Tourist visa on arrival at airports in India to promote Domestic Tourism

To tap the tourist potential, tourist visa on arrival at airports in India including Goa, Hyderabad, Kochi and Bengaluru will be introduced within the next one year. The decision was taken at an inter-ministerial committee meeting held under principal secretary to the PM Pulok Chatterjee.

In a bid to ease visa norms, the government introduced visa-on-arrival facility at Indian airports. A coordination committee including senior officials from the ministries of home, external affairs and tourism has been set up to resolve day-to-day visa-related complaints and promote tourism.

Currently, Visa-on-Arrival is extended to 11 countries including Japan, Philippines, Singapore, New Zealand, Vietnam and Finland.

The facility is now available at four international airports at Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. There were 6.29 million foreign tourists in 2011, out of whom 12,761 had availed the scheme.

The initiative taken by Ministry of Tourism through ‘Hunar se Rozgar’ scheme was appreciated by the inter- ministerial committee. It was noted that tourism related activities should become an integral part of relevant poverty alleviation programme of the Ministry of Rural Development including NREGA.

Ecotourism policy and policy for promotion of  museums, cultural and heritage sites, besides monuments has been formulating by concerned Ministeries.

Tourism will be given a major fillip during the 12th Plan so as to more than double the number of foreign tourists arriving in India and further encourage domestic tourism.

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