Foreign Tourist Arrivals to India are continuing their upward trend with arrivals in 2016 (8.89million, based on provisional figures) showing a 10.7% increase over the previous year, 8.03million in 2015. This makes India one of the fastest growing tourism economies in the world. Foreign Exchange earnings also increased by 15% last year.
Divya Gauba, country head of Air India in Denmark, says the same. This is why Air India will upgrade the direct route between Delhi and Copenhagen from three times a week (2-4-6) and put in an extra return flight on Friday (5).
The route is served by a 787 Dreamliner with 238 seats in economy and 18 in business.
.India enabled the e-tourist visa system in November 2014 with a few countries and now the facility is available to citizens of 161 countries. Also, the scope of the visa has been expanded to include visits for business, medical and cruise purposes, with the validity of the e-visas extended to 60 days and for two entries. The fact that more and more tourists are preferring to make use of the e-visa scheme means that more than one million visitors availed themselves of the e-visa in 2016.
Ms. Manjiri Kamalapurkar, India Tourism officer, in Amsterdam, covering the Nordic market:
“The policies of the Government of India under the leadership of Shri Narendra Modi, the Honourable Prime Minister, are designed to make it easier to do business with India and in India. The Ministry of Tourism is also committed to following this policy. Accordingly, we have taken proactive steps to ease travel to India including with the new e-visa policy and also steps like the Incredible India Infoline which is a toll-free number (from within India) to help with information and also to help travellers visiting the country.”
The large participation under the Incredible India booth will have variety of products to offer. The India Pavilion showcases the varied and beautiful architectural traditions of India. The visitors can also have a unique Virtual Reality experience of travel to India. A colourful cultural programme is planned to take place and the popular Navratri and Holi festivals will be celebrated at the India pavilion.
