In its bid to increase the number of inbound tourist arrivals, the Ministry of Tourism is working closely with other government agencies to try and make its visa-on-arrival scheme for tourists simpler and faster to attract more inbound tourists.

According to Secretary Tourism, Parvez Dewan, the gap between inbound and outbound tourism is widening and immediate steps were needed to be taken to increase inbound tourism.

“The current ratio of inbound tourism to outbound tourism is 1.2 to 2.5 and the gap is not narrowing but widening. People may say this is because we have such a large population, but at the same time, we are a large country and we need to attract a lot more people and for that, we need to be attractive for inbound tourists. Visa-on-arrival scheme has been there for some countries, there should be some more improvement on this visa-on-arrival scheme,” he said.

Mr. Dewan said one of the issues that can be improved is the current payment for visa-on-arrival in Indian rupees. “We hope that before the next South Asian Travel & Tourism event, tourists can pay in dollars or other country currency or may be even through a credit card. That’s one comfort we need to bring in; we hope it will be done by the next year.”

The Tourism Ministry is also trying to reduce the time taken at visa counters and develop major metros of the country as tourism hubs which can serve as base camps for international tourists who can explore smaller tourist destinations within a day and come back as per a Hindu report.

Tourism Minister K. Cheeranjeevi is of the view that while identifying and developing the circuits, efforts would be made to plug infrastructure gaps and provide necessary amenities to tourists.

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