Sharp inflow of tourists in country after VoA facility: Min

Union Minister Mahesh Sharma today said the country has seen a sharp inflow of foreign tourists after the government rolled out Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)-enabled Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) facility.
"The implementation of Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)-enabled Visa-on-Arrival, for 43 countries, is showing excellent results. As many as 41,114 Tourist Visa on Arrivals (TVOAs) have been issued till January 21 this year," Sharma, the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, said.
He stated this at an "Interaction between Tourism and Airlines," organised by the Ministry of Tourism, and Ministry of Civil Aviation in association with Federation of Association in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH), an official release said.

Sharma said these numbers were achieved in less than months of the roll out of the facility, adding that the government was hopeful of extending the facility to all remaining countries in the near future.
Asserting that the coordination between tourism and airlines industries was crucial for promoting tourism in the country, he said "the government believes in bringing all stakeholders together to discuss how the air transport industry can best contribute to the development of tourism".
Expressing happiness over positive growth of both international and domestic tourism, he said the growth in foreign tourist arrivals rose by 7.1 per cent in 2014 at 74.62 lakh compared to the 69.68 lakh foreign tourists in 2013.

Over 90 per cent international tourists use airline services to come to India, he said, adding that the growth of aviation depends on good commercial decisions, quality and capacity of airports among others.
Sharma also assured all the stakeholders that the issues discussed during the interaction will be addressed in a time-frame manner.