Tourists from South Korea and Japan have availed the visa on arrival (VoA) facility the most in September as there is an increase in total number of VoAs issued during the month.
As compared to 1,683 VoAs in September 2013, a total of 2,170 VoAs were issued in September 2014, an increase of 28.9 per cent, according to Tourism Ministry data. The number of tourists to avail the facility from South Korea is 530, Japan (496), followed by Singapore (310), New Zealand (300), the Philippines (201) and Indonesia (200). Only six tourists were from Cambodia while three came from laos followed by two from luxembourg.
The VoA scheme was launched in 2010 as a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India. Initially it was launched for five countries, viz. Finland, Japan, luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore 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. Recently the facility was extended for South Korea, as per the Tourism Ministry.