Photo Caption: Backwaters of Kerala
India’s Ministry of Tourism announced its plans to introduce a new e-visa fee structure based on peak and lean tourist season on Tuesday (August 20). The decision once implemented will result in significant reduction in the cost of e-visa for international tourists from over 160 countries.
As per the new move, the e-visa fee for duration of 30 days during the peak season (July to March) will be US $25 while the e-visa fee during the lean period (April to June) will be US $10. This is a significant drop from the current e-visa fee that ranges from US $80-100.
Prahlad Patel, India’s Tourism Minister on the sidelines of one-day national conference of Tourism Ministers in New Delhi said that he expects that the plan will help to draw more international tourists to visit India.
The inbound tourism stakeholders of the country that Travel Trade Insider spoke to have hailed the proposal, stating high e-visa fee to be a deterrent in the growth of international tourist arrivals.
“It will directly impact the number of inbound tourist arrivals visiting for leisure using this facility. Most tourists travel to India for less than 30 days. So, they will be now saving US $75per pax with the new e-visa fee structure. The biggest beneficiary will be beach destinations like Goa which tourists visit for 10 day-long holidays and the competition is with markets like Sri Lanka, Egypt and Turkey which are highly competitive in terms of pricing,” said Dipak Deva, Managing Director, TCI (Travel Corporation India).
“On the other hand if you view European travellers looking at our region, no market in our competition be it Thailand or Vietnam is charging a fee of US $100. Also, the lean period visa fee of US $10 will help us to generate demand in a month like April when there are Easter Hoidays in Europe,” added Deva.
Speaking on the same lines, Ravi Gosain, Managing Director, Erco Travels said, “This is great news for inbound tourism which is going through turmoil. The industry was demanding lowering of e-visa fee for a long time in absence of which we were not able to compete with other Asian destinations. Even our overseas tour operator partners have been complaining about high e-visa fee structure. But now they all will be happy and push hard to sell tours to India. We also want that the government should consider the simplification of e-visa forms. The nominal fees of long term e-visas will help us to draw repeat clients.”
The Ministry has also announced its plan to introduce a five years validity e-visa, the fees of which will be US $80 and a one year e-visa which will cost US $40. In a further relaxation extended to Japan, Singapore and Sri Lanka, the fee for e-visa valid for one year and five years will be US $25.
“The stakeholders have been demanding the government to have a competitive e-visa fee regime in place that can help us to compete with our neighbouring markets like Thailand and Sri Lanka. This announcement will add to the attraction of India as a tourist destination. Also, in the future the government should consider e-visa fee waiver for a time period especially during the off-season to further boost international tourist arrivals,” said Sarbendra Sarkar, Managing Director & Founder, Cygnett Hotels & Resort.
As per a section of the hospitality players, the new e-visa fee structure will play a key role in India’s pursuit of doubling its inbound tourist arrivals.
“India has already simplified its visa regime few years back with introduction of e-tourist visa. The government has been making efforts to boost inbound tourism with initiatives like development of 17 iconic sites which was announced in this budget and for which work is also underway. We are hopeful that if the government continues to support the industry like this, we will be able to achieve our target of 20 million international tourist arrivals very soon,” said Sanjeev K Nayar, General Manager, WelcomHeritage Group.