Tourism sector welcomes government move to issue e-Visas at airports

New Delhi: The government's move to offer e-Visa facilities in a phased manner in nine airports will boost the country's tourism sector, according to industry players. In the Budget for 2014-15, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley acknowledged the importance of tourism as a major job creator and announced the government's intention to facilitate visa on arrival facility.    

"In order to give a major boost to tourism in India, the facility of Electronic Travel Authorisation (e-Visa) would be introduced in a phased manner at nine airports in India where necessary infrastructure would be put in place within the next six months," Jaitley said.     

Countries to which the Electronic Travel authorisation facility would be extended would be identified in a phased manner, he added. Reacting to the announcement, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) President S M Sherwani told PTI: "The government's decision to extend the e-Visa facility at nine airports is a major step that will boost the tourism sector."    

Expressing similar views, Thomas Cook (India) Managing Director Madhavan Menon said the pro-tourism announcement of eVisas at nine key airports would at once bring destinationIndia into the spotlight.It will as also create an immediate window of opportunity for the upcoming inbound season, he added. The multiplier impact will empower allied businesses connect, both directly and indirectly with the tourism industry and "we look forward to swift and effective implementation," Menon said.

In a bid to boost tourism, among other initiatives Jaitley has also proposed to create 5 tourist circuits around specific themes and set aside a sum of Rs 500 crore for this purpose. The budget also said that National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY) will be launched for conserving and preserving the heritage characters of these cities.     

"To begin with I propose to launch this programme in the cities such as Mathura, Amritsar, Gaya, Kanchipuram, Vellankani and Ajmer. I propose to set aside a sum of Rs 200 crore for this purpose," Jaitley said. The project will work through a partnership of government, academic institutions and local community, combining affordable technologies, he added.