Welcoming foreign guests

With the Covid-19 situation easing significantly in India and the country back to near normalcy as most sectors have been gradually opened, it is apt that the Home Ministry should be keen on allowing foreign tourists in. Of course, their entry would have to be conditional, with vaccination or Covid-negative report of the visitor as also a negative list of nations reporting huge caseloads of infected patients being among the top imperatives. Foreign tourism has been among the most impacted fields since the pandemic broke out and lockdowns were imposed. Importantly, along with it, the related beleaguered hospitality and aviation sectors — employing millions — too stand a chance of revival.

However, with the threat of a third Covid-19 wave looming large, a lot more than just giving the green signal is required to lure tourists. While waiving the visa fees for the first five lakh foreigners is an attractive offer, it can work only in tandem with ensuring a robust medical infrastructure. An urgent sprucing up of the facilities is needed to win the confidence of the coveted guests on this crucial score. Tie-ups of hotels, tourist spots and other stakeholders with hospitals assuring prompt medical attention could be a good selling point.

It is time to take action so as to bring this stressed industry, tottering on the brink of collapse, back on track. Riding on it are multi-billion-dollar implications for India’s economy. The statistics are grim. A massive 97 per cent fall in foreign tourist arrivals was recorded from March to December 2020 in comparison with the same period the previous year. This, in turn, became the main trigger for the 76 per cent decline in Foreign Exchange Earnings in 2020 vis-a-vis 2019. A study by the National Council of Applied Economic Research has found that almost 22 million jobs were lost in the three quarters of 2020-21 after the lockdown. The stimulus packages announced by the government have given little succour to the dented incomes of these millions of workers. A lot is definitely at stake.