E-Credible India: New Visa Power!

Tourism and Hotel Management

Beginning in January 2010, India instituted a visa on arrival program for 11 countries (New Zealand, Finland, Luxembourg, Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam). One provision of the visa which introduced some difficulties was that the visa only allowed for a single entry in a 60 days period. However, positive results did occur as a result of the program. In 2010, the combined arrivals from these 11 countries increased 10.6%, with arrivals increasing from all but Myanmar. This program is estimated to have accounted for 3.7% of the combined growth in arrivals from these markets in 2010.A report by World Travel and Tourism Council says the country's economic contribution from tourism in the country is expected to grow by 7.3% in 2014 which will outperform the general economy by 2.5 percentage points. December 2014 registered a growth of 421.6 per cent with 14,083 e-visas issued as compared to 2,700 in the same month of 2013. Similarly, January saw a growth of 1214.9 per cent with 25,023 tourists availing e-visas as compared to 1,903 during January 2014. With Indian emerging as big globetrotters and spenders on overseas travel, industry pundits estimate that the number of Indians travelling abroad will touch 50 million by 2020 and their sending will cross $28 billion by then, up from 15 million and $15 billion in 2013.

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