The Indian government on Friday decided on Friday that it would require visitors from Britain to quarantine regardless of their vaccination status. This it seems was a retaliatory measure after weeks of talks to reverse a similar move by Britain appeared deadlocked.
The British government has relaxed quarantine requirements for vaccinated visitors from more than a dozen countries last month. But its decision to exclude Indians fully inoculated with Covishield, an Indian-manufactured version of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine that Britain uses caused a strong backlash in India, and the government threatened retaliation.
For nearly two weeks, officials from the two countries said they were in talks to resolve what the foreign secretary, Harsh Vardhan Shringla, called a “discriminatory” move. He said that Britain was essentially not recognizing the very vaccine that India had given it five million doses of when Britain was struggling with its inoculation drive.
According to the media reports the British high commissioner in New Delhi, Alex Ellis, said the vaccine itself was not the issue. Rather, he suggested that the issue was with India’s vaccine certification app, CoWIN, and he said developers of CoWIN and Britain’s National Health Service were in talks to resolve it.
So that’s that. For Goa, this could not have come at a more inopportune time. The tourism season is expected to commence shortly. A large proportion of the international visitors to the state come from the UK. Where does that leave everyone? Will they get the visa to come over? Importantly if this situation remains will the English visitor be willing to comply with these sops laid down by the government.
An emotive issue, no doubt about that and yes, members of the business in Goa had much to say about it. Nilesh Shah, President of TTAG said that every Indian had to face similar hardship when they visited that country. He believed some diplomatic understanding would be reached in 3-4 days. He said “Yes, they are an important part of the business that comes to Goa but diplomacy cannot be a one way street. Like I said before, a diplomatic initiative is on and an understanding will be reached in a couple of days. Before the charter season starts there has to be a solution.”
Sheikh Ismail, GM, Concord Exotic Voyages seemed very relaxed about the entire episode. He laughed and said” Now nothing has started. The international borders have not been opened yet. We are not taking unnecessary tension. The government said they would give the first five lakh visas but nothing has happened because the borders have not opened. This situation will be sorted out. Give it time”.
A veteran of the industry, Aloo Gomes COO, Trail Blazer Tours now the charter flights could get affected and importantly plans by British nationals to come in by scheduled flights could get affected. He said “Charter operators like TUI had applied for slots in November and that could be affected. The British are an important segment who visit Goa. If they don’t come we will be reduced to casino tourism. With regards the Russians, we have sops for double vaccination but the Russian Sputnik 5 is a single vaccination. We don’t have the sops in place. Let’s see what happens?”
Martin Joseph of Freedom Holidays, which represents TUI in the state, said they were planning for flights to commence from November first week from the UK. He said “Response has been very good and bookings are going on. I believe a solution will be found to this problem. It will be ok.”
However there were also people who had another take on the situation. Ernest Dias- VP –Kuoni Travel India felt India should not have retaliated the way it did. He said “We need the business. I feel we need them more than they need them. They are one of the largest numbers of tourists coming here. We cannot afford to lose anyone. We were expecting two or three flights every week. They are a very large number of our market base. They fly into North India, travel around the country and then come to Goa. We have to take that into consideration. Our leisure business will be affected. Today the economic situation is such that we cannot do this. I hope it works out fine.”
Savio Messias, a hotelier and a former President of the TTAG expressed his worry about the situation. He said “ I think the UK does not have a problem with the vaccination but with the certification process. Ministers can buy fake certificates and boost their qualifications. The British are very good tourists. They spend money and many hotels are complete British resorts. They come for between 7-14 days. This move can affect business dramatically. Yes, the Russians will come but the British tourist is a very good spender. After all it was the Brit tourist who made Goa popular”. He said no one would want to be quarantined for ten days before a holiday and ten days again when they returned home. He expressed the hope; the problem would be sorted out. He said it was amusing all this ruckus was being made about international tourists when one had to only look at what was happening at the border of Goa. Savio said “I have said this before and I will repeat it again, you slip Rs 300 into the hands of the people there and you come in. I hope all this is sorted out. We cannot have another poor season. We will all get hit very badly.”
One can only hope the situation is sorted out to the satisfaction of both parties. Till then the tourism trade will wait with bated breath.
