What’s the relationship between the number of tourists who visit a country and its visa policy? Some excellent data on this question will soon become available from India, which last week rolled out a new visa-on-arrival policy for citizens of 43 countries, including the U.S.
The new ruling is a long-awaited and much-needed one. India currently accounts for a measly 0.8 percent of foreign tourist arrivals in the world, or just under 7 million people in 2013. That suggests that the kind of foreign direct investment it really needs is more from individual tourists than from big multinationals such as Wal-Mart.
