Electronic visa system or e-visa has incredibly propelled tourist arrivals and 7.7 million tourists visited the country last year.
“The inflow of foreign tourists is higher than the global average. Though tourism had constantly registered a positive growth, e-visa has drawn tourists like never before,” said Soheb Samad, Regional Director (South), India Tourism.
Speaking after inaugurating the 18th annual conference of Tourist Guides’ Federation of India (TGFI) here, Mr. Samad said the tourism sector had achieved 10.6 per cent growth in 2014, an increase of 4.7 per cent from the previous year.
Touring India has been made easy by introducing the e-tourist visa facility for 76 countries.
Mr. Samad said tourism is one of the biggest job providers in the country and 9 per cent employment comes from this sector. The tourism industry employs six times more people than the automotive industry; four times more than the mining industry and three times more than the financial sector, he added.
Describing tourist guides as the country’s tourism ambassadors, he said, “India tourism will always stand by the guides and safeguard their interests. The policy on training regional guides had been modified.”
In his introductory speech, TGFI national president Narendra Singh Rathore said tourism culture was missing in Karnataka despite having high potential. A lot of attention was essential to promote the State and the TGFI had decided to explore and promote tourism in Karnataka.
Arun Raj, Superintendent, Archaeological Survey of India, Bengaluru circle, said Karnataka tourism is planning a six-month course for guides and an expert from ASI had been included in the panel to train them.
He advised the guides to update their knowledge about the history of archaeological sites and share more about the country’s culture, customs and heritage with foreign tourists.
