India to give comprehensive visa to boost trade, tourism

NEW DELHI, Nov 30: The government has approved a new liberalised visa policy where tourist, business, medical and conference visas can be merged into one. This long-term multiple-entry comprehensive visa, sources said, will help boost tourist and trade-based visits to India.

The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Wednesday also decided to extend the e-Tourist Visa to eight more countries, taking the total number of countries which are under the cover of the scheme to 158.

An official statement said that the Cabinet has given its approval for liberalisation, simplification and rationalisation of the existing visa regime in India and incremental changes in the visa policy decided by the Ministry of Home Affairs in consultation with various stakeholders. The approval will facilitate entry of foreigners for tourism, business and medical purposes.

The long-term, multiple-entry visa will be given up to 10 years but under this category the visitor will not be allowed to work or stay permanently, a government official said. Except those covered under 10-year travel and trade visa policy, citizens of other countries would be offered five-year multiple visa for travel and trade.

As per the proposal, if a foreigner is granted long-term, multiple-entry non-working or non-permanent stay visa and his or her stay is restricted to 60 days on a visit, the government may waive the visa fee as well. However, the visitors have to give biometric details and fulfil certain security obligations.

India moves up in world tourism ranking

NEW DELHI, Aug 18: Buoyed by its unprecedented performance in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) travel and tourism competitiveness index, the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre is now set to promote various Indian tourism destinations globally to attract more footfall in the years to come.

India climbs up 13 ranks in the World Economic Forum's (WEF) travel and tourism competitiveness index, moving from 65th position in 2013 to 52nd position in 2015.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi being the key ambassador of India's tourism promotion initiatives, the ministry has planned three back-to-back international summits to woo foreign visitors in India.

These three events would be held between August and October, 2016 highlighting India's rich cultural heritage and varied religions that can attract foreigners to know more about the Asian subcontinent.

According to the Ministry of Tourism (MoT) sources, these three big standalone events on tourism are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) tourism summits which will be held between August 31 and September 1 at Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh.

Another programme, Incredible India investors' summit, will be organised in the national Capital between September 21 and September 23, 2016. The event is aimed at welcoming big and medium investors into India's tourism sector for necessary value-addition and service sector development pertaining to the tourism sector boom.

"International Buddhist Conclave at Varanasi is the third event that is going to be organised in the first week of October this year. The programme is targeted to highlight all Buddhist circuits across India that can attract a large number of foreign tourist footfalls every year," the official said.

Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma had said last month that Narendra Modi was the "best face" to promote 'Incredible India' campaign and therefore, the ministry did not need any Bollywood face for the campaign to attract tourists from overseas.

Sharma had also said the perception about India also underwent a change significantly in the last two years with PM Modi visiting a host of countries during the period. The minister said India witnessed a jump in the tourists' inflow from the nations where PM Modi had toured after assuming office in 2014.

As per statistics given by the MoT, during 2015, the number of foreign tourist visits (FTVs) to the states and Union territories (UTs) was 23.3 million compared to 22.3 million in 2014, registering a growth of 4.4 percent over 2014.

The top ten states in terms of number of FTVs (in millions) during 2015 were Tamil Nadu (4.68 million), Maharashtra (4.41 million), Uttar Pradesh (3.1 million), Delhi (2.38 million), West Bengal (1.49 million), Rajasthan (1.48 million), Kerala (0.98 million), Bihar (0.92 million), Karnataka (0.64 million) and Goa (0.54 million).

The contribution of top 10 states was about 88.4 per cent to the total number of FTVs in the country during 2015. While the top four states retained their previous rankings, West Bengal improved by one rank to leave Rajasthan at sixth rank.

Similarly, during 2015, the number of domestic tourist visits to the states and UTs was 1,432 million compared to 1,282.8 million in 2014, registering a growth of 11.63 per cent over 2014. The contribution of top 10 states was about 83.62 per cent to the total number of domestic tourist visits during 2015.

Apart from encouraging foreign tourist arrivals with the introduction of e-Tourist visa for 150 countries, facilitating foreign tourists through the launch of 24x7 toll-free, multilingual helpline service, the Centre also took initiative to set up a medical and wellness tourism board so that foreign tourists get better access to India healthcare.

"Promoting India as the land of Buddha through a biennial International Buddhist conclave is another key move by the MoT.

The ministry is now making prominent Buddhist sites, including Sarnath, more attractive and informative through sound and light shows and illumination of monuments," an official said.
Under the Buddhist circuit theme, the MoT has already sanctioned projects like construction of cultural centre at Bodhgaya, Bihar for Rs 33.17 crore in 2014-15 and development of Buddhist Circuit in Sanchi-Satna-Rewa-Mandsaur-Dhar in Madhya Pradesh for Rs 74.94 crore in 2016-17.

Foreign tourist arrival goes up by 266 per cent in July

NEW DELHI, Aug 11: As Indians we are all aware of the myriad ways in which this country can enthrall travelers. But to discover that this is being realised by visitors from the other parts of the world brings about a joy that's hard to explain. You feel proud, and it feels as if you have been successful as a host.

A total of as many as 68,487 tourists from other parts of the world arrived India in July this year as compared to 21,476 during the same period last year.

This is a whopping 219 per cent growth in tourist arrival, and according to the Ministry of Tourism, all the credits for this robust growth goes to the introduction of e-Tourist Visa for 150 countries as against the earlier coverage of 77 countries.

When the January-July period of 2016 is compared to that of 2015, the quantum of growth increases even more. A total of 5,40,396 tourists arrived on e-Tourist Visa during this period in 2016 as compared to 1,47,690 during first six months of last year, thus registering an amazing growth of 266 per cent.

The top 10 countries who have availed the e-Tourist Visa facility during July 2016 are UK (17.7 per cent), USA (16.2 per cent), France (6.7 per cent), UAE (5.9 per cent), China (5.4 per cent), Spain (4 per cent), Australia (3.9 per cent), Germany (3.5 per cent), Canada (3.4 per cent) and the Netherlands (2.9 per cent).

On the other hand, the top 10 ports of tourist arrivals availing the e-Tourist Visa during July 2016 are New Delhi Airport (44 per cent), Mumbai Airport (20.77 per cent), Chennai Airport (9.43 per cent), Bengaluru Airport (9.1 per cent), Kochi Airport (5.1 per cent), Hyderabad Airport (3.68 per cent), Kolkata Airport (2.5 per cent), Ahmadabad Airport (1.38 per cent), Trivandrum Airport (1.35 per cent) and Amritsar Airport (1 per cent).