By NNN-Bernama,
New Delhi : India, which is hosting the Commonwealth Games next year, has announced visa-on-arrival (VoA) faciltiies for five countries as part of its campaign to promote the multi-sports event for more than 50 countries.
India’s Home Ministry said ina statement here this week that it had approved the VoA facility to citizens from Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.
The Tourism Ministry said in a separate statement that the VoA scheme was introduced for tourists coming from these countries which were “considered potential source markets and where there were no security concerns”.
“The decision to provide the VoA facility has sent a positive message about the intention of our country to welcome foreign tourists and also signals a sense of self-confidence in the security systems of the country,” said Tourism Minister Kumari Selja.
The introduction of the VoA scheme is expected to provide a quantum jump in foreign tourist arrivals to India from these source markets in the future. This in turn would provide a boost to India’s civil aviation sector, as the airports would enjoy an increase in air traffic, she added.
The VoA facility, to be introduced on a pilot project basis, would last for a year and was scheduled to begin next month.