VoA facility doubled at Goa airport: Tourism officials

The number of visa-on-arrival (VoA) issued at Goa airport at Dabolim has doubled within a month, taking the figure to 10,475 till now, tourism officials said today.
Beside the encouraging VoA numbers, Goa continues to maintain a third spot in the percentage share of different airports for highest number of VoAs issuance, according to a statement issued by Goa tourism department here.
It said New Delhi tops the list followed by Mumbai, Goa, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Thiruvananthapuram.
Visa-on-arrival facility was started at the Goa airport from December last year.
The top 10 source countries for VoA in Goa during the last two months were Russia, Ukraine, USA, Germany, Finland, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, Norway and Jordan.

Meanwhile, Chief Immigration Officer at Goa airport, Dabolim, Aravind K Nair said in mid-January this year, Goa airport had issued 5,000 VoAs and within a month the figure surpassed 10,000.

"This year, from February 8 to 17, we have issued more than 150 VoAs in a day and on certain days, especially during the carnival we have issued more than 200 VoAs in a day," he said.
Nair further said in the coming months, Goa may even surpass Mumbai in terms of percentage share of VoA issuance.
"Goa being a tourist destination has an edge over Delhi and Mumbai which are generally ports for arrival to India. And that it is the third on the list, is a huge fillip reaffirming that tourists from across the globe choose Goa and avail the VoA facility directly," he said.