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VISA ON ARRIVAL Crosses 10,000 mark within three months of launch in Goa

Issue of Visas-On-Arrival (VOA) at the Goa airport, Dabolim, doubles within a month taking the figure to 10,475 as on
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Goa airport at Dabolim issues 10,475 VOAs as on February 22, 2015.

Issue of VOA doubles within a month.

Goa maintains  third  spot  in the  percentage  share  of  different  ports  for   issue  of VoA.

Panjim, Feb 23: Issue  of  Visas-On-Arrival (VOA) at the  Goa  airport, Dabolim,  doubles  within a  month  taking the  figure  to 10,475 as on February 22, 2015. While  this  has  got  Goa  Tourism  on an  upbeat mode,  it  has  more  reason to  cheer as  Goa  airport officials  claim that Goa  continues  to  maintain  its third  spot  in the  percentage  share  of  different  ports  for   issue  of VoA.   New Delhi tops the list followed by Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.

The top  ten source  countries for  VOA in Goa  during the  last two months    have been  Russia, Ukraine,  USA, Germany, Finland,  Australia,  Philippines,  New Zealand ,  Norway  and Jordan. The Chief Immigration Officer at Goa airport, Dabolim, Shri. Aravind K. Nair said, “In mid-January this year we had issued 5,000 VOAs and within a month the figure has crossed 10,000.”

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Shri. Nair further said, “Between February 8-17, this year we have issued    more than 150 VOAs in a day and on certain days especially during   Carnaval we have issued more than 200 VOAs in a day.” Shri.Nair  further  went on to  state  that  in the months to  come, Goa may even  surpass  Mumbai  in terms of  percentage  share of different ports  for  VOA.

Goa  being a  tourism   destination has  an edge over  Delhi and Mumbai which are  generally  ports  for  arrival  to  India.  That Goa  is third  on the  list is  a huge  fillip  reaffirming  that  foreign  nationals   from across the  globe choose  Goa  to arrive at and avail  the  VOA  facility directly. As on February 22, 2015,   foreign   nationals from 26 countries have availed VOA facility from Goa airport at Dabolim.

The  country  wise  break  up  is as follows:  Russia (6581),  Ukraine (3113),  USA (167),  Germany (160),  Oman ( 3), Israel (8), Finland (118), Norway (47),  Palestine (1), American Samoa (1), Japan (5),  Jordan (29), Fiji (1), Kenya (1), UAE (34),  Indonesia (2),   Australia (57),  Singapore (3), Philippines (22),  Brazil (6) Luxemburg (4),  NZ (12), Burma (1), Mexico (2),  Republic  of  Korea (1)  and Thailand  (3).

Expectations  run high here in Goa as  the  central government  is  planning to  add more countries  to the  existing list  which provides VOAA  facility  to 43 countries.  The buzz is that 100 countries may be added to the list, say airport officials.

Goa  became  part of the e-regime  facility from  November 27, 2014 when the NDA  government  at the  Center  launched the same  giving nine  airports in the country  the mandate to  issue  VOA. Goa airport at Dabolim commenced issue of this facility from December 4, 2014. Within a fortnight 357 VOAs   were issued and have graphs have upped since then.  Within less than  three months, Goa  has  issued 10,475, a  figure  that  airport officials  were  targeting  for the  season.

The Minister for Tourism, Govt.  Of Goa,   Shri. Dilip  Parulekar  said, “The  VOA numbers  are  getting  better every passing day and  we are definitely  one of the  leading States in the  country  under the  VOA regime introduced  in November  last year.”

“I  am  also  very happy that the  central  government  is  considering more  countries  for  extending the  VOA  facility and this   will make  it  easier  for  tourists  to  avail of this  benefit  and  have easy  access  to Goa.”

“I  also  applaud  the Goa  airport officials  for putting in all efforts  to  ensure  smooth and  speedy issue  of  VOA  to  international tourists and  will go  a long way in  increasing the  issue  of  e-visas and  coping  with the  demand  for  this  facility,”  Shri.  Parulekar said.

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