<div><em>Tourism industry is expecting 15 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals in the current fiscal, reports <strong>Haider Ali</strong></em><br><br>Tour operators and those in tourism and hospitality sector can expect better business as as the Government of India has extended the tourist e-visa facility to 76 countries. Winters are when foreign tourists from countries in Europe and Middle East visit India and now with the introduction of e-visa facilities tourism industry will likely see a rise in number of arrivals and pre-bookings.</div><div> </div><div>The NDA government introduced the e-tourist visa in November last year and initially citizens of only 12 countries were eligible for this.</div><div> </div><div>Tourism industry is expecting 15 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals in the current fiscal. The average annual growth was about 10 per cent in the last three years. Foreign tourist arrivals grew by 8.2 per cent over the previous year to 77 lakh during 2014-15.</div><div> </div><div>Achin Khanna, managing director for consulting and valuation practice at HVS South Asia said, "Given all the tourism push and thrust by the central government and the fact that overall we are seeing more interest from foreign tourists, both corporate and leisure, the growth may trump what you have seen in the past and you could see a 12-15 per cent growth in foreign tourist arrivals this year."</div><div> </div><div>According to the tourism ministry, the number of tourists under the e-tourist visa scheme grew to 1,26,214 in the six months to June, compared to 11,953 tourists under the visa on arrival scheme in the year-ago period. </div><div> </div><div>Under the e-tourist visa scheme, foreign tourists can apply for a visa by uploading their passport and photograph and paying the visa fee online. The authorities process the application and send an electronic travel authorisation or e-visa through email within 72 hours.</div><div> </div><div>While the occupancy rates declined from 60.6 per cent in 2010-11 to 57.8 per cent in 2012-13, average room rates too declined to Rs 5,531 in 2013-14 from Rs 6,513 in 2010-11.</div><div> </div><div>Mandeep Lamba, MD, India, hotels and hospitality group, JLL said: "The hotel industry is likely to see a highly reduced new supply of 4 per cent in 2015-16 which would result in occupancies showing an increase of 5-6 per cent over last year along with a corresponding gentle increase in average daily rates leading to a top line growth for the hotel industry of 6-7 per cent."</div><div> </div><div>In the first quarter of this fiscal, India received 15.5 lakh foreign tourists. If the projection of 15 per cent growth were to come true, at least 72.7 lakh foreign tourist arrivals are expected between July 2015 and March 2016. </div><div> </div><div> </div>
