India
happens to be one from a group of countries, whose citizens are
always treated with great suspicion, when they apply for a visa to
visit a foreign country. But it was not so in the past, as I
recollect from my experiences. It used to be very easy for Indians to
get visas fifty years back. Even 30 or 35 years back, things were not
that bad at all. In the seventies, no visa was required for Britain,
Germany and Switzerland and for other nations travel agents used to
get visas easily.
Things
slowly changed, when affluent nations started fearing that because of
no visa regime, large numbers of Indian workers may start migrating
to their countries. As far as US was concerned, up to 1946, India was
not even in the list of countries from where migration was allowed to
USA. After that, it was given a quota of 100 immigrants. US also was
the first country that started interview procedure for issuing visa
and it was later picked up by UK. Other countries also have become
very strict about issue of visa, over problems of immigration.
I do
not really want to go in the reasons for such visa regimes and
whether it is justified because issue of visa is really problem of
that country. However,as visa regimes of other countries were
tightened more and more and made more rigid for Indians, what was the
Indian reaction? India also took reciprocal steps and tightened its
visa regime. This step was perhaps the single most detrimental step
from tourism dvelopment point of view.
As it
is, India has a very bad image abroad, because of its high
population, poverty, lack of infrastructure and pollution. The media
world over add fuel to fire by mainly publishing negative stories
about India, such as rape and crime. This instills even more fear and
insecurity in the minds of tourists, who might want to try India.
Luckily,
India's problems are not unique. There are many countries such as
Vietnam, Cambodia, or Indonesia, which face similar problems. These
countries have however realised much earlier the potential of tourism
as a business, which can bring rich rewards in terms of boost in
local employment in the service industry and earning of foreign
exchange. Countries like Thailand and Indonesia, neglecting the
principle of reciprocity, introduced visa on arrival schemes. I have
travelled to Indonesia and can vouch that this system works quite
well.
No one
can doubt India's potential as a tourism destination. There is such a
wide variety available from beaches to mountains, religious places to
remnants of ancient civilizations, jungles to deserts. Unfortunately,
this potential has never been tapped. There are number of reasons for
this but visa difficulty remains one of them.
Let us
consider case of Cambodia. The country was war torn by series of
civil wars for more than 10 years before peace returned in 1979. The
country is poor but has tremendous tourism potential because of the
9th-11th century Hindu temples such as Angkor Wat. Cambodia gets
between 3.5 to 4 million tourists per year and is a major foreign
exchange earner for this impoverished country. The country has
excellent infrastructure in tourist areas. But that is not all. It
started offering electronic visas sometime in 2005-2006. Ease of
getting these visas is one of the fundamental reasons for the
stupendous tourism growth in that country. I can tell you from my
experience in 2010, when I applied and received my travel
authorization on line from Cambodia authorities, that the process
really works well and hassle free. Perhaps the most important thing
is that you can do all this from comfort of home and there is no
anxiety in your mind, when you actually travel.
This
week, finally giving up its long cherished reciprocity principle,
India launched similar online visa facility for 43 countries
including the US, Australia, Japan, Israel, Germany and Singapore.
Travelers can apply for a visa from the comfort of their homes and
receive a visa within 72 hours. The electronic travel authorization
(ETA) will be valid for 30 days and the visa fee has been fixed at
$62. Those traveling on leisure, short duration medical treatment,
casual business visit or to meet friends and relatives will be
eligible to apply. The facility will be made available at nine
airports including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Goa,
Hyderabad, Kolkata and Thiruvanathapuram.
Besides
countries mentioned above, the other countries included in the first
phase are Russia, Ukraine, Brazil, UAE, Jordan, Kenya, Fiji, Finland,
South Korea, Singapore, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Oman and the
Philippines. However Government promised that barring high-risk
countries, we will extend this facility to almost every country in
the world, phase-wise.
The
new system will send an e-mail to the applicant after his application
is approved, authorizing him to travel to India. A printout of this
e-mail is all that would be required to be shown to immigration
officer. Visa application can be made between 4 and 30 days prior to
proposed date of arrival.
Besides,
travellers of foreign origin, there are millions of people of Indian
origin, who have taken foreign citizenship or are citizens by birth
of that country. I can tell you from my little interaction with such
Indian diaspora that travelling to India is a cherished ambition for
many of them. Many of them find that getting a visa for India quite
troublesome and avoid making trips to India. The new scheme is likely
to be most beneficial to them. In coming years, I am confiedent that
number of tourist arrivals in India are going to jump manifolds just
by this single step.
29th
November 2014
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