India Seeks Visa-Free Zone Among Saarc Nations
Addressing the third meeting of tourism council of Saarc chamber of commerce and industry, Sundaram said the nations involved have to evolve a common approach towards tourism in order to sell the destinations to foreign tourists.
The meet was attended by representatives of six Saarc nations.
The tourism secretary underscored the need for a combined visa for tourists visiting the Saarc countries as is the practice in the EU and Benelux countries.
One single visa would enable tourists to travel to the EU and, this is of particular importance for promoting tourism in the region, Sundaram said.
There is also a need for developing a `hub concept in the Saarc region for tourism promotion.
Sundaram emphasised that Saarc nations should organise tourism fairs to imbibe new concepts and give new directions to tourism.
This could only be done with the constructive cooperation of government and the private sector.
Pointing out that revenue from tourism in Saarc countries is negligible in comparison to other nations, Sundaram said Saarc has got the potential but needed coordinated action to exploit it.
He said there were infrastructural inadequacies in all the Saarc countries regarding tourism as sufficient hotel accommodations and synergy between tourism and modes of transport, particularly aviation, were lacking.
Suraj Vaidya, coordinator of the tourism council of Saarc chamber of commerce and industry, called on the member-states to follow a proactive approach towards tourism. During discussions, Vaidya admitted the Saarc secretariat in Kathmandu is slightly lost in the absence of clear-cut action plans.
Indian Association of Tour Operators president Subhash Goyal said there was need to proclaim a time-bound action plan.
While many of the delegates wanted a visa-free zone to facilitate free movement of tourists, the representative of Bhutan opposed it, saying such a step can be taken only at a political level. Unless political problems amongst Saarc countries are resolved, tourism and tourism-related action plan cannot be taken, he said.
Sita Travels head Inder Sharmas suggestion, however, found wide support.
He said a visa-free zone for certain category of tourists like pilgrims, family visits, medical check-ups or visits by official bodies like CII, could be started to begin with.
Other suggestions like bringing out a combined information directory for all the Saarc countries or going on the Internet, creating economic awareness among people were also made.