The Hindu : National : 'Welcome service' for a fee at airports

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 11, 2004

National

National

'Welcome service' for a fee at airports

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 10 . Next time you step into an international airport in the country and look for somebody to help you through the immigration procedures, checks and luggage booking, chances are that you will find assistance _but at a cost.

In a bid to offer better amenities at the major international airports, the Civil Aviation Ministry has decided to offer a `swagat seva' (welcome service) for those who can pay to see them through various procedures at the airport.

Though the Ministry has not specified the time from when it proposes to launch the service, it is likely to start before the tourism season that begins in November.

Tourism promotion

At a meeting between the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Praful Patel, and the Tourism Minister, Renuka Chaudhury, here today, it was decided to chalk out a joint action plan to promote tourism in a big way. The two Ministers also decided to approach the Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, to provide better immigration facilities at the international airports. "We want faster immigration clearance and more counters at the airports," Mr. Patel said.

It was decided to set up an inter-ministerial group of the two Ministries to identify areas where they could work together in attracting more international tourists.

The Ministries would also work towards making the `Incredible India' campaign more vibrant and holistic.

Ms. Chaudhury expressed concern over the lack of security for women at airports and cited instances of fleecing by taxi operators and touts.

The Civil Aviation Secretary, Ajay Prasad, said the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which provides security inside airports, would be asked to deploy its personnel outside airports too at taxi stands and parking lots.

The Civil Aviation Ministry decided to take up development plans soon for 22 non-metro and six metro airports.

The Tourism Ministry said that it would pick up the airports from the list of 22 for increasing the tourist flow.

These include Bhubaneswar, Mysore, Jaisalmer, Udaipur and Gaya. Mr. Patel said more aircraft capacity would be made available in the market before the peak tourist season began.

Tourist arrivals

Foreign tourist arrivals in July this year registered a 25 per cent increase over the arrivals in July last year, from 2,18,333 to 2,74,226.

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