Taiwan has intensified efforts to boost publicity about its streamlined visa application procedure in India in a bid to attract more Indian tourists.
Tourism Bureau representative office in Singapore director Hsieh Chang-ming (謝長明) visited Mumbai earlier this week to promote the newly announced streamlined application process.
Taiwan launched the new visa application procedure on Nov. 1, targeting tourists from five countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia — Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and India.
Under the new procedure, tourists from the five countries no longer need to submit documents on work and finances with their visa applications, as long as they travel as part of group tours arranged by select travel agencies working with the bureau.
In addition, tourists from the five countries traveling as part of incentive tour packages provided by enterprises are eligible for the new application procedure. The program allows Taiwan to issue visas to tourists in the five countries within 14 days, Hsieh said.
However, Hsieh said the new procedure is not well-known to travel agencies in India. After his office held talks with Indian tourism officials, many travel agencies showed significant interest in the new program.
Hsieh said that Taiwan is not well-known in India, so it is necessary for Taiwan to promote its attractions to potential visitors from the South Asian country.
Last year, foreign visitors to Taiwan totaled 9.9 million, while tourists from India numbered only 30,168, according to statistics compiled by the bureau.
Hsieh said that India represents a great potential market for Taiwan’s tourism industry, so the bureau is determined to invest more resources to help Indian people learn more about the nation.
The bureau is to launch several promotional campaigns in India in the near future, Hsieh said, adding that he has suggested that Indian travel agencies provide packages that allow Indian tourists to visit Hong Kong and Taiwan on the same trip, or to travel to Taiwan and Macau in a single package.
He said that Indian tourists could also take cruise ships departing from Taiwan for Japan.
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