Centre forms committee for Visa facilitation and tourism promotion

The Dollar Business Bureau The Union Minister of Tourism, Mahesh Sharma, in a meeting with the Union Home Minister, Rajnath Singh, raised concerns over the issues affecting the Tourism Ministry’s Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVoA) scheme. In this regard, the Union Home Minister approved the formation of a Committee under the Chairmanship of Additional Secretary (Foreigners), which contains three Joint Secretaries from Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Civil Aviation, as members. The Committee approved was expected to have periodic meetings and work seriously on resolvation of issues concerning Visa facilitation and tourism promotion. On the issue of biometric collection at airports, it was also informed that during the next one year, 150 countries would be covered under TVoA scheme enabled with the biometric collection on arrival facility. The Tourism Ministry was also assured of Bureau of Immigration’s support in tackling with the issues pertaining to the distribution of welcome cards printed by the Ministry of Tourism at Indian Airports for tourists arriving in India. The Home Minister also assured the Tourism Ministry of considering its suggestions regarding the double entry for TVoA applicants, along with the suggestion for increase of time period for the same from one month to two months, for further examination. The Home Minister reiterated commitment to address these issues at the earliest in view of the security concerns. The Tourism Minister also suggested that there is a need to conduct training for Bureau of Immigration officials, in view of their priority as the first point of contacts with the tourists. Responding to the request, the Union Home Minister asked the Tourism Minister to submit the proposal for expeditious implementation of the same.  

This article was published on March 25, 2015.