India reopens borders to mass tourism

NEW DELHI • India has reopened its borders to mass foreign tourism, ending a 20-month clampdown as coronavirus infections across the country remain low and vaccination rates rise.

After halting tourist visas in March last year, India is now allowing quarantine-free entry for fully inoculated travellers from 99 reciprocating countries. Singapore is on the list.

The government requires such tourists to monitor their health for only 14 days after arrival.

Since last month, tourists on chartered flights had already been granted entry and the Indian authorities expanded that to arrivals on commercial flights yesterday.

Many Indians have been flocking to domestic tourist hot spots in recent weeks, such as the western coastal state of Goa and the mountainous north, as a deadly second Covid-19 wave faded out after triggering peak infection rates of more than 400,000 daily cases in early May.

Families also gathered this month to celebrate Deepavali, the country's largest festival, with new virus cases staying well below 15,000 a day.

Meanwhile, the immunisation campaign has picked up pace, with more than a billion vaccine doses administered, and antibody surveys suggest that most Indians have already been exposed to Covid-19.

While national infection levels have in recent weeks touched lows last seen earlier in the year, there are concerns that the easing of curbs would lead to a complacency similar to when India experienced an ebb between its two major waves.

Separately, the director of tourism at Indian Railway Catering and Tourism, Ms Rajni Hasija, said on a post-earnings call earlier this month that the lowering of restrictions places the travel industry in a very good position.

However, she added a note of caution, saying: "The risk of the third wave is still not completely behind (us)."

BLOOMBERG