Some 21,000 tourists from Ukraine visited India in 2016, Ambassador of India to Ukraine Manoj Kumar Bharti has said.
“According to our information, in 2016, around 21,000 tourists from Ukraine visited India, including 18,000 who visited India under new “visa on arrival” rules. This means that the embassy issued only around 3,000 visas for special cases,” the ambassador said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Feb. 28.
The diplomat said that everyone who wants to visit his country for the period of no more than 30 days are not obliged to come to the embassy and receive visas. It is enough to fill in the form on the website.
“Visa will be issued on the arrival for the period of up to 29 days. I am glad to say that this service will be improved in two months,” Bharti said.
He said that the key tourists’ destinations last year were Goa and Kerala beaches for beach holidays and Varanasi, Rishikesh and Hyderabad for tourists interested in Indian culture, history and philosophy.
He said that Indian tourists do not visit Ukraine due to the complicated visa registration procedure.
“At present, according to my information, there is no tourist from India. Students from India or Indian citizens and members of their families and friends come here. The main problem is the visa. It is hard to receive it. India has introduced the visa on arrival that has been in effect for six months. We would like Ukraine make counter moves,” he said.
Bharti said that Indian tourists could bring around $37 million to the Ukrainian economy.
