The Visa on Arrival (VOA) scheme of the government registered a growth of 24.4 per cent in January 2013 as compared to January 2012. A total number of 1,690 Visas on arrival were issued last month as compared to 1,359 VoAs issued in January 2012.
Our correspondent reports that as a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, the Centre launched the VoA Scheme in January 2010 for citizens of five countries. These include Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore. The scheme was extended to the citizens of six more countries in January 2011. These six countries are Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar.