Foreign tourists will now be able to fly directly to the Andamans

Foreign tourists will now enjoy the ease of flying directly to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. To facilitate this process, the Ministry of Home Affairs has designated the Port Blair Airport as an authorised immigration check post for entry and exit point from India.
This decision was made based on the premise that the Andaman and Nicobar have been one of the most sought-after tourist destinations in the country, and have been registering an average footfall of around four lakh tourists, which also included several thousand foreigners annually.

As per the latest development, the government has also appointed the Superintendent of Police (CID) for the islands as the ‘civil authority’ for the immigration check post at Port Blair, which has been effective from December 31, 2018. However, sources on the know-how of this development stated that this decision will not allow any tourist access to the islands where the protected and ancient tribes reside.
As per the records available with the Ministry of Home Affairs, more than 16 lakh tourists visited the islands between 2015 and October 2018 to experience the flora and fauna, beaches, natural beauty, and also the historically significant landmarks in and around the 38 inhabited islands out of the 572 islets.
In light of promoting tourism in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, this development is a definite boost to the morale of all those foreign nationals, who were planning to visit this region but were avoiding it because of paperwork hassles.