 VoAs were issued as compared to 1816 VoAs during corresponding period of 2011 registering a positive growth of 44.2%. The number of VOAs issued under this scheme, during February 2012 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (293), New Zealand (281), Indonesia (231), Philippines (170), Singapore (144), Finland (109), Vietnam (15), Cambodia (5), Luxemburg (5), Myanmar (5) and Laos (1). The number of VoAs issued, during January-February 2012 were New Zealand (641), Japan (556), Indonesia (451), Philippines (376), Singapore (317), Finland (204), Vietnam (28), Myanmar (17), Luxemburg (16), Cambodia (10) and Laos (2). During the period January-February 2012, the maximum number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (1504), followed by Mumbai (635), Chennai (317) and Kolkata (162).

As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, Government launched a Scheme of “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) from January 2010 for citizens of five countries, viz. Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. The Government has now extended this Scheme for the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar from January 2011.