VISA-ON-ARRIVAL FOR FIVE NATIONS

By P. Vijian

NEW DELHI, Dec 10 (Bernama) -- India has announced visa-on-arrival (VoA) for five countries as part of its campaign to promote the 2010 Commonwealth Games it is hosting.

India's Home Ministry has approved the VoA facility to citizens from
Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore.

The Tourism Ministry said in a statement 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 also provide a boost to India's civil aviation sector, as
the airports would enjoy an increase in air traffic, she added.

To be introduced on a pilot project basis, the visa-free facility would last
for a year and is scheduled to begin next month.

More than 150,000 Malaysian tourists visit India annually, making Malaysia
India's largest source country in the Southeast Asian region.

Malaysia is also expected to send a large contingent to the Commonwealth
Games scheduled from Oct 3 to 14, 2010.

-- BERNAMA