34 percent jump in visas on arrival Jan-March

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The visas on arrival issued to foreign tourists from 11 countries saw a jump of 34 percent during January-March this year compared to the same period in 2011, officials said Tuesday.

During the period January-March 2012, a total number of 3,905 visa on arrivals were issued as compared to 2,905 during corresponding period of 2011, registering a positive growth of 34.4 percent.

As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, the central government launched a scheme of visa on arrival in January, 2010 for citizens of five countries - Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes.

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