Effective and adequate connectivity is one of the important aspects for developing a tourist destination. Ministry of Tourism is working very closely with Ministry of Civil Aviation for improving the air connectivity to important tourist destinations and to lesser known/new destinations with high potential. It has coordinated with Ministry of Civil Aviation under their Regional Connectivity Scheme- Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik (RCS-Udan) and sharing the Viability Gap Funding (VGF) amount for the 53 tourism routes identified for this purpose.

 

India has a robust e-visa regime in place to enable lawful inward movement of foreigners including foreign tourists, professionals and skilled workforce, business persons, students etc. Government of India has taken a number of initiatives over the last few years to liberalize, streamline and simplify visa regime with a view to facilitate the legitimate foreign travelers while simultaneously ramping up the technological infrastructure to enhance internal security.

 

One significant step taken to liberalize and simplify the Indian Visa regime, especially the tourist visa regime, is the introduction of the e-visa facility.  Processing of e-visa is totally on the online platform. A foreigner can apply for e-visa from anywhere. Introduction of e-visa has helped in providing hassle-free entry to foreigners into India for legitimate purposes like tourism, business and medical purposes.

 

With a view to bring in more transparency, accountability and improved service delivery, the Ministry of Tourism introduced an online system of receiving, processing and granting approvals for classification of Accommodation Units and recognition of Tourism Service Providers. Applications can be filed at the portal of National Integrated Database of Hospitality Industry (NIDHI+), i.e. nidhi.tourism.gov.in. This online process has also been integrated with a payment gateway.

           

As a part of the Ministry’s continuous endeavors to make travel for tourists safe and secure, the Ministry of Tourism has set up a 24x7 Multi-Lingual Tourist Helpline on the toll free number 1800111363 or on a short code 1363 in 12 languages including 10 international languages for domestic and foreign tourists to provide support service in terms of information relating to travel in India and to offer appropriate guidance to tourists in distress, while travelling within India.

 

This information was given by Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

 

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M Annadurai

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