Good news for tourists from Australia and other countries, they will soon get 500,000 free visas to visit India.
New Delhi: This is good news for Australian and foreign tourists, as they will soon receive over 500,000 free visas to visit India. This was announced earlier by the central government. In addition, the Union Interior Ministry decided earlier this month to allow foreign tourists to visit India by chartered flights from October 15 and those by regular planes from November 15. .Also Read – Apply COVID Guidelines To All Identified Places: Delhi Government Urges Magistrates And DCPs Before Festivals
As the COVID-19 situation improved in the country, the central government decided to start issuing tourist visas. Read also – International flights: airline suspends flights from Kabul citing Taliban interference. Details here
Earlier, the Interior Ministry (MHA) said in a statement that the first 500,000 visas would be issued free to foreign tourists. Also Read – Tamil Nadu Extends Lockdown Until Oct 31; allows hotels and stores to open until 11:00 p.m. | View the full list of guidelines here
And then, in the recent notification, the Interior Ministry said that from November 15, tourists could travel via non-chartered flights, especially those carried out as part of the Vande Bharat mission or as part of the of “air bubble” arrangements with different countries.
With the improvement of the COVID situation, the Center has slowly lifted restrictions on most categories of foreign visas, such as diplomats and businessmen. Notably, this would be good news for many citizens of Indian descent from Australia, Canada, USA, UK and other countries who do not have an OIC card and depend on tourist visas for to travel to India.
Previously, the Center had said free visas would be issued once the government reopened borders for leisure tourists and working capital or personal loans would be provided to travel agencies and registered tour guides to pay. of their responsibilities and restart their activities.
Giving more details, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the program will benefit 11,000 stakeholders, including 904 tour operators and 10,700 tour guides. Loans of Rs 10 lakh and Rs 1 lakh with a one hundred percent guarantee will be granted respectively to travel agencies and guides, she said.
“We believe that granting free visas will be a game-changer for Indian tourism. Several tourists from our key markets in Western Europe and the United States postponed their trip to India last year and we hope they will plan trips once we open our borders for them, ”he said. said earlier the additional director general of the Ministry of Tourism, Rupinder Brar.
