New Delhi: A total of 941 visas were issued under the Visa on Arrival (VoA) scheme in July 2012 as compared to 820 visas in July last year, marking a growth of 14.8 percent, the tourism ministry said Monday.
“During January-July 2012, a total of 7,662 VoAs were issued as against 6,594 during the corresponding period in 2011, a growth of 16.2 percent,” said a stament by the ministry.
The maximum number of VoAs in these seven months were issued to Japanese citizens (1,872) followed by those from New Zealand (1,588) and Indonesia (1,259).
The maximum number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (4,430), followed by Mumbai (1,689) and Chennai (1,091).
The VoA scheme was started in January 2010 in an effort to attract more foreign tourists to India. Initially, the scheme was only for citizens of five countries – Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.
Six more countries – Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar – were added a year later in January 2011.
– IANS
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