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IndiGo CEO urges visa, travel reforms to boost India's inbound tourism

India should reform its visa process and make travel easier for foreign visitors to boost inbound tourism, as it currently attracts only a 'handful' of overseas travellers compared with neighbours like Thailand, IndiGo CEO Pieter Elbers said on Wednesday. 'We have 44 UNESCO heritage sites in India. Thailand has eight. We have mountains, the seas, the backwaters. We have culture, festivals, music, food, everything. And yet, it (India) attracts a handful of foreigners. So, I would say that the opportunity is out there,' he said at a tourism conclave organised by Federation Of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH). India welcomed about 9.95 million foreign tourists in 2024, up from 9.52 million in 2023 but still below the 10.93 million recorded in 2019. Thailand, by contrast, attracted around 35.55 million visitors last year, a 26.3 per cent rise from 2023. When asked what could be done to boost inbound tourism in India, Elbers replied, 'The opportunity of inbound tourism is enormous. But you need to get certain things in place. I heard the discussion here about trade conferences. Trade conferences come if other stuff is properly in order. Otherwise, it is throwing good money after not very effective elements.' 'Citizens from about 70 countries in the world can travel to China without a visa. People from about 90 countries in the world can travel to Thailand without a visa. People from three countries -- Bhutan, Nepal and the Maldives -- in the world can travel to India without a visa. These are statistics in themselves. So, one, I would say, is the visa structure,' he added. He mentioned that even though the visa processing fee in India is low, even the cheapest visa has $10 fees. 'It is not the issue of money but the inconvenience. You need to go to the site, then upload the pictures, then you need to do the payment, and then payment doesn't work. That is not a very smooth process, to say the least,' Elbers noted. 'You see foreigners coming to a hotel -- how many copies of the passport they need to make? They have the visa already. Why do you need to take ten copies of their passports? They have their visa,' he stated IndiGo CEO said the second issue that has to be resolved to boost inbound tourism is the 'ease of travel and ease of going around' in the country. 'I live here so I know my way around. But, every now and then, I see some clueless foreigner standing on the street corner somewhere, who needs to go somewhere,' he explained. He said that the third issue is the 'promotion and the activities around it'. 'Few years ago, we had that Incredible India campaign, which was a phenomenal campaign. But it makes sense if you have the first two things in place. So I think the opportunity is clearly there,' he said. IndiGo is building the flight network infrastructure with its flights but 'we need to make sure that the rest of the system gets in place' as well.