In 2015, international tourist arrivals peaked worldwide, with a record 1,184 million overnight visitors – a 4.4-percent growth or an increase of 50 million tourists who traveled to an international¹ destination during the year. This marked an impressive six consecutive years of above-average growth in the industry, with international travels increasing by four percent or more every year since the post-crisis year of 2010. ²

There is no doubt that tourism continues to expand and diversify, and has become one of the fastest-growing economic sectors in the world. It can be a key driver of socio-economic progress through the creation of jobs and enterprises, export revenues, and infrastructure development. Thus, countries across the globe have started to put in place strategies that help ease tourism. Visa facilitation, for one, is beginning to gain momentum as a strategic tool.

In 2015, 61 percent of all the world's travelers required a traditional visa from the embassy of their destination prior to departure—this ³ represents a fall from 77 percent in 2008. Between 2010 and 2015, a total of 54 destinations made a significant reform in their visa processes for citizens of at least 30 countries, by changing their visa policies from “traditional visa” to either “e-visa”, “visa on arrival”, or “no visa required”.

India is one such country that has moved to evisa. Whereas — in a move away from the traditional visa process —it used to provide “visa on arrival” to citizens of 12 countries, India now has “e-visa” provisions for citizens of 150 countries. While this may appear impressive, however, India received below one percent share of foreign tourist arrivals in the international tourist arrivals in 2015. One of the reasons for such a low uptake is the country's lax attempt at visa facilitation. For instance, the design and implementation of the e-visa policy has been such that since its implementation on 27 November 2014, only six percent per year of foreign travelers to India have opted for an e-visa while the remaining 94 percent opted for a “traditional” visa. This raises questions on whether India's evisa policy can make a real impact on the country's tourism sector, in particular, and on the national economy, in general.

This paper examines the reasons why reception to India's e-visa facility has been lukewarm. It analyses the trends in India's e-visa policy and discusses some lessons that the country can learn from other countries on the same path of visa-policy reforms, including Cambodia, Kenya and Sri Lanka. The paper argues that the Indian initiative is rather poorly implemented, and offers recommendations for fixing the shortcomings. The findings of this paper are of interest to a wide audience, as the movement of persons is crucial not only for tourism but also for businesses that want to connect to global value chains as well as overseas partners.

• Indian Foreign Policy
• India

The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.

PREV NEXT