The Indian Government enabled by Electronic Authorization (e-Tourist visa)

E-Tourist Visa Facility is available for holders of passport of following countries

Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Island, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Kiribati, Laos, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Myanmar, Nauru, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niue Island, Norway, Oman, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Philippines, Republic of Korea, Republic of Macedonia, Russia, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, UAE, Ukraine, USA, Vanuatu, Vatican City-Holy See, Vietnam.

Valley of Flowers Trek, Uttarakhand, India

Instructions for e-Tourist Visa

  • Applicants of the eligible countries may apply online minimum 4 days in advance of the date of arrival with a window of 30 days. Example : If you are applying on 1st Sept then applicant can select arrival date from 5th Sept to 4th Oct.
  • Recent front facing photograph with white background and photo page of Passport containing personal details like name,date of birth, nationality , expiry date etc. to be uploaded by the applicant. The application is liable to be rejected if the uploaded document and photograph are not clear / as per specification.
  • e-Tourist Visa (eTV) fee is US$ 60/- per passenger excluding interchange charge for credit/debit cards.The fee must be paid at least 4 days before the expected date of travel filled by you otherwise application will not be processed.
  • eTV fee once submitted is non-refundable as the fee is for processing of the application and is not dependent on either Grant or Rejection of VISA.
  • Applicant should carry a copy of eTV along with him/her at the time of travel.
  • Biometric details of the applicant will be mandatorily captured at Immigration on arrival in India.
  • The validity of visa will be 30 days from the date of arrival in India.
  • eTV is valid for entry through 9 designated Airports i.e. Bengaluru,Chennai,Cochin,Delhi ,Goa, Hyderabad,Kolkata,Mumbai & Trivandrum .However, the foreigner can take exit from any of the authorized Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) in India.
  • This facility is in addition to the existing Visa services.
  • e-Tourist Visa (eTV) is allowed for a maximum of two visits in a calendar year.
  • e-Tourist Visa (eTV) once issued on arrival is Only single entry , non-extendable , non-convertible & not valid for visiting Protected/Restricted and Cantonment Areas.
  • Applicants can track the status of their application online by clicking visa status.
  • Please be careful while making payment of the eTV fee. If the number of unsuccessful attempts is more than three (03), then the application id would be blocked and the applicant would be required to apply afresh by filling the application form again and regenerating a new application id.
  • Before re-applying, the applicants are requested to wait for 4 hours for payment status updating, after final submission of the application form and payment of the fee. The payment status updating may take up to 4 hours.
  • Nationals of Yellow Fever affected countries must carry YELLOW FEVER VACCINATION CARD at the time of arrival in India, otherwise they may be quarantined for 6 days upon arrival in India. Please visit our Ministry Of Health & Family Welfare latest guidelines regarding yellow fever countries here.
  • For any assistance call 24 * 7 Visa support center at +91-11-24300666 or send email to indiatvoa@gov.in

For detail of e-Tourist Visa, check following link

https://indianvisaonline.gov.in/visa/tvoa.html

TICC established

Department of Tourism, under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has started an initiative to gather information about tourists who have gone missing, are dead or injured in the devastating earthquake and the avalanche in the Himalayan region due to the quake. ntb

A meeting held today at the department decided to set up a Tourist Information Coordination Centre (TICC), where people from anywhere in the country can provide information on tourists who are missing, dead or injured at the toll free number ‘1144’. People can inform Tourist Police through that toll free number.

For better coordination, Rukesh Tandukar, in-charge of Tourist Police Unit and Sarad Pradhan (contact number 9851077385) of Nepal Tourism Board will be available at all times to gather information.

The centre will work directly under Director General of the department, Tulasi Prasad Gautam. It will gather information in coordination with Tourist Police, Department of Immigration, Trekking Agencies’ Association of Nepal, Nepal Mountaineering Association, Nepal Association of Tour and Trekking Agents, and Hotel Association Nepal. TICC will promptly convey the message to the rescue and relief team of the government.

This initiative is expected to address queries of foreign missions in Nepal whose citizens were visiting the country at the time of the devastating earthquake. Thousands of tourists are still unaccounted for, as per various foreign missions.

The European Union (EU) said at least 1,000 EU citizens so far are unaccounted for after the quake. Talking to The Himalayan Times, EU Ambassador to Nepal, Rensje Teerink said they did not know where their citizens are in the country. “Many could have left the country unharmed, however, it hasn’t been brought to our notice.”

source:the himalayan times

Tourism sector generated 487,000 jobs in 2014

Tourism sector generated 487,000 jobs in 2014

World Tourism News

Nepal’s tourism sector is providing 3.5 percent of the total employment in the country, directly providing 487,000 jobs in 2014, according to a research report published by World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and research partner Oxford Economics.The report, however, shows that direct job from travel trade sector is decreasing. In 2012, tourism sector had employed 553,500 people. It went down to 504,000 in 2013. However, WTTC expects that number of jobs to increase by 4 percent to 507,000 in 2015.

The report has included jobs provided by hotels and restaurants, travel agents, airlines, passenger transportation services and leisure industries.

Bhola Bickram Thapa, managing director of President Group of Companies, said that employment from tourism sector declines with the drop in tourist arrivals. “People working the tourism sector are attracted toward overseas jobs. This has also resulted to decline in number of jobs in the tourism sector,” said Thapa.

Nepal is ranked 33rd among 184 countries in terms of absolute employment creation.

It is estimated that more than 800,000 tourists visited Nepal in 2014 and the country mobilized *Rs 53.7 billion in revenue from the tourism sector. The revenue is estimated to grow by 1.1 percent to Rs 54.3 billion in 2015. Number of tourists is also expected to climb to 997,000 this year.

According to the report, the tourism industry attracted investments worth Rs 15.7 billion in 2014. It expects investment to increase by 12 percent in 2015. The sector contributed Rs 171.6 billion, or 8.9 percent, to Gross Domestic Product in 2014. The report expect tourism sector’s contribution to GDP to grow by 5.8 percent to Rs 181.6 billion, or 9 percent, in 2015.

Nepal is ranked 122nd in terms of total contribution to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Likewise, direct contribution of tourism to GDP, mainly from jobs in 2014 was, Rs 83.7 billion, or 4.3 percent of GDP. The report forecast this to rise by 5.4 percent to Rs 88.2 billion this year.

Leisure travel spending, both inbound and domestic, generated Rs 111.9 billion, which is 85.5 percent of travel and tourism GDP, compared to Rs 19.1 billion, which is 14.5 percent of total GDP from business travels.

The report has forecast leisure travel spending to grow by 4.7 percent in 2015 to Rs 117.1 billion and business travel spending to grow by 10 percent to Rs 21 billion.

According to the report, domestic travel spending generated 59 percent of direct travel and tourism GDP in 2014 compared to 41 percent of GDP by the international tourists. Domestic travel spending which was Rs 77.3 billion in 2014 is expected to grow by 8.5 percent in 2015 to Rs 83.8 billion this year.

Source: MyRepublica