India Launches Visa on Arrival for Tourists from Five Nations

In a major boost for Commonwealth Games 2010, Indian government has introduced for the first time `visa on arrival' scheme for tourists from five countries from early next year.

Tourists from Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Japan will be given visa on arrival facility on a pilot basis for a period of one year, Sujit Banerjee, tourism secretary, said. The scheme will be applicable in airports as well as ports across the country.

The decision was taken after tourism ministry had sought introduction of the scheme for tourists coming from these countries which are potential source markets for India. Keeping in view present-day threat perception, the ministry has suggested that citizens from nine countries including Germany, Argentina, Brazil, Finland, Netherlands, Laos, Japan, Cambodia and South Africa be allowed to avail this facility.

"We will pursue extending the VoA facility to the remaining four countries as well,'' Banerjee said.

Visa on arrival facility is offered by several southeast Asian countries and proves popular with foreign tourists looking for a short break. Germany and Japan are among the top 10 source countries for India while Brazil and Netherlands have shown encouraging growth over the last year.
The modalities of implementation of the scheme are being worked out with all the stakeholders and will be notified very shortly, Banerjee said. The visa on arrival scheme is expected to provide a quantum jump in foreign tourist arrivals to India from these countries.

"We hope that visa on arrival facility will give a fillip to foreign tourist arrivals. We have kept security concerns on mind before restricting the facility to these five countries,'' a ministry source said.

Incidentally, India has already introduced long-term multiple entry visa for 18 countries including France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Vietnam in 2006.

Due to security reasons, countries like the US, UK and Pakistan are out of the list of nine countries that will be accorded the facility, officials said. But this could change once airlines offer advance passenger information.

Asian Airports Top World’s Best Airports List

The top spots of the Airports Council International (ACI)’s worldwide “Best Airport Worldwide Quality Survey (ASQ)” appraisal for 2007 Asian airports has awarded the top three spots for world’s best airports to Seoul Incheon (serving 25-49 million passengers annually) in South Korea, Kuala Lumpur International Airport (15-25 million) in Malaysia, respectively. Singapore comes third (25-49 million).

Two other Asian airports, Central Japan (5-15 million) and Hong Kong (over 40 million), were picked as winners in the five annual-passenger traffic size categories.

ASQ rankings are based on a survey of 34 airport service factors, from check-in through to departure at the gate, submitted by some 200,000 respondents.

In its appraisal, ACI said it sees “high correlation” between management commitment to service and passenger satisfaction in managing airports. “Service quality is a key discipline in the airport management process,” the group said.

According to ACI, this is the third year in a row Asia Pacific airports have garnered the three top positions in its “worldwide” category.

Incheon's management sees delivering a quality airport service as part of its overall tourism value chain - good for the airport and good for South Korea, said ACI. "This commitment is given very high priority politically as well as operationally by the airport's management."

The choice of KLIA as a triple-winner (also in the “Best Airport by Region” category) is remarkable considering it has been chosen ahead of other more established airports, including San Diego, Zurich, Vancouver and Melbourne airports in the “Size of Airport” category.

KLIA's management strategy of putting service above quality first in its objective of pursuing a "world class service" has been responsible for Malaysia being chosen, said Craig Bradbrook, program director of ACI.

Third place winner Singapore, on the other hand, has pursued this objective with determination for the past 20 years, working hard to build a reputation that has become synonymous with excellence apart from regularly introducing new services to serve passengers. "These are key factors that ensure year on year top performance levels."

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore and Changi Airport are also in line to be honored for “outstanding leadership in airport business for the past 20 years,” according to ACI director general Robert Aaronson.

A special recognition award will be awarded to Shanghai Airport Authority for its strong leadership in modernizing and expanding the airports under its authority. "They are models for our industry, individuals who are paving the way for airport excellence in times of growth and change. We want to reward them for their leadership, innovation and commitment to quality in airport service delivery,” ACI said.

Other regional winners announced are Oporto in Europe, Dallas Fort Worth in the US, Johannesburg in Africa Guayaquil in Latin America & Caribbean, and Tel Aviv in the Middle East.

ACI will hold its awards ceremony on April 1 during its two-day conference in Shanghai.