NEW DELHI, Apr 12:

Contrary to the expectation,there was a decline in the num-ber of foreigners availing visa-on-arrival facility in March thisyear with a total of 1,958 VoAsissued as against 2,107 in the

corresponding period last year,registering a fall of 7.1 per cent.

“There was expectation ofgrowth in the number of foreign-ers availing VoA scheme inMarch this year. But it has nothappened so,” a senior TourismMinistry official said.

He said the number of

Japanese nationals availing thescheme is not upto our expecta-tion which resulted in decline inthe growth in March.

“We have called a meeting oftour operators next week toknow the reasons of the decline.We will examine whether it isworld-wide phenomenon that

Japanese are travelling out lessor it is confined to India only,”the official said.

The number of VoAs issuedunder this scheme during March2014 for nationals of the elevencountries were 1,958.(PTI)

SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 2014 (PAGE 16) DAILY EXCELSIOR, JAMMU

Decline in tourists availing visa-on-arrival scheme