India Proposes To Have Tourist Visa-on-arrival For Malaysians.

Date: 2 March 2013

India Proposes To Have Tourist Visa-on-arrival For Malaysians.

  

NEW DELHI, March 2 (Bernama) - India's Tourism Ministry has proposed extending the visa-on-arrival (VOA) facility to tourists of 16 more countries, including Malaysia.

The facility is currently available to 11 countries, namely Cambodia, Finland, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Luxembourg, Myanmar, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

The tourist VOA, which is being granted by immigration Officers at the New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports, has a maximum validity of 30 days with a single-entry facility.

The ministry strongly feels that the tourist VOA facility for those countries which are potential source markets for India and where there have been no security-related issues in the past or likely to be in the future can be taken up under this scheme, Minister K. Chiranjeevi said. He has submitted the proposal to Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

The other potential countries besides Malaysia are Brazil, Brunei, France, Germany, Kazakhstan, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Trinidad & Tobago, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The Ministry of Tourism has also proposed extending the tourist VOA facility to more airports, namely Bodhgaya, Bengaluru, Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi, and Thiruvananthapuram.

By M. Saraswathi 

Copyright @ BERNAMA

Visa On Arrival A Hit With Tourists To India.

Date: 15 January 2013

Visa On Arrival A Hit With Tourists To India.

NEW DELHI, Jan 15 (Bernama) -- India's move to introduce visa on arrivals (VOA) to attract more tourists to the country is bearing fruits with the visa number growing 26 per cent in 2012. A total number of 16,084 VOAs were issued in 2012 compared with 12,761 VOAs issued in 2011, the Ministry of Tourism said in a statement.

The highest number of 4,604 VOAs were issued to tourists from Japan followed by New Zealand (3,150) and the Philippines (2,444). Indonesia took 2,426, Singapore 1,974, Finland 914, Vietnam 186, Cambodia 157, Luxembourg 110, Myanmar 109 and Laos 10. During 2012, the highest number of VOAs were issued at the Delhi airport (9,596), followed by Mumbai (3,276), Chennai (2,273) and Kolkata (939).

India had earlier launched the VOAs scheme in January 2010 for citizens of five countries, namely Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore. The scheme was extended to six more countries, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar in January 2011.

Malaysia does not enjoy the scheme.

Copyrights @ BERNAMA

Malaysian tourism to India to spike with new visa ruling.

Date: 6 December 2012

Malaysian tourism to India to spike with new visa ruling.

PETALING JAYA: Indian tourist visa applications are expected to increase by 20% next year following the lifting of a rule imposing a two-month gap between visits on Malaysian tourists. Malaysian Indian Tour and Travel president K. Thangavelu said the number of tourist visas issued had risen by about 10% each year since 2009, despite the restriction.

“So far this year, about 160,000 Indian tourist visas have been issued, which accounted for 90% of the total Indian visas issued. With the regulations lifted, we expect an increase of between 15% and 20% of tourist visa applications.”

The restriction, which was relaxed three days ago, had been enforced in November 2009 following the Mumbai terrorist attacks.

India’s Deputy High Commissioner to Malaysia Aseem R. Mahajan had said other tourist visa application procedures would remain. He added that travel to India for business purposes, which had faced no restriction on a gap between two visits, would also remain.

“Even with the restriction, many still chose to travel as cheap flight tickets and accommodation made international tourism more accessible,” he said.

MIC secretary-general Datuk S. Murugesan called the move timely, saying it would greatly benefit locals who had relatives in India. “During the restriction, some who had gone to India on holiday could not go back for urgent family matters which came up within 60 days,” he added.

Copyright © 1995-2012 Star Publications (M) Bhd.