More than 800 Visa-on-Arrivals (VoA) were issued to foreign tourists in India last month. "In July 2011, a total of 820 VoAs were issued to foreign tourists. In June the number of VoAs issued was 770," a tourism ministry statement said.
VoAs issued for travellers from various countries were: Indonesia (174), Singapore (135), the Philippines (131), New Zealand (158), Japan (152), Finland (42), Vietnam (15), Myanmar (7), Luxembourg (2) and Cambodia (4). A total number of 6,594 VoAs were issued in January-July, 2011. The countrywise break-up of the VoAs was New Zealand (1,353), Japan (1,199), the Philippines (1,093), Singapore (1,026), Indonesia (1,052), Finland (653), Cambodia (73), Vietnam (66), Myanmar (43), Luxembourg (34) and Laos (2).
As a measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, the government launched the VoA scheme in January 2010 for tourists of five countries - Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore. The scheme was later extended to six more countries - Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar.