Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi believes the least the country can do is to "open up the Tourist Visa On Arrival (TVOA) scheme to as many countries in the region as possible and aggressively tap the ASEAN region to balance the tourism potential."
Chiranjeevi is currently in Laos where he is attending the ASEAN tourism ministers' conclave. A senior ministry official explains Chiranjeevi's point: "Currently India offers TVOA facility at its four major airports - Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to 11 countries, while China on January 1, 2013, aggressively launched Visa on Arrival scheme for 45 countries."
However, the Ministry of Home Affairs recently informed that it will not extend the TVOA facility to any other country.
This, the Tourism Ministry feels, is a big let-down. "Keeping in view of the recent travel trends, we urgently need to extend the TVOA scheme to South Korea because it can direct business, leisure and Buddhist circuit tourists to India and can counter both China and Japan's share in Buddhist circuit travel."
The China factor is playing on the minds of the tourism ministry's top brass. "China did five road shows in India and got a very positive response, mainly attributed to VOA, better connectivity, cheap hotel accommodations and attractive online presentation of tourist spots," the official said.
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