VoA: A historical move for tourism
From calling the move ‘historic’ to ‘a new dawn in Indian tourism’, the decision to extend Visa-on-Arrival to other countries has been welcomed by all leaders in the industry and everybody has pledged support to the government.
Calling the VoA move historic, Parvez
Dewan, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, said that while everyone’s talking about 180 countries being allowed VoA, they are actually talking of all the countries in the world, except the eight countries, whose visa applications would be sent for prior reference to Delhi before the visa is given. Talking about working on VoA, he said that it’s now time to get down to the fundamentals. He informed that the Planning Commission has said that the money for the infrastructure and staff will be provided, all that remains is to find a place at the airports.
VoA is something that we, in IATO, have been working on since the day we took office. We have had hundreds of meetings on this issue with the Ministry of Tourism, External Affairs and Home Affairs and have sat through many presentations on the terms and software to be adopted. This move by the Govt will truly be a game-changer. Plus, it will increase our business opportunities. We hope this will be operative in a few months. On behalf of my team, I want to congratulate each and everyone involved and welcome you to a new dawn in Indian tourism.
Subhash Goyal President
IATO The VoA move is an excellent step to promote tourism and increase foreign tourist arrivals in India. I would like to compliment everyone who has contributed to make this a reality. However, to get the desired results, we need to make sure that the tourists are not burdened by various taxes. Hotel taxes should be removed and entry fees to monuments and other places of interest should be made reasonable for foreign tourists. The taxes on transportation should also be removed, and last but not the least, the process of burdening foreign tourists with double ( or sometimes triple taxation) should be removed.
Iqbal Mulla
President, TAAI The new liberalised visa regime has the potential to make India one of the most favoured tourist destinations of the world. This is a well-timed move just as the next tourist season sets in. Instead of 11, travellers from 180 countries can avail VoA to India. The VoA facility will enthuse global participants to attend the forthcoming IITB. Despite ‘not-so-liberalised visa regime’ last year, India received 68.48 lakh foreign visitors.
Jyotsna Suri Sr. Vice President - FICCI and C&MD
The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group On behalf of FHRAI, I applaud the historic steps announced by the Central Govt to modernise India's tourist visa regime. We are particularly grateful that the Govt has accepted our proposal to adopt a system of Electronic Travel Authorisation, which will offer multiple advantages of speed, efficiency, convenience and flexibility, while minimising security-related risks. With the strong support from the Ministry of Tourism, FHRAI had been assiduously pursuing this issue with the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. These measures to simplify visa norms will give a much-needed impetus towards leveraging tourism's intrinsic potential to spur job creation and boost our country's foreign exchange earnings. We look forward to extending our full support to the Home Ministry and other Government agencies, so that this initiative can be operationalised well before the peak tourist season this year.
SM Shervani
President, FHRAI We are delighted to welcome the Visa on Arrival and the Electronic Travel Authorisation facility that will be extended to visitors from 180 countries, when they visit India. This is one of the most progressive steps taken by the Government in promoting tourism to India and will contribute significantly in enhancing the value of the Visitor Economy to India’s GDP. Necessary infrastructure to implement these facilities is being put in place and, in the next tourist season, visitors should be able to avail this facility.
Runeep Sangha
Executive Director PATA India Chapter It is a very good initiative by the Govt of India. With this, there will definitely be an increase in inbound tourism. Travellers from many countries find the process to get an Indian tourist visa very cumbersome, and this measure will encourage all to visit our country. However, we also need to improve the infrastructure of places that are frequented by tourists. Infrastructure at the airports is good enough; however, we need to improve the infrastructure of other places simultaneously. In the first year, I expect FTAs to go up by 10-15 per cent. Despite the government’s best efforts, inbound had not been increasing the way we expected. Hopefully, this move will provide the necessary boost.
Zakkir Ahmed President
TAFI