The Minister of State for Tourism (Independent Charge), Culture (Independent Charge) and Civil Aviation, Dr Mahesh Sharma has said that the Incredible India Tourist Helpline will be started in 12 International languages within a period of two months to assist the tourists visiting India. Dr Mahesh Sharma was addressing a workshop on ‘Tourism Image & Impact’jointly organised by the Ministry of Tourism, CNN and UNWTO in New Delhi today. The Helpline is currently operational in two languages ie English and Hindi.
Tourism depends to a large extent on the image of the country and the Ministry is making all efforts to facilitate the tourists to create a favourable impact on tourism, the Minister explained.Dr Mahesh Sharma emphasized that tourism is high on priority of the government and the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has become the biggest ambassador to promote India across the globe.
Dr Mahesh Sharma informed that the government will make e- tourist visa available for 150 countries by March 2016. More than 1.5 lakh people from 76 countries have received e-tourist visa since its introduction in November last year, he added. The Secretary of Union Ministry of Tourism, Dr Lalit K Panwar and senior officials of Ministry of Tourism as well as officials of state tourism departments also participated at the workshop.