By IANS,
New Delhi: More than 1,100 foreigners visited India in the last two months under the visa on arrival scheme since its introduction by the tourism ministry on a pilot basis to boost tourism, an official said Tuesday.
According to Tourism Secretary Sujit Banrejee, as many as 1,134 tourists from Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Japan came to India in January and February under the visa on arrival scheme.
The ministry had in December launched the visa on arrival scheme on a pilot basis for a year to see its impact.
Tourism officials said these five countries were chosen on the basis of their being a potential source market for India and also as people from these countries don’t pose a security threat which needs verification by the home ministry.
The officials said that the number of tourists who entered India from the four metros – Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata – on the basis of the scheme increased from January to February.
While in January, 459 tourists came to India, in February the number went up to 675.
Most of the foreigners have come into the country from Delhi.
A total of 368 tourists came through the Delhi airport from these five countries in February, while 180 came through Mumbai and only 28 through Kolkata, the official said.
“This is an encouraging sign. We are hopeful that we will see a surge in tourists coming to India under this scheme from these countries,” the official told IANS.