India wants to extend visa-on-arrival facilities to more countries

JAIPUR- Many potential tourists are complaining the complexity to obtain a visa to visit India. But talking to media on the sidelines of India’s travel show GITB (Great India Travel Bazaar), A.K. Gupta, additional director general at India Ministry of Tourism indicated that something was moving on: "We are in consultation with other authorities in the government over the matter," he declared.

Indian authorities indicated Monday to look at providing visas-on-arrival (VoAs) to citizens of around 10-16 countries, in addition to the present 11 nations.These countries entitled to a VOA are currently Japan, New Zealand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos. Among the future countries entitled to a VOA are Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

VOAs remain limited especially as only four airports are allowed to offer this kind of facility –Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The government has extended in April the visa-on-arrival (VoA) facility for tourists at five more international airports.The third inter-ministerial coordination committee allowed Goa, Thiruvananthapuram, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi airports to issue visas-on-arrivals. The committee was constituted at the initiative of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Latest data on VoAs shows that during January to March 2013, 5,744 VoAs were issued, as compared to 3,905 during the corresponding period of 2012, registering a growth of 47.1 percent.

The highest number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (3,371) followed by Mumbai (1,239), Chennai (778) and Kolkata (356). India is embarked into a simplification program of visa procedures as the country recently announced a target of 12 million international visitors by the year 2016.

Sourced: TravelDailyNews