The Planning Commission, in a joint meeting of the officials of the related ministries of Home Affairs, External Affairs, Tourism, etc., recommended the extension of Visa on Arrival (VoA) facilities to citizens of 40 more countries in October. The VoA facility has already been granted to citizens of 11 countries. VoA took off on 1 January, 2010 with just five countries: Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg and New Zealand. Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines got VoA a year later. The service was limited to four metro airports. Myanmar and Indonesia were added two months later on February 28, 2011. The Commission also recommended VoA for senior citizens and pensioners from all countries, as well as setting up online visa processing system to enhance smoother facilitation of visas for overseas travellers.
Earlier, the Ministry of Tourism strongly felt that the ‘Tourist VoA’ facility for those countries, which are potential source markets to India, and where there have been no security related issues in the past or likely to be in future, can be taken up under this scheme. At the inauguration of SATTE 2013, Parvez Dewan, Union Tourism Secretary, had said that India will try and make its VoA scheme for tourists simpler and faster to attract more inbound tourists in the country. “Visa-on-arrival scheme has been there for some countries, and between this SATTE and the next, there should be some more improvement on this,” Dewan had said.
The 40 countries included in the list for VoA are the USA, UK, Russia, Germany, France, China, Canada, Brazil, UAE, Italy, Sweden, Holland, Austria, Denmark, Poland, Belgium and Ireland, among others. However, for implementation, the Ministry of Home Affairs has to amend the visa manual, which would require brainstorming at different levels. The Planning Commission’s recommendation is expected to speed up the processes required to ease the existing restrictions.
The delay has not put a damper on the state’s spirits though. State Tourism Boards across India are looking forward to the VoA nod as they are sure it will lift tourist arrival numbers at a greater rate, especially for states that already popular with international tourists such as Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan and the state capitals. Vipul Mittra, Principal Secretary, Tourism, Civil Aviation and Pilgrimage, Government of Gujarat, called the VoA facility a welcome measure for foreign tourists and business travellers, adding that though the numbers cannot be estimated at this stage, it will surely increase the number of inbound arrivals in Gujarat.
According to an analysis done by GITCO (Gujarat Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organization), in 2012-13, the top four international tourist countries for Gujarat were UK, France, Italy and USA respectively, which are among the countries to be given VoA, which is welcome news for the state, he opined.
“The VoA facility has been introduced as part of the Ministry of Tourism’s plan to double foreign tourist arrivals in the next four years. The facility offers a significant advantage to Kerala as the countries on the VoA list are source markets for Kerala Tourism. When extended to 40 more countries, the facility is expected to help the arrival of repeat tourists. As Kerala is already a beneficiary of repeat tourists, we hope to take advantage of VoA introduction to increase tourists inflow to the state. The step to increase the number of countries on the VoA list will certainly give a fillip to Kerala’s tourism industry and will also help the stakeholders receive tourists round the year. Further, the extension of VoA facility will help Kerala Tourism achieve its target of 30 lakh foreign tourist arrivals by 2021,” said Suman Billa, Secretary, Kerala Tourism.
Welcoming the move as a boon to the entertainment hub Mumbai, Jagdish Patil, MD, MTDC revealed that the state plans to concentrate on tourism management and building suitable infrastructure to accommodate the expected rise in tourism influx. Similarly, Chandana Khan Special Chief Secretary (Tourism), Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) mentioned that the state is working towards adding hotel beds and manmade tourism attraction to attract international tourists into her state.
“We are very pleased with the Govt’s decision to extend VoA to 40 countries as this will really boost tourism and employment in our country. We will soon be building an aquarium as well as a theme park of international stature to entice domestic as well as travellers from neighbouring countries. I am hoping that, with this initiative, people across the globe start looking at India as a well established MICE destination. Our state has state of the art convention centre as well as is well equipped to handle large MICE groups,” Khan added.
