New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) India’s tourism sector has received a severe knocking due to global meltdown, swine flu and the Mumbai terror attack, but the government is taking several initiatives, including allowing visa on arrival for five countries.
Tourism Minister Kumari Selja Tuesday said that the tourism sector faced a difficult situation in 2008 and 2009.

She said from 2005 to 2007, the foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) registered an average annual growth rate of about 15 percent, but it started dipping from November 2008 after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack and continued through 2009.

“With a view to effectively reduce the impact of global slowdown, Mumbai terror attacks and swine flu scare, we have taken a number of initiatives in the recent past to aggressively promote tourism in the country,” she said at the National Tourism Advisory Council, an advisory body, meeting here.

However, she said the negative trend of growth was not specific to India alone as a similar trend was observed in other countries too.

Till October this year, about 4.02 million foreign tourists visited India. The figure was seven percent lower compared to the corresponding period last year.

In 2008, a total of 5.37 million tourists had visited India.

She said among the several initiatives, the government has taken this year was to introduce visa on arrival for select countries.

“The government has decided to introduce visa on arrival on a pilot basis for citizens of Singapore, Finland, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Japan,” she added.

She said the ministry has also launched a series of promotional campaigns in the overseas markets, including road shows in the Middle East countries where the focus was to promote specifically wellness tourism.

Selja said common ticketing for tourists visiting various monuments in Delhi was also introduced.

“We are making all efforts to ensure that the experiences of tourists, particularly during the Commonwealth Games, are worth sharing so that most of them become repeat visitors to India in future years,” she said.

She, however, added that the inflow of the domestic and foreign tourists could be ensured only when they are provided safe and secure environment.