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India emerges top medical, tourist spot for Omanis

By Mrudu Naik MUSCAT: If statistics are any indication, India is growing as a top holiday as well as medical destination for Omani nationals.
The sheer large number of applications implies that the Indian embassy has been working overtime to process these.

The number of visas issued to Omanis this year alone by the Indian Embassy -- from January to June 2011 -- has already reached a staggering 25,576. The embassy had issued 31,463 visas to Omanis in 2009 and 35,569 visas in 2010. The visas issued included both tourist and medical visas.

Growing popularity
Anil Wadhwa, Indian ambassador to the Sultanate said, "The all time high (figure) was reached when we received and processed 461 visa applications in just one day last month. In June alone, 6,400 visas were issued.

"I would attribute this to the growing popularity of India as a holiday destination among Omani nationals," the ambassador noted, while also advising Omanis travelling to India to take the "right visa".

Wadhwa said, "Those going for medical visas have to pay higher fees; that's why people try to go on tourist visas, which is incorrect.

"Medical visa is given for that specific purpose; the only added advantage is that there are multiple entries allowed. For tourist visa, you need to wait for two months between two entries.
"Medical visa has three entries within any time frame. Nowadays, if Immigration suspects someone they ask questions and then the person has to go back. It is therefore advisable to try to take a proper medical visa."

There has been a tourism boom in India; the country registered an impressive growth in tourism during the year 2010. The number of foreign tourist visitors to India from all parts of the world during the year 2010 stood at 17.9 million as compared to 14.4 million in 2009. This shows an impressive growth of 24.2 per cent over 2009.

According to the Ministry of Tourism, foreign tourist arrivals (FTAs) during the month of June 2011 was a whopping 3.96 lakh as compared to 3.70 lakh during the month of June 2010 and 3.52 lakh in June 2009. There has been a growth of 7.2 per cent in June 2011 over June 2010 as compared to a growth of 4.9 per cent registered in June 2010 over June 2009. The 7.2 per cent growth rate in FTAs in June, 2011 was higher than seven per cent growth rate observed in May, 2011.

FTAs during the period January-June 2011 were 29.19 lakh with a growth of 10.9 per cent as compared to the FTAs of 26.32 lakh with a growth of 8.9 per cent during January-June 2010 over the corresponding period of 2009.

(1 lakh = 100,000)

© Times of Oman 2011