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Long-term tourist visa a boost to tourism
by Maya Singh
New Delhi: For foreign tourists interested in undertaking frequent visits to India, there is good news round the corner. For if Rajiv Talwar, Additional Director General of Tourism, is to be believed, the Government is currently working on a proposal to provide long term tourist visas to citizens of select countries. If the proposal is cleared, prospective tourists will be able to get visas for ten to fifteen years. According to Tourism Ministry sources, Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh has shortlisted 16 countries for the proposed scheme. The proposal is to facilitate the tourists who wish to visit India frequently, but fail to do so due to the lengthy procedure of obtaining visas, causing huge loses to the tourism industry, sources said.
At present, tourist visa, except is special cases, is normally issued for a duration of six months. "We are negotiating with different ministries over the proposal. We are in contact with Defence Ministry, which may object on such provision. So this proposal is under consideration and would be finalised only after defence Ministry clears it," Minister of State for Tourism Renuka Choudhary said whilst inaugurating a seminar on Managing Tourism Destination 'Strategies and Actions for Success' organised by World Tourism Organisation and Tourism Ministry. Choudhary said that besides internal and the external coordination, good infrastructure is also required. Choudhary urged to the different ministries to work together and take a cue from other destinations of the world and adopt successful tourism practices. She further said that the terrorism has become a big hurdle for the growth of tourism industry in almost all countries. "I must stress here that tourism is not all about attracting foreign tourists and earning foreign exchange or providing good accommodation, but now it has become a matter of 'human care, that is, the safety and security of tourists. However, terrorism may hit tourism temporarily; I have no doubt that tourism will make a major contribution to the eventual defeat of terrorism," she added. Tourism has a great capacity to create large-scale employment of diverse kinds from the most specialized to the unskilled. She said that India has become the fifth most favoured destination for tourism and third most favoured destination for investment. The massage has spread all over the world that India is a one of the most favourite destinations for tourism, she said.
Hersha Verma, UN WTO representative in India said that governments use
to issue the travel advisory warnings after any terrorist attacks in any
country. Many a time, the advisories are not withdrawn even after the
situation normalises, which badly affects the tourism industry. So, we
are taking different steps and will very soon organise a seminar to educate
the concerned authorities, Verma said. According to a recent official
release, foreign tourist arrivals in India have increased by 13.2 percent
and foreign exchange (forex) earnings through these arrivals in dollar
term by 20.2 percent in calendar year 2005. The World Tourism Organisation
has ranked India 5th among the world's tourists hot spots. World Travel
and Tourism Council also projected India as one of the, emerging tourism
markets having potential of 24 billion dollars annual foreign exchange
earnings through tourism by 2015. The Ministry has launched several schemes
like Atithi Devo Bhava, Priyadarshini and Rural Tourism to give further
fillip to tourism industry in the country.
-Jan 11, 2006
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