Tourism industry welcomes easing of visa norms

In next three to five years, visa on arrival; e-visa facility going to set tourism sector towards doubling FTA number to 12-13 million

The tourism industry has welcomed the government’s decision to make India a more tourist friendly destination by easing visa norms.

The industry is expecting a spurt of 25 per cent in the total foreign tourist arrivals (FTA) in the short term, if the process is implemented efficiently. In the next three to five years, visa on arrival and the e-visa facility are going to set the tourism sector towards doubling the FTA number to 12-13 million.

“This was long overdue. We are hoping this will be implemented quickly and all the required technology to enable visa processes will be smooth,” said Arjun Sharma, managing director, Le Passage to India.

The government has started the process of providing visa on arrival to 40 countries including the US, Germany, France and the UK. The four countries - the traditional source markets for India alone account for more than 40 per cent of the foreign tourists visiting India.

WELCOME MOVE

Planning Minister Rajeev Shukla said on Monday India is considering visa-on-arrival for 40 countries. It was not immediately clear if China is among the countries whose citizens may get a visa on arrival. The home ministry will take a final call on the proposal. The Planning Commission is of the view  that visa-on-arrival should extend to tourists from all countries. So far, visa-on-arrival in India extends to a fistful of countries which include Japan, Finland, Singapore and New Zealand.

• 12, 176 Number of visas on arrival in Jan-Aug 2013
• 3,831,715 Number of foreign tourist arrivals in Jan-July 2013
• 40% tourists arrive from USA, Germany, France and UK, which are now on the proposed visa-on-arrival list
• 52 countries extend visa-on–arrival to Indian passport holders, PTI reported earlier this week

Source: Parliament question, PIB release

“This move will have a positive impact both from a point of earning more foreign exchange as well as in the development of our inbound tourism whose share is less than one per cent of the total worldwide arrivals,” said Peter Kerkar, director, Cox & Kings.

The tourism industry has been lobbying for improving the visa facilities - which can play quite a dampener for tourists planning a vacation. Currently, India extends this service to 11 countries including Singapore, Thailand, Luxembourg, Indonesia and Laos among others. For the period January to August 2013, the number of tourists availing visa on arrival has gone up by 29.4 per cent.

“People can plan last minute to visit India if this comes through. It saves all the hassles of the tedious visa process,” said Sharat Dhall, President, Yatra.com. He also said that visa on arrival should not be looked at as a quid pro quo facility as the Indian tourism industry will be losing out on opportunity in that case.

Industry also feels that the next step should be to reduce the visa fees to $20 and also work towards improving the air connectivity and opening up Indian skies so that more tourists can make use of the visa on arrival. “This is one step. We must now give better access to travellers, increase competition in the aviation space,” Sharma added.