NEW DELHI, Mar 1:
Aiming at increasing the footfalls of foreign tourists, Ministry of Tourism has sought Visa-on- Arrival (VoA) facilities for 16 more countries, including Germany, France, South Africa and Russia.
Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi today met Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and submitted a proposal seeking extension of VoA facilities for 16 important countries.
“The extension VoA facilities for tourists to the countries is important as we feel that these are potential source markets to India,” said a senior ministry official.
Consistent with the look east policy, Tourism Ministry has included Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei in the proposed VoA list.
Keeping an eye on the emerging market of CIS countries, the Ministry has sought the extension of the VoA facility for Russia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
The other new countries proposed for the extension of the facility are Spain, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago.
Currently the VoA facilities are available for tourists from 11 countries including Singapore, New Zealand, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar and Philippines.
There were total 16,084 foreign tourists who had availed the VoA facility in 2012 as against 12,761 in 2011.
VoA is an attraction for potential tourists in key markets and at times also helps in tapping people who make decisions at the last moment.
An independent study conducted by Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM) has noted that the VOA scheme has a significant and positive impact on the decision to travel to India and it should be expanded to cover more countries and more ports of entry. (PTI)
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