The visa on arrival system has faced several hurdles in the past, but if implemented in India, will work wonders for the tourism industry discovers Jyoti Koul

India, that displayed to the world its excellence and grew from strength to strength in the field of science and technology, falters unbelievably in achieving its tourism goals. In fact, India’s aspirations are pretty low when it comes to tourist arrivals. The country has been targeting only five million tourists in the past few years. However, its inbound numbers remains a paltry 2.38 million, while the country’s outbound is swelling. The reason that could be attributed to the decline in arrivals was the lack of appropriate steps taken towards the achievement of this goal like visa on arrival, open sky policy and rationalisation of taxation. It also seems that Indian tourism prefers to identify itself with its emblem - an elephant.

Subhash Goyal

The Issue

Visa on arrival is one issue that has been on the agenda of every conference and convention because it has the potential of increasing volume almost instantaneously, providing a necessary boost to the gasping tourism industry. It is not that the government did not do anything in this direction. The Home Ministry in 2001 agreed on principle to announce visa on arrival for 16 countries. The then tourism minister, Ananth Kumar in an interview with this publication had enumerated the success saying, "Starting with 16 countries, the move has been initiated in order to generate maximum number of foreign tourists. The non-availability of such an option was considered one of the major bottlenecks. The move will also help us in achieving the set target of five million tourists."

Significantly, security reasons put a spanner in the implementation process. The plan fell through because of mounting tension at the Indo-Pak border and terrorist attacks on the Parliament. According to industry practitioners’ security is now a concern for every country and not just India alone. However Sri Lanka, that suffered a lot due to terrorist activities, has also introduced a visa on arrival system, they argue. "For security reasons let us have the black lists displayed at the airport visa counters and if any suspicion is found, any country has the right to refuse a visa. But making security an excuse also brings forth the fact that a country does not have confidence on its security arrangement?" feels Subhash Goyal, chairman, Expert Committee on Tourism & Aviation, ASSOCHAM.

Many feel India needs to take a cue from Sri Lanka. Despite the security threats (their airport was blown up in a blast almost crippling the aviation system), the country initiated the visa on arrival system in January 2002 for general and leisure tourists and later extended this facility to business travellers in July 2002. As expected, arrivals received a tremendous boost immediately. After the introduction of the scheme, the issuance of visas dropped by 70-80 per cent from the Sri Lankan High Commission in Delhi as tourists directly procured their visa once they arrived in the country and the number of visitors was more than double from India alone. In order to further maintain the tourist inflow and channelise traffic further, this system was backed by SriLankan Airlines that launched special packages. And, within no time, Sri Lanka turned into a tourist hot spot from a troubled nation.

The Consequences

If the visa on arrival system is implemented, arrivals of foreign tourists will certainly increase because then one need not wait to procure a visa to visit the country. The tourism and aviation experts predict a minimum of 20 per cent immediate increase in the tourist arrivals. Translated it means, generating loads of foreign exchange and employment. However, the increase can not be measured in numbers alone. The significance is much more. It will also improve the perceptions about India and would send the right signal that we are serious about tourism and are looking for a change. "If this system is implemented, it will reflect our attitude towards tourism. It will automatically enhance our flexibility and responsibility towards security. Each person will feel accountable and will try to do their best to ensure safe travel of tourists, resulting in overall economic growth," says a tour operator.

Clearly, the idea speaks volume about the outlook of the country about encouraging tourism. Since, intra-regional travel has gained tremendous proportion, India can at least set out the scheme with the SAARC countries on a trial basis. To cite an example, China gets more than 80 per cent tourists from Hong Kong, while Malaysia has maximum visitors from Singapore and Thailand.

Priya Paul

The Conclusion

At least, its implementation of the system will encourage neighbours to visit our shores. However, if India has reservations about certain countries, it has every right to disallow that country. Further, there is a definite shift in travelling patterns.

Most travellers today plan their travel or even holidays not well in advance, but take a sudden decision. Naturally, tourists prefer to visit countries where travelling is convenient. And India is no doubt losing out to other countries in the region like Thailand, Sri Lanka or Hong Kong. Hence, no visa on arrival is being considered as a big hurdle to the growth of tourism numbers.

The Indian travel trade has been lobbying for this measure for quite some time. According to Goyal, it is a long pending necessity. "It has to be implemented urgently. So far, everybody has agreed in principle that visa on arrival should be introduced soon, but it has never been implemented. I fail to understand that if smaller countries can do it why not India. It is in the larger national interest than just the tourism industry that we must initiate the visa-on-arrival system," he said. Incidentally, last month union tourism minister, Jagmohan, raised the issue at the Cabinet meeting, but did not receive any positive response from the Home Ministry.

While clearing ministry’s stance, Bhavnaben Chikalia, minister of state for tourism revealed that, "Realising the kind of boost the system will give to Indian tourism, we are pushing the matter hard with the cabinet. The volume that we can generate due to visa on arrival is beyond imagination and this is what we are trying to convey to the Home ministry. To begin with, we are urging the government that it should start with the already finalised 16 countries and later extend it to other countries. We are just waiting to hear some positive news from the cabinet. Although, I cannot give a definite time frame but can say at this point of time that India will introduce visa on arrival very soon to facilitate the movement."

Well, the sooner...the better. If it is implemented before the next inbound season, it will be a boon for India, as it will be used as a tool in selling the country. "India has to start marketing itself aggressively specially in easily accessible countries with good flight connections. The introduction of visa on arrival will not be enough unless it is supported by marketing and promotional campaigns along with innovative special packages," concluded Priya Paul, chairperson, the Park Hotels and vice president, Hotel Association of India.