WTTC wants India to roll out Electronic Travel Authorisation without delay

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), while welcoming the Indian government’s decision to ease visa restrictions by implementing Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), wants the government to ensur

World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), while welcoming the Indian government’s decision to ease visa restrictions by implementing Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA), wants the government to ensure “effective roll-out” of the initiative without delay before the next tourism season that commences in November. The Council believes that the initiative will provide the much-needed boost to Inbound Tourism and offer “competitive advantage” to the destination in comparison to other destinations in South Asia and Middle East.

David Scowsill, President and CEO, WTTC, said that India’s acceptance to implement ETA is a positive result of the continued engagement of WTTC with the country’s government. “This is a result of our continued interactions with the government authorities to encourage freedom to travel for legitimate, bona fide tourists who want to visit India. It will give the necessary boost and competitive advantage to India against other destinations in South Asia and the Middle East. This will also provide a major thrust to jobs and employment, both directly and indirectly linked with the tourism sector,” he said.

Citing a joint study by UNWTO and WTTC in 2012, Scowsill said that India will benefit with an additional six million travellers and 1.8 million new jobs over a period of three years by easing visa restrictions. “A simple additional step of adding the feature of multiple entry to these visas on arrival for a longer period such as six months could allow India to capitalise on the long-term potential of travel and tourism,” he observed. Scowsill informed that WTTC would continue engaging with the Indian government to encourage it to move forward and implement e-visa.

Meanwhile, the WTTC Global Summit scheduled to take place on April 24 and 25 at Sanya in Hainan province of China, will look at the new perspectives for tourism in the changing world order. The Summit, which is expected to be attended by key decision makers of the global travel and tourism industry, is also expected to urge China, an emerging power in the global travel and tourism arena, to revisit their visa regime to realise the potential of China in global tourism.

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Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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