“Visa on Arrival” Program – An Initiative to Enhance Tourism in India

India is a vast country packed with diversified cultures, traditions, religions and beautiful landscapes with a great historical value. All these and much more has made India one of the most adorable and lovable countries around the world.

But few factors are there that has made the tourists to rethink while choosing India as their holiday destination. And one of the most evidenced factors is the tough visa policy that has deteriorated the tourism in the country. According to a survey it is observed that in the year 2012, the number of tourists to India was 6.58 million which is comparatively lesser than that of the other Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia.

After observing such a great deterioration in the tourism growth rate, the honourable Prime minister of India, Narendra Modi has initiated a unique appeal with an initiative called “Visa on Arrival” through which prospective travellers can apply a visa for at least 4 days before arrival and then it can be extended up to a month. For that applicants will have to submit a photo, copy of their passport and a fee of $60 online and once the visa gets approved they will receive “electronic travel authorization” automated email which they need to take a print out and show it while arrival along with their passports.

Currently 9 international airports are authorized with this service and they are Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Goa airports. And this arrival program is valid of nationals of 43 countries but until now only 12 countries have this permission including the United States of America, Japan and Germany.

With this idea the tourists can enjoy the diverse culture in New Delhi, a spa retreat in Kerala, a trip to one of the seven wonders of the world i.e. Taj Mahal in Agra, a visit to the tiger reserves in Madhya Pradesh, a peaceful week at the beaches of Goa and Odisha, expedition to the caves of Ajanta and Ellora, visit to the famous waterfronts of Varanasi, Colaba causeway in Mumbai, climbing up hill stations of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, a dive into the step wells of Gujarat and Rajasthan.

Hope this idea works and lets the world explore the incredible India!