Tour operators applaud visa on arrival facility

The tourism sector has welcomed Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s announcement that the government would extend the Visa On Arrival (VOA) facility to visitors from 150 countries in phases.

“The government’s pro-tourism strategic vision sees continuation and we applaud the long-term initiatives of Budget 2015-2016 including VOA to 150 countries,” Thomas Cook (India) Managing Director Madhavan Menon told Deccan Herald.  “We also welcome the move to eliminate some of the concerns of both the tourists and the operators on how this system works,” he added.

Presenting the Union Budget on Saturday, Jaitley announced that the government will be issuing VOA to travellers from 150 countries in different stages to boost inbound tourism.
“The extension of Electronic Travel authorisation (Evisas) to 150 more countries is a positive step for tourism as this sector contributes seven per cent of India’s GDP and helped create more than 4 crore jobs last year,” said Cox & Kings Director Peter Kerkar.

Tourism is one of the largest potential revenue and foreign exchange earners for India. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s think-tank, Indian Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF), “The number of Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) during the period January-November 2014 was 6.58 lakhs with a growth of 7.1 per cent, as compared with the FTAs of 6.14 million with a growth of 5.5 per cent during January-November 2013 over the corresponding period of 2012.”

Foreign exchange earnings (FEEs) from tourism in terms of US dollar grew 5.2 per cent during January-November 2014 as compared with 4.9 per cent over the corresponding period of 2013. Similarly, FEEs in rupee terms grew by five per cent in November 2014 over November 2013.

“FEEs from tourism in rupee terms during January-November 2014 were Rs 107,208 crore ($17.4 billion) with a growth of 12.1 over the corresponding period of 2013,” IBEF added.
KPMG India Head (Tourism and Hospitality) Jaideep Ghosh predicted that the increase in the number of countries under the Visa on Arrival scheme should catapult inbound foreign visits to above 8 million in the current calendar year.

“The plan to extend the Visa on Arrival scheme of the government proves that tourism development is a priority on its agenda. India has the potential to become a very large hub for inbound travellers, which would mean more foreign exchange and more GDP,” Kuoni India Managing Director Rajeev Wagle said.