UK Visa: Persistent visa blues leave UK travellers cold

Homa Mistry, the CEO of Trail Blazer Tours India, is a worried man, echoing the concerns of his counterparts in the inbound Indian tourism industry. The issue is the absence of e-visas for India for travellers from the UK, a key source market, and delays in getting appointment dates for tourists ahead of the peak season.

“We have been getting cancellations,” he said. “Since these tours are planned months in advance, we have booked domestic flights for these UK travellers. We have paid for excursions such as safaris to Ranthambore and Bandhavgarh. A lot of these cancellations are non-refundable. We keep listening through the grapevine that something would happen this week or next week, but nothing happens. We are hoping for some relief so that we are able to save the tourist season that lies ahead of us till March.”

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Sanjay Basu, cofounder and chairman of Far Horizon Tours India, concurred.

“There is a lot of angst in the market about e-visas not being restored. There is a backlash from clients. They have cancelled trips to India and they have done this in anger. A lot of operators in the UK have lost a lot of business, and for them India is becoming a liability,” he said. “The short-term impact of this is pretty major.”

Setback for Industry

“But, even in the medium term, with both end consumers and tour operators getting upset, there would be some longevity to this problem,” said Basu.

This has come at a time when the industry has been looking toward revival after being decimated by the pandemic. “The entire industry suffered the most for over two years and continues to suffer,” said Basu, also a member of CII’s national tourism committee. “The government is putting an industry into jeopardy by not restoring e-visas. We look like an unwelcoming country in the post-pandemic world.”

Tour operators, travel agents and industry associations catering to travellers from the UK said despite multiple interventions and requests, visa issues still persist. “After our representation, there was a statement from the High Commission of India in the UK that it recognises the challenges and is committed to improving its delivery of visa services, but travellers are still facing the same issues,” said Rajiv Mehra, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO).

“As per information received by us, VFS centres in London-Goswell, Edinburgh, and Birmingham have no appointments till December,” he said.

Advice to Travellers

Tour operators are advising travellers from the UK not to book any India trips till they get their visas.

“Prior to the pandemic, e-visas were available for the UK but they haven’t been restored. E-visas exist for the US,” Mehra said. “The only solution is e-tourist visa. We thought it might come through, but nothing has happened. We are hearing from Indian cruise liner operators that 75-80% of their business coming in from the UK is gone.”

Jyoti Mayal, president of the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), said that while the government has assured a speedy resolution, the backlog is “huge” and the delays will impact incoming tourist flows till January.

“The tourists have cancelled themselves as everyone knows that no visas are available for two months,” she said.

The IATO said on October 7 it had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention for the immediate restoration of e-visas for the UK, Canada and other countries from where the highest number of tourists travel to India.

On October 12, Vikram Doraiswami, India’s High Commissioner to the UK, stated in a video message that the high commission was ramping up capacity in partnership with service provider VFS and more slots would be made available through the online booking service. Doraiswami had also said new visa application centres will come up in Glasgow and central London besides capacity being increased at existing centres.

A VFS Global spokesperson said the company is working with the High Commission of India in London to do its ‘very best’ to improve the situation.

No Relief

Tapas Banerjee, managing director of Trinetra Tours, said some of his clients who had booked for February cannot get visa appointments in December.

“I am pleading with the clients and telling them not to cancel but if they don’t get visas, how will they travel? We got to hear from industry insiders that the Indian government will restore e-visas but that hasn’t happened,” he said. “If we don’t remove impediments, it will be difficult to boost tourism. We have to facilitate their entry because this is leading to massive cancellations. So many countries offer visa on arrival to UK travellers. If India drops off the radar, it might be difficult to come back.”