Team Herald
Panjim: The new tweak in the rules for applying for Indian visas which Herald reported on October 9 has led to a wave of cancellations literally washing away any hopes of a good international tourism influx from one of Goa’s traditional tourism partners, the UK.
As Herald reported, those applying for visas will have to physically go to one of the nine visa processing centres in the UK, which are anyway booked up till the third week of November, with the likelihood of the wait stretching further.
For medium to small hoteliers whose business largely depends on these confirmed bookings, the cancellations will hit them hard, especially if they have spent their amounts received towards upgrading infrastructure.
Travel agents have informed that they are receiving 7 to 8 cancellations of UK travellers each day
Reshma Alves of the travel agency, Earthen Experiences, lamented that there are daily cancellations and postponements by British Passport travellers as they are failing to get appointments for E-visas.
“Appointments for visas are taking eight or 10 weeks and there is no assurance that they may get a visa ultimately,” said Reshma. Reshma said that there are seven to eight cancellations that are being received daily.
Shekhar Diwadkar, President of SKAL Goa, an organisation of senior tourism professionals, said that the visa is going to be a major issue for the small hotels which are totally dependent on charter tourism.
“There were hotels that were still closed and anticipating business they had opened this season. However, these hotels are going to be rendered with no business for the third year,” Diwadkar said.
“The smaller hotels do not have the setup to shift on to domestic tourists, hence there are quite a few who are losing business this season,” he added.
Reshma meanwhile also added that the travellers who already have a visa may also have to cancel their travel if their charters are cancelled, which is a double whammy to the business.
Ernest Dias of the TTAG said that the UK has been a traditional market for Goa and before the Russians the English were the highest number of charters to Goa. “Besides the hoteliers, the inbound tour operators are going to suffer. The fear is that they may completely pull out and may not talk about coming to Goa anymore” he said.
The reduction of tour operators from four to five in the past to just one in the present day is not a good sign according to tourism stakeholders.
