After tasting success in scaling up the number of foreign tourists through visa on arrival-enabled electronic travel authorisation for 43 countries, the government is geared up to extend the facility to 150 countries in a phased manner.
“After the success of visa on arrival issued to travellers of 43 countries, I propose to increase the countries covered to 150, in stages,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while presenting the Budget 2015-16 in the Lok Sabha on Saturday.
The Tourism Ministry was allocated Rs.1,573 crore in the 2015-16 fiscal as against the revised estimate of Rs.1,182.99 crore for the previous fiscal. The Culture Ministry has got Rs.2,169 crore for the next fiscal as against Rs.2,159 crore in the last financial year.
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“I propose to provide resources to start work for nine heritage sites including churches and convents of old Goa, Hampi (Karnataka), Elephanta Caves (Mumbai), Kumbalgarh and other hill forts of Rajasthan, Rani ki Vav at Patan in Gujarat, Leh Palace in Ladakh, Varanasi temple town in UP, Jallianwala Bagh at Amritsar and Qutub Shahi tombs in Hyderabad,” Mr. Jaitley said.