NEW DELHI: Tourism Minister K Chiranjeevi has said the decision to extend visa-on-arrival facility to tourists from 180 countries would provide a major boost to tourism in the country.
“This is a very good step. The visa-on-arrival for 180 countries will definitely boost the foreign tourist arrivals in the country. It will help growth in tourism sector,” Chiranjeevi told PTI here.
Meanwhile, though foreign tourist arrivals has seen a growth of 3 per cent in January, the foreign exchange earnings in dollar terms witnessed a negative growth of 6.2 per cent.
However, in rupee terms forex earnings have shown a growth of 7 per cent.
There were 7.20 lakh foreign tourists in January as against 6.99 lakh during the same period last year, according to Tourism Ministry data.
The forex earnings in January 2014 were USD 1.805 billion as compared to USD 1.925 billion during January 2013, a decrease of 6.2 per cent.
Tourism Ministry expects a considerable jump in arrivals as well as foreign exchange earnings once the VoA for 180 countries gets operational.
The extension of visa-on-arrival facility for tourists from 180 countries, including US, UK, China, UAE and Bangladesh is also welcomed by the industry.
Indian Association of Tour Operators president Subhash Goyal said it was a long-standing demand of the industry which was finally granted and it will help increase in tourist arrivals by 25 per cent to 50 per cent.
“The sooner visa-on-arrival along with electronic visas are implemented, the better it will be for the country because once these are implemented, there will be increase in international tourist arrival between 25 per cent to 50 per cent,” Goyal said.
Till now, visa-on-arrival facility was available to tourists from only 11 countries–Japan, Finland, Singapore, Indonesia, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Laos and Myanmar.
However, tourists from eight countries – Pakistan, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, Somalia and Sri Lanka – will continue to apply for visa through Indian missions. -PTI
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