TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: In a bid to boost foreign arrivals, Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar has urged the Centre to grant visa-on-arrival (VoA) facility at Dabolim for visitors coming from five more countries, in addition to tourists from 30 nations who are already enjoying the facility.
Parulekar told reporters Friday, that during a meeting of state tourism ministers with Union Tourism Minister Chiranjeevi, a demand for extending the facility to tourists from Russia, Germany, France and Netherlands was made.
“I have requested him (Chiranjeevi) to impress upon Government of India to include additional countries like Russia, Germany, France and Netherlands in the list of countries whose citizens can be granted VoA facility,” Parulekar said, a day after the meeting in New Delhi.
Goa joins Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Himachal Pradesh, which are demanding VoA for the five countries.
The minister said the State is currently in the process of upgrading the infrastructure and expanding the Dabolim airport terminus to facilitate this development. This, he said, will be completed by three months.
“Having more countries in the list for visa-on-arrival facility would help to increase the foreign tourist arrival to India,” Parulekar commented adding, “Developing tourism destinations like Sri Lanka and South East Asia are offering such a facility as they feel the economic benefit of increased number of sets the loss on account of not charging any visa fees. There is therefore a need to rationalize VoA fees or ideally to waive off the fees.”
In the same breath, Parulekar said that the tourism industry in Goa congratulated the Centre for allowing collective landing permits for the State wherein a group of more than four tourists can land here and get the visa at the airport provided the travel agency ensures that the group does not disperse and follows the same travel itinerary.
The implementation is yet to begin though. “…There appears to be some sort of confusion at the ground level due to non-percolation of instructions to the implementing authorities,” Parulekar added. He appealed to the Centre to ensure that correct information is disseminated to the implementing authorities at the field level at various ports of entry.
Adding to the request list, the minister has also sought from the Centre clearance of crew members of non-scheduled flights as the new system is causing inconvenience for obtaining visa.
He has requested that three-decade old practice of temporary landing permit should be resumed. “This facility should continue considering the volume of charter flights operating in Goa as compared to the rest of the country,” he said.
Besides, the government also requested the Union Minister that Inclusive Tourist Package (ITP) charter operations is termed as scheduled ITP as most of the airlines operating in Goa have three to four flights on weekly basis during the entire tourist season.
