Government to issue e-Visa to tourists from 180 countries

The government will soon operationalise electronic travel authorization or e-Visa facility to inbound tourists from 180 countries.

According to Tourism Secreatry Parvez Dewan, the government will operationalise the electronic travel authorization within a year.

Dewan was speaking at the inauguration of the first edition of Incredible India Travel Bazaar (IITB), organised by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in partnership of with the tourism ministry.

Dewan also said that during the past year India has considerably relaxed its visa regime and expanded the Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) scheme to include many countries.

FICCI said that its mega event has drawn 247 foreign tour operators as buyers of the Indian tourism product.

"They (foreign tour operators) will engage in business-to-business (B2B) meetings with with 246 Indian sellers in 9,000 structured pre-fixed meetings over two days," FICCI body said in a statement.

On the occasion, FICCI released a knowledge paper, "India Inbound -The Kaleidoscopic Canvas."

According to FICCI, the knowledge paper highlighted 10 key areas for policy intervention which includes promotion of India as an all season destination, beefing up of security at tourist spots, skill upgradation in the sector and adoption of modern technology.