Tourism ministry has launched an initiative for providing pre-loaded SIM cards to foreign tourists arriving in India on e-Visa. The announcement was made by Dr Mahesh Sharma, minister of state for tourism and culture, in the presence of Vinod Zutshi, secretary, Ministry of Tourism; J S Deepak, secretary, Ministry of Communications and other senior officers.
This initiative is expected to facilitate foreign tourists in communicating with their acquaintances immediately after their arrival in India. The initiative has been launched in association with Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL), wherein the telecom corporation will distribute pre-loaded SIM cards to foreign tourists arriving in India on e-Visa. This facility will be initially available at the Indira Gandhi International Airport (T3 Terminal), New Delhi and later cover 15 other international airports, where e-Visa facility is currently available.
To avail pre-loaded SIM cards, BSNL will collect e-Visa copy and the first page of passport from foreign tourists on arrival at the airport. SIM cards will be pre-loaded with a value of INR 50 talk time and 50 MB data and will be activated on immediate basis so as to enable them use this facility instantly.
Earlier, the Ministry of Tourism had also launched a 24/7 tourist helpline in 12 foreign languages to provide the required information to foreign tourists in their own languages. Sharma presented the first kit containing a SIM card to a representative of travel and tourism sector.
