New Delhi, May 28: The Australian High Commission in New Delhi is celebrating a new landmark – for the first time in its history it has issued more than 100,000 tourism visas to Indians in a single financial year.
Australia’s High Commissioner to India, Mr.Patrick Suckling, felicitated New Delhi resident Manoj Saraogi, who received the 100,000th tourism visa issued in the 2013-14 Australian financial year. Saraogi’s wife and two children also attended the event.
Saraogi and his family will leave New Delhi next week for a holiday to The Gold Coast, Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney.
High Commissioner Suckling gave Saraogi and his wife a gift to mark the occasion- two free Bridge Climb vouchers, which will allow them both to climb to the top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and get a bird’s eye view of Sydney’s beautiful harbour.
“I’m sure Mr.Saraogi and his family will have a wonderful time in Australia,” Suckling said.
He added: “They will not only get the chance to enjoy Sydney’s iconic sights, they will also be able to relax on the Gold Coast’s stunning beaches, and explore one of the world’s greatest living treasures- The Great Barrier Reef.”
Suckling said Saraogi and his family will join an increasing number of Indians who are travelling to Australia for tourism, business, and to visit friends and family.
“The number of Indian visitors to Australia in the first three months of 2014 jumped by 10 per cent, fuelled by increasing numbers of tourists, and people visiting friends and family within the growing Indian diaspora in Australia”, Suckling said.
” Tourism is vital part of the broader bilateral relationship between India and Australia, and we expect that these numbers will keep on growing,” he said.
India the 11th largest source of visitors to Australia (173,000 for the year ended March 2014). The visitors forecast to nearly double by 2020. The average turnaround time for procuring an Australian tourist visas is two to three days. Around 180,000 Australian visitors to India each year.
There were 16,000 visitors from India during the month of March 2014, bringing the total for the three months (YTD) to 43,800, an increase of 10.4 per cent relative to the same period previous year.
Total arrivals for the year ended (YE) March 2014 were 173,000, an increase of 10.3 per cent relative to the same period previous year.
Leisure arrivals during this period however increased by 19.6 per cent.
By Ashok Dixit
