India on your mind? Good. Not on your mind? Even better!
Yesterday, the Indian Government has cleared a proposal for visa on arrival (VoA) and electronic travel authorisation (ETA) based entry into India, for virtually all countries globally.
To my mind, this removes one of the most significant entry barriers into India, especially given how the bureaucracy works and how painful it sometimes can be, getting a visa to India (as some of my friends and colleagues overseas have told me). ETAs are to be for a 30-day period, as will be the VoA, except that on arrival visas will be for single entries only.
Naturally, there will be exceptions, for various reasons including internal security. India calls these prior reference nations, which including Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and China. There are eight such prior reference countries, whose nationals and passport holders will need to go through the usual route of obtaining visas before travel.
I clearly see this as an effective way to reduce entry barriers for tourism into India, which has been and continues to be a large market for both business and leisure visitors from overseas. From a business point of view, the effect of the so-called double-dip recession in India has been rather mild compared to the toll it has taken on some of the more mature economies. It is not uncommon to see corporates holding some of their global or regional meetings (including large groups) in India, lately. There is also significant revenue potential in leisure tourism, particularly centred around health and wellness (read spas and yoga!). Of course, there continue to be safety concerns which need to be addressed – India was recently ranked as one of the more unsafe places to visit, especially for women, and particularly outside of urban centres.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I'm speculating if Etihad's investment in Jet and Air India's proposed entry into Star Alliance are factors birthing this change? At the same time, if the A380s do start operations to India, VoA counters at Indian airports may well end up getting choked!
Naturally, there will be exceptions, for various reasons including internal security. India calls these prior reference nations, which including Iran, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and China. There are eight such prior reference countries, whose nationals and passport holders will need to go through the usual route of obtaining visas before travel.
I clearly see this as an effective way to reduce entry barriers for tourism into India, which has been and continues to be a large market for both business and leisure visitors from overseas. From a business point of view, the effect of the so-called double-dip recession in India has been rather mild compared to the toll it has taken on some of the more mature economies. It is not uncommon to see corporates holding some of their global or regional meetings (including large groups) in India, lately. There is also significant revenue potential in leisure tourism, particularly centred around health and wellness (read spas and yoga!). Of course, there continue to be safety concerns which need to be addressed – India was recently ranked as one of the more unsafe places to visit, especially for women, and particularly outside of urban centres.
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but I'm speculating if Etihad's investment in Jet and Air India's proposed entry into Star Alliance are factors birthing this change? At the same time, if the A380s do start operations to India, VoA counters at Indian airports may well end up getting choked!
I have always been of the view that entry to and by nations should be on the basis of a visa on arrival or ETA facility. This needs to be the norm, not the exception to the rule. In fact, my ideal travel approach is what I might call Global Visa – where you have a travel document attached to your passport, issued by a central authority with representatives in each country that investigates and authorises / clears travellers for all travel to countries participating in the program. In short, one visa for many countries. It would be chargeable, and I expect that in initial years, those charges could be quite high, but I suppose these things should normalise over time. Of course, all of this is just my own pipe dream. I have no clue about the viability of such a program!
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