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Tourists from 11 countries will be able to arrive at two airports in the southern Indian state of Kerala without visa from the 66th Independence Day of the country on August 15.

The international airports at Trivandrum and Cochin will provide them visa on their arrival. The facility has been made available as part of the federal tourism ministry’s plan to double the number of foreign tourist arrivals in three to four years.

Along with two airports in Kerala, the Tourist Visa on Arrival (T-VoA) is also being made available in Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. With this the number of airports with this facility will go up to eight. The other airports where the facility is already available are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

The T-VoA facility will make Kerala the gateway to India for people from Finland, Singapore, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Myanmar, Laos and Indonesia.

It is expected to give a big fillip to the Kerala tourism. Tourism has emerged as a driver of the economy with the revenue from the sector showing steady increase over the years. The sector contributed Rs211 billion to the economy in 2012 as compared to Rs190 billion in 2011.

The foreign exchange earnings during the year went up from Rs42 billion in 2011 to Rs45 billion in 2012. Over 10 million domestic and 794,000 foreign tourists visited Kerala last year, according to tourism department officials.

The officials said that T-VoA facility would help the industry get tourists round the year. They said many tourists were skipping India and going to other destinations due to stringent visa conditions. The tourists arriving in airports with T-VoA facility will be able to get the visa with a maximum validity of 30 days without any problem.

The objectives of the visit should only be recreation, sightseeing, and meeting friends or relatives and ‘no other purpose or activity will be allowed.’ Those applying for the visa should not have a residence or occupation in India and should hold a passport with minimum six-month validity.

Airport officials at Trivandrum said all infrastructure facilities, as mandated by the Bureau of Immigration (BOI), have been created in the airport to make the process smooth. There will be exclusive visa desks, special enclosure for taking photographs, foreign exchange counter, signage and display and telephone connections in the immigration area.

As the Intelligence Bureau (IB) is handling the immigration counters, IB officials will man the exclusive visa desks.