China has welcomed reports about the possible visa-on-arrival facility for its nationals in India — a move that could set the tone for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Beijing in May, and churn greater revenues revenue for the tourism industry.
“We welcome this,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, adding that China would consider reciprocation. “We are willing to work with the Indian side to facilitate the personal exchanges between the two countries and promote mutual understanding and mutual trust between two people and lay solid foundation for the bilateral cooperation,” she observed.
The Indian Tourism Ministry is advocating granting visa-on-arrival, to attract Chinese tourists who are leaving their home country in droves for travels abroad. More than 100 million Chinese tourists visited overseas destinations, spending $ 165 billion last year. However, most Chinese skip India from their itinerary of their South Asian travel, preferring, instead, the more tourist friendly Sri Lanka and Maldives.
More than 400,000 visited Maldives last year, thrice the numbers that made it to Indian destinations.
