Easy visa for 40 countries in works
Tuesday, 08/10/2013
http://epaper.dailypostindia.com/Details.aspx?id=83170&boxid=62143&uid=&dat=2013-10-07
New Delhi : Aiming to promote tourism and earn precious dollars, India is keen to extend visa on arrival facility to tourists from 40 more countries, including the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Australia, the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
A high-level meeting of different ministries and National Security Adviser will deliberate on the feasibility of the move on Monday.
“We have called a meeting on October 7 to discuss the possibility of extending tourist visa for 40 more countries as this could help in garnering more foreign exchange and containing the current account deficit,” Planning Minister Rajeev Shukla said.
The current account deficit (CAD) is the difference between inflow and outflow of foreign exchange. During 2012-13, the CAD was at all-time high of 4.8 per cent of GDP or $88.2 billion. Government proposes to bring it down to $70 billion or 3.8 per cent of the GDP.
According to the minister, Planning Commission’s Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and senior officials from concerned ministries, like tourism, external affairs, home affairs are expected to attend the meeting. National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon will also participate in the discussions.
Shukla said: “The Tourism Ministry has raised the issue of tourist visa regime as impediment in the growth of foreign visitors in the country which ultimately results in lesser foreign exchange earnings.”
According to the minister, India’s visa regime has deflected foreign tourists from the US, Canada and Europe to Sri Lanka, Bhutan and Nepal.
The other countries for which this facility can be extended include Germany, France, Italy, Sweden, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Poland, Norway, Ireland, Portugal, Russia, South Africa, Turkey, Israel, Mauritius, Czech Republic, Oman, Argentina and Kazakhstan.
In 2012, India received 6.58 million foreign tourists, up 4.3 per cent over the previous year. India’s foreign exchange earnings in 2012 from tourists were $17.74 billion, showing an increase of 7.1 per cent year on year.
India’s share in the international tourist receipts in the year 2012 was 0.64 per cent with overall ranking of 41.
