Thanks to the upcoming liberal visa regime, it would be far easier for the citizens of India and Pakistan to visit each other’s country for group tourism.
Thanks to the upcoming liberal visa regime, it would be far easier for the citizens of India and Pakistan to visit each other’s country for group tourism, business trips and for religious and medical purposes.
The ministry of home affairs has prepared a draft proposal which, after getting the nod of Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), is expected to pave the way for inking of a liberal visa regime agreement during the forthcoming home secretary-level talks in Islamabad in late December.
The reciprocal move is expected to increase the volume of tourists several folds from the current figure of approximately 50,000 tourists per year.
The MHA’s note, a by-product of a couple of Joint Working Group meetings, puts emphasis on establishing more people-to-people contact by promoting group, religious and medical tourism and business visits and is expected to go for the CCS clearance soon.
With a view to promote tourism, the MHA has proposed group tourism to be conducted through authorised tour operators who would be responsible for tourists conduct and their safe journey back home.
Groups having about 10 to 50 members will be allowed to visit several places of historical, scenic and leisure interests through a pre-decided itinerary that would be submitted by the tour operators in advance.
To facilitate better and convenient access to tourists, number of cities that the tourists can go to would be increased to a maximum of five from the current three and the tourists will be allowed to keep the point of exit different from the point of entry.
For business purposes, there would be two types of visas - for big businessmen having a turnover of more than 5 million Pakistani rupees and for smaller businessmen. Big businessmen will be allowed multiple entry visas and will also not require to report to the local police stations.
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