Friday, February 18 2005 15:52 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The Group of Ministers (GoM) on Tourism has recommended visa-on-arrival for select countries on an experimental basis in Delhi and Mumbai and allow foreign airlines to operate during peak period without any commercial agreements.

The GoM headed by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh has also recommended increase in air seat capacity to key source tourism markets for India.

At a recent meeting, the GoM consisting of Ministers of Tourism, Parliamentary Affairs and Urban Development, Culture and Information and Broadcasting, Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, Overseas Industry and Urban Poverty Alleviation discussed various other issues including shortage of hotel accommodation.

It decided to set up a task force with representatives from Ministries of Railways, Civil Aviation, Urban Development, Tourism, DDA, Planning Commission, Finance Corporation of India and tourism industry to look into modalities of augmenting accommodation capacity in the country, an official release said today (Feb 18, 2005).

The task force would also consider permitting the setting up of hotels on land allotted on lease basis, private land and on the land falling within a periphery of four kms of international airports with public-private partnership to meet the growing demand for rooms in metro cities.

It was also decided that an Immigration Facilitation Group would be set up very soon for effecting improvements in the immigration functions at the international airports, the release added.