Rise in Visa on Arrivals in June 2012

New Delhi, July 11 (IANS) The Visa on Arrivals (VoAs) recorded an increase of over 12 percent in the month of June compared to the same period last year, officials said Wednesday.

According to the tourism ministry, a total number of 864 VoAs were issued last month as compared to 770 VoAs during the month of June 2011, registering a positive growth of 12.2 percent.

During the period January-June 2012, a total number of 6,721 VoAs were issued as compared to 5,774 VoAs during the corresponding period of 2011, registering a positive growth of 16.4 percent.

As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, the union government launched a Scheme of "Visa on Arrival" (VoA) from January 2010 for citizens of five countries -- Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes.

The government further extended this scheme for the citizens of six more countries -- Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar from January 2011.