Stakeholders' effort needed to promote tourism: minister

The government Friday said that the coordination between tourism and airline industries is crucial for promoting in-bound travellers in the country.

According to Minister of State for Tourism, Culture and Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma, the government believes in bringing all stakeholders together to discuss the ways in which the air transport industry can best contribute to the development of tourism.

Sharma pointed out that the airlines sector is an important part of the supply chain for "Make in India" in tourism sector, as over 90 percent international tourists arrive in India by air.

The minister, speaking at an industry summit late Thursday night, said that the growth of aviation depends on good commercial decisions coupled with quality and capacity of India's airports in handling passenger traffic.

The minister informed the summit participants that the government has set up an agenda of 25 actionable points for the year 2015 to promote tourism.

He said the implementation of electronic travel authorisation (ETA) enabled visa-on-arrival for 43 countries has shown healthy results and the government plans to extend the facility to all remaining countries in the near future.

The minister said that as on Jan 21, 2015, 41,114 TVOAs have been issued, and there has been a positive growth in both international and domestic tourist arrivals in the country.

He said that foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) during 2014 increased by 7.1 percent and stood at 74.62 lakh from 69.68 lakh in 2013.