India's government today announced that its Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would again begin granting tourist visas to foreign visitors after an 18-month hiatus caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Beginning October 15, the government will resume issuing fresh tourist visas to foreigners who are arriving in India via chartered flights only, according to an MHA press release. International travelers looking to come to India on commercial flights will have to wait until November 15, it said.
"The COVID pressure has eased up considerably and so the government has decided to open up the economy further. However, we are taking one step at a time as we do not want an influx of tourists suddenly. So, initially chartered flights are being allowed. Tourists can together themselves or through a travel company, and hire a chartered flight to visit India. Regular tourist operations will begin only from November 15," a home ministry official said, according to The Indian Express.
The MHA had received appeals from several state governments and tourism sector stakeholders to restart tourism visas. The ministry said that it met with all major stakeholders like the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Ministry of Tourism and various State Governments where foreign tourists are expected to arrive," before coming to a decision.
This latest step follows India's tentative reopening to certain types of international travelers in recent months, as it permitted foreigners to enter the country on other types of visas, including diplomatic, business or student visas. Prior to that, India had entirely suspended the issuance of visas for foreign travelers as of March 2020 in an effort to stifle the spread of COVID-19.
Still, India became the global epicenter of the pandemic earlier this year when the highly contagious Delta variant emerged there. During the peak period of the Delta variant's surge from April to May, the virus killed thousands of Indians on a daily basis.
The situation has since changed, although the Delta variant spread to other parts of the globe, causing fresh surges in infection elsewhere. Now, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have lowered India's travel advisory to 'Level 2: Moderate Risk', which translates to recommendations that travelers be fully vaccinated before visiting and avoid nonessential travel there if they're unvaccinated.
CNN Travel reported that, in pre-pandemic 2019, India saw 10.6 million foreign tourist arrivals and, in 2018, reported foreign exchange earnings from tourism of $28.6 billion. Just 18.6 percent of the country's population of nearly 1.4 billion is fully vaccinated again COVID-19 thus far.
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