India to start rolling out free SIM cards foreign tourists on e-tourist visas

Foreign tourists to India who chose to avail the Government’s electronic Tourist Visa (eTV) scheme will soon get SIM cards on their entry into India. The Home Ministry said that it is providing the offer on a vital endorsement for advancement of India’s tourism industry as sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Tourism said. The move is not only to pull in more overseas visitors to make India a world famous tourism destination, but also to address international and domestic security concerns; authorities are conscious of the decision’s probable effects and uses. The Tourism Ministry's proposition was communicated by the Foreigners Division - the Ministry of Home Affairs and the gesture shows as a major aspect towards the bigger objective of attracting more visitors to India.

The new scheme will give a whole set of gifts rather than only a SIM Card. This gift will comprise of a SIM card, national and territorial guide booklets, and a CD containing data about different traveller destinations. However as the announcement reads, this just applies to sightseers who come to India on an e-visitor visa (eTV), which at this moment is just pertinent to 113 nations, with arrangements to raise current numbers to 150 nations by the 31^st of March this year. Travelers can land at 16 assigned air terminal destinations across India on an eTV.

This takes after a new scheme by South Korea which is said to start giving out free cell phone rentals to sightseers who apply for it. Given that correspondence is vital when making a trip to new and overseas destinations where you may not speak the local language, these type of schemes would be an enormous comfort. India too is attempting to roll out with creative models of communication specific schemes that globetrotters can arrange for.

As per respective authorities, tourist numbers between the months of January to November in 2015, an aggregate of 3,41,683 sightseers touched base on e-vacationer visas (eTV) when contrasted with 24,963 amid the same time of the year before.

For more news updates on tourism and visa news, subscribe to our newsletter at y-axis.com.