Even as India added South Korea to its existing list of 11 countries availing the Visa on Arrival (VoA) facility - a move to boost international footfall in the country- the month of March saw a significant dip in tourists availing the VOA route to the country, the worst decline so far.
According to the figures with the Ministry, a total of 1,958 VoAs were issued in March this year under this scheme as compared to 2,107 VoAs in the month of March 2013, registering a decline of 7.1 per cent.“Inflow of international tourists has been particularly slow month of March 2014, and even the VoA figures aren’t very inspiring. The first quarter has seen a marginal growth of 1.7 per cent of tourists using VoA, when compared to the same quarter last year but that is also very weak,” said an official from the Ministry of Tourism.
“Although the figures have been discouraging, we are hoping to see a turn around in April- May, because of the excitement around election,” he said.
Japanese tourists saw the highest footfall (1,537) followed by Indonesia (373). New Zealand (322), the Philippines (277), Singapore (235), Finland (110), Myanmar (34), luxembourg (12), Vietnam (11), Cambodia (11) and laos (2) were the others.
The Government launched the VoA Scheme in January 2010 for citizens of five countries - Finland, Japan, luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. The Government later extended this Scheme to the citizens of six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, laos and Myanmar in January 2011. South Korea is the latest to join the list.
Ends