NEW DELHI: Australia has sought direct air connectivity with India to boost tourism.
This was stated during Australian Tourism Minister Martin Ferguson’s meeting with Indian Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi here.
Both the Ministers expressed their resolve to strengthen bilateral tourism cooperation at the meeting.
Referring to the recent road shows organized by India Tourism in Australia, Chiranjeevi expressed the hope that such shows will contribute to more tourist inflow from Australia.
The minister suggested creation of a joint tourism forum whereby tour operators, hoteliers, airlines and other tourism stakeholders from both the countries could exchange ideas for promotion and development of tourism between Indian and Australia.
He said both the countries should explore the possibility of renewing the MoU on tourism cooperation which expired in 2008.
Chiranjeevi also suggested easing of visa norms to boost tourism.
India and Australia are important tourism markets for each other. Australia is one of the top 10 tourist generating markets for India as far as inbound tourism is concerned.
There has been an increase in the number of Australians visiting India in the last two years. About 1,69,647 Australians visited India in 2010, while the figure rose to 1,86,002 in 2011.
India Tourism Office in Sydney looks after promotion and marketing of India as a tourist destination in Australia.
Tourism Ministry in association with Indian Association of Tour Operators organized road shows in Sydney and Melbourne in October this year.-PTI
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