Progress of Tourist Visa on Arrival Scheme in September 2012

Last month, a total number of 1404 (Visa on Arrivals) VoAs were issued under this Scheme as compared to 991 VoAs during September 2011 registering a positive growth of 41.7 %.

During the period January-September 2012, a total number of 10816 VoAs were issued as compared to 8505 VoAs during corresponding period of 2011, registering a growth of 27.2%. The number of VOAs issued under this scheme during September 2012 for nationals of the eleven countries were Japan (541), New Zealand (256),The Philippines (236), Indonesia (175), Singapore (135), Finland (29), Myanmar (11), Vietnam (9), Cambodia (6),Luxembourg (4) and Laos (2). The number of VoAs issued under this scheme, during January-September 2012 were Japan (3106), New Zealand (2045), Indonesia (1689), The Philippines (1678), Singapore (1313), Finland (647), Vietnam (126), Myanmar (73), Cambodia (68), Luxembourg (62) and Laos (9). During the period January-September 2012, the highest number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (6380), followed by Mumbai (2247), Chennai (1528) and Kolkata (661).

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