INDIA EYES DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH IN TOURISM
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Backed by several new initiatives including easing of visa rules, aggressive marketing initiatives, development of niche tourism products and use of technology coupled with mobile readiness, India is targeting double-digit growth in tourist inflow by end of this financial year itself.
“International tourist inflow to India has been growing at about 6 to 7 per cent annually. The foreign tourist arrival in India during 2013 was about 7 million, with growth of 5.9 per cent as compared to the year 2012. This year till September 2014 there has been growth of 7.6 per cent in foreign tourist arrival,” Shripad Yesso Naik, Union Minister of state for Culture and Tourism, said at the ongoing World Travel Market (WTM) London.
“Ministry of Tourism has taken several new initiatives including introducing visa-on-arrival for several countries, simplification of procedures for classification /reclassification of hotels and restaurants, improving infrastructure development , identification and improving major tourist circuits, intensification of promotional and marketing strategies to further build brand ‘Incredible India’ and translating of ministry’s promotional website www.incredibleindia.org in various languages including Chinese, Arabic, French, German, Korean, and Japanese languages to further position India as a leading tourist destination,” Naik added.
“The government has been encouraged by the good response to the visa on arrival scheme and plans to extend Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) to the 12 countries. Between January and September 2014, 19,290 visas on arrival were issued compared to 13,859 during the same time last year, reflecting an increase of 39.2 per cent. The countries that already have visa on arrival scheme include Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia, Finland, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Luxembourg.”, the Minister said.