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The Moscow City Tourism Committee is in discussions with the Indian government for a 'group-free visa regime,' allowing a specified number of tourists travelling together in a group to enter Russia without a visa. "When there is a group of tourists travelling together to Russia, the particular number should be mentioned in the document for the visit to become visa free. For example, in the Chinese document, the group should be 10-20 people. We are in talks with the Indian External Affairs Ministry for a final agreement on the number of people comprising a group from India to avail this facility," Moscow City Tourism Committee Chairman Evgeny Kozlov told PTI on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday evening. Kozlov further said India is an important country and ranks second in terms of source market among far abroad countries after China. "India is a priority market for us. For us among the far abroad countries, China ranks at the number one position, followed by India. Indians are .
An Indian-American member of the Presidential Commission for Asian-Americans has welcomed the move to release an additional 2.5 lakh visa appointments by the US Mission in India. The US Mission in India opened the additional slots for travellers -- including tourists, skilled workers and students -- officials said on Monday. The recently released slots will help Indian applicants take timely interviews, facilitating the travel which is the backbone of the people-to-people ties that underpin the US-India relationship, they said. Reacting to the development, Ajay Bhutoria -- a member of the President's Advisory Commission on Asian-Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPI) -- said on Monday, "This is the direct result of one of my recommendations submitted earlier on the White House AANHPI commission. "I am grateful to the US Embassy in India, particularly (US) Ambassador (to India) Eric Garcetti, for their dedicated efforts in addressing visa appointment wait times.
Southeast Asian countries have emerged as the favourite destinations for Indian travellers planning short vacations abroad, while the United States, Europe, and Australia were among the preferences for long stays, according to a survey released on Monday. According to OYO Global Summer Vacations Travelopedia 2024: Southeast Asia has emerged as the top choice of Indian tourists for shorter stays of 5-7 days, making the most of long weekends and holidays after visa relaxation. The final sample size comprised around 4,000 respondents, providing a data set to analyse emerging trends and preferences in the overseas travel behaviour of Indian tourists. Bali emerged as the top destination with 38 per cent respondents voting in its favour, closely followed by Pattaya, Bangkok, and Dubai. Southeast Asian destinations such as Indonesia and Malaysia emerged as preferred countries following relaxed visa norms, OYO said. Europe and the United States of America emerged as the top choice for ...