Just 3.3% of visitors to India used the country’s new electronic visa-on-arrival (VOA) system in the first quarter of 2015.
According to the latest official data, India’s airports issued 75,859 electronic VOAs from January to March 2015. And while this did mark a sharp increase of 1,220% compared to the same period last year, VOA’s still account for a small fraction of India’s overseas arrivals, which totalled 2.28 million in Q1.
The US (33.3% of total), Germany (14.6%), Russia (13.1%), Australia (8.4%) and South Korea (6.4%) were the biggest users of the VOA scheme. But other key source markets, including the UK, Sri Lanka and Canada are still ineligible for the easier visa process, which is expected to be expanded later this year.
It should also be noted that the VOA scheme also does not apply to different visa types, or the large number of Bangladeshi visitors who arrive in India via the Haridaspur land border.
Delhi‘s airport processed the highest number of VOAs in the first quarter of 2015, followed by Mumbai and Goa airports.
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