The Indian government has restored the e-Tourist Visa facilities for almost all the countries as it was in pre-Covid times, but the same was not done for the UK and Canada markets
UK’s India specialist tour operators are unhappy with India’s stance on the visa issue for British travellers. The Indian government has restored the e-Tourist Visa facilities for almost all the countries as it was in pre-Covid times, but the same was not done for the UK and Canada markets.
These UK-based tour operators are of the opinion that the Indian government’s decision to withhold the e-Tourist Visa facilities for UK and Canada — two major source markets for Indian tourism – would harm Indian tourism. These tour operators had hoped that during the recent visit of British Premier Boris Johnson to New Delhi, the e-Tourist Visa matter would be sorted out but that did not happen. They believe that India will be removed from the list of prospective travellers totally since many neighbouring and regional destinations have been wooing international tourists.
Sanjay Mechery, DirectorMarketing, Window To Luxury, an India market specialist based in Middlesex,London was quoted by ETTravelWorld saying that “everyone is worried about the season ahead. It’s the time people plan their travel. If we do not get our acts together, it will be a disaster for the next inbound season starting October in India. We are the people who spend our time and energy to motivate and inspire travellers to visit India. However, after all our efforts, if getting the visa is such a cumbersome process, nobody is going to come to India,” he said. He pointed out that getting a Sri Lankan visa was easy and could be done in 10 minutes while it takes 4 to 5 weeks to get an appointment for an Indian visa.
Another India-specialist Amrit Singh, Managing Director of TransIndus, based in London and Vice-Chair of the Association of Independent Tour Operators UK, was quoted saying that until e-visa reopened for the UK, “India is de facto shut for the UK travellers”. Singh also said that the Indian government was using e-Visa as a bargaining tool for the proposed trade agreement between the two countries and “it confuses the market and damages the prospects of the travel and tourism sector,” she said.
Recently, participating in a virtual meet of the PATA India Chapter, Tourism Secretary of India, Arvind Singh, had said that the government had reviewed its liberal visa policies during the Covid and decided to adopt a reciprocal approach going forward. He said that e-Visa facilities were extended considering the security and other considerations by the government. He agreed that the UK was an important source market for Indian tourism and the Tourism Ministry was in constant dialogue with the Home Ministry to include the UK in the e-Visa list.
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