Visa-on-arrival policy: A welcome move to boost tourism

Sometimes, unilateral opening up pays. The government’s decision to extend the “visa-on-arrival” facility to all countries save eight is an example. Till now, the government had been standing on reciprocity: if only Indians could get visa on arrival in a country would nationals of that country be eligible for a visa on arrival in India. This entitled our diplomats to a sense of equality with their peers from any country, but deprived India of a large number of tourists deterred by the difficulty in obtaining a visa to travel to India. Pragmatically, the government has now decided to privilege the economic gain from enhanced tourism over our civil servants’ sense of lèse-majesté.

But this gesture is not quite an opening of the floodgates for a gushing mass of tourists. Tourists will need to be satisfied that they can get advance booking for decent accommodation and travel within the country, before they decide to travel to India. Facilities for this remain limited, particularly of the kind that caters to the volume market. Similarly, airport facilities to clear immigrants and grant them visas would need substantial upgradation. It would be a publicity disaster if the first few batches of new visitors under the expanded visa-on-arrival scheme were to spread the word on social media that they waited two-and-a-half hours at the airport, queuing for the promised visa. Nor is this enough. At present, the policy is that visitors cannot re-enter India within 60 days of exiting the country. This prevents India from being used as a hub by tourists who want to see, for example, Kathmandu, the Taj, Yangon, Khajuraho and Colombo in a span of three weeks. This restriction must go.

India’s tourism potential is truly incredible, with the vast variety of resources available. To realise it, we need not just investment in physical facilities and logistics but, even more importantly, a radical change of culture. A concerted campaign to rid public conduct of racist, lewd, greedy and rude treatment of visitors must complement the liberalisation of the visa regime.