LAHORE, March 5: Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) President Balbir S Mayal has said the governments of Pakistan and India should ease visa restrictions to boost travel and tourism, which will ultimately strengthen their economies.
Mr Mayal, who is leading a 16-member tourism delegation, said this while talking to Dawn after his arrival at a local hotel on Friday. The delegation, including seven women, has been invited by the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan (TAAP) and will stay in Lahore for four days to discuss organizing a joint conference "Tourism - bridge to peace and prosperity" with its Pakistani counterparts and the tourism ministry officials.
The conference will be organized by the Pacific Asia Travel Association in Lahore by the end of the next month. Mr Mayal, a Sialkot born, said the peace steps taken by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Gen Pervez Musharraf had been welcomed by one and all, as people of both the countries wanted to live like brothers.
He said the delegation would request the Pakistani and Indian governments to ensure that there should be no problem for people to travel between the two countries.
"There should be no visas for Pakistanis and Indians to move between the two countries, except for arrival and departure," he added. He said all the Saarc countries also should join hands to develop confidence among people. People-to-people contact was the need of the hour, he added.
He stressed that people in both the countries should try to remain in touch with each other and promote tourism. The TAAI would also invite a TAAP delegation.
PATA chairman-elect Ram Kohli said the tourism between the two neighbours had so much potential and scope that they could prosper even if no other country's tourist would come to this region.
Mr Kohli said 300 Indian delegates were expected to attend the forthcoming conference. Answering a question, he said, a large number of Indians had been through many parts of the world, but they wanted to see new places in Pakistan. Many others wanted to visit religious places and pre-partition dwellings in Pakistan.
A lot of people wanted to come to Pakistan to watch the cricket matches. "Long queues of people can be witnessed outside embassies," he added. Indian delegation's host, TAAP vice-chairman Muhammad Akhtar Mumunka, said the Pakistan government must consider allowing more and more people from India to visit here and boost its economy.
He said there were not much security concerns for the general tourists. Besides women delegates, TAAI's honorary treasurer Kavi S Kohli, M S Chawla, Sanjay Seth, Niranjan Gupta, S K Chopra, Gladwyn Pinto and Harkirpal Singh are part of the visiting delegation.
