Goa Airport including five more international airports across the country, will now offer visa on arrival facilities to foreign tourists. Currently this facility is operational only at four international airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.
It was decided at the third inter-ministerial coordination committee meeting to extend Visa on Arrival (VoA) facility at Goa, Trivandrum, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi airports. The government has permitted VoA facility for citizens of 11 countries – Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Philippines, Myanmar and Indonesia.
Tourism Minister, Dilip Parulekar’s constant follow up on with the Tourism Ministry has yielded results on the visa on arrival issue. “Goa Tourism is currently in the process of improving the infrastructure and expanding the Dabolim airport premises to facilitate this development,” he said.
Francisco de Braganca, President, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) welcomed the decision of the Central Government to extend the visa on arrival facility to Goa airport. However, he feels it should have been extended to countries like Russia and the Scandinavian countries as well.
“We therefore need to push the Central Government to include Russia, other Scandinavian countries, Western Europe including UK. The Union Tourism Ministry had in fact pushed for all these countries, excluding the UK, but the approval granted by the Home Ministry is restricted to certain countries,” he said.
Infrastructure facilities at the Goa International Airport Vasco-da-Gama Airport at Dabolim are being upgraded and more amenities being set up. This includes exclusive visa desks, holding area, special enclosure for photographing foreign nationals, foreign exchange counter, proper signage and display, and telephone connections.
