Government will give free tourist visa to 5 lakh foreign travelers
As part of a plan to provide relief to the tourism industry and encourage travel activities in the areas most affected by the epidemic, the central government said that it will give tourist visas free of cost till March 31, 2022. As part of the financial relief package for the travel industry, Finance Minister Sitharaman announced that visas of the first 5 lakh tourists would be issued free of cost. Foreign tourists will get the benefit of this scheme as soon as they get visa permission.
He said that this is one of the demands of the travel industry, which has been accepted by the government. The financial impact of this move is expected to be in the range of Rs 100 crore.
The scheme will remain in force till March 31, 2022 or till the issuance of 5,00,000 visas, whichever is earlier. This benefit will be available only once per tourist.
In 2019, about 193 million foreign tourists visited India and spent $30.098 billion on vacations and business. The average daily stay in India for a foreign tourist is 21 days. The average daily expenditure of a tourist in India is estimated to be around $34 (Rs 2,400).
The Finance Minister has taken a big step to provide relief for the tourism sector that has been broken by Corona.
