PRATIK PARAB
pratik@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The visa rule change by the Government of India for United Kingdom (UK) Passport holders has resulted in cancellation of various India and Goa-bound charter flights in the face of a promising tourism season.
The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) has informed most of the charters scheduled to land in November and some in December have been cancelled as tourists failed to get a visa on time.
The small and medium hotels are going to be affected pretty badly due to the visa rule change.
The holiday plans of thousands of travellers from the UK have been cancelled after the Government of India made it mandatory for British passport holders to be present in person at the visa processing centres. This has resulted in cancellation of several charter flights that were Goa bound in November and December.
The Times UK in a major story published this weekend (see box) wrote:
"Appointments at India’s nine visa processing centres (VFS) in Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, central London, Hounslow, Leicester and Manchester were fully booked up to November 18, with no further dates yet showing availability. One tour operator said the earliest dates it had found were in mid-December.
Back in India, The small hotels after facing a lot of hardships were hopeful of a bounce back of business in the ensuing tourism season pinning hope on charters. However, according to the TTAG 3 charter flights of the 4 scheduled to land in Goa in November have been cancelled due to visa issues."
Charter flights scheduled to land in Goa in December too have been cancelled. The TTAG Chairman Nilesh Shah said that the small and medium hotels that had a lot of hope from the charter flights will be affected dearly this tourism season. “We had requested the Government to have an E-visa for the UK. We have been writing to the Chief Minister of Goa and the Tourism Minister who had taken up the same with the centre. But due to some bilateral issues, the request wasn’t fulfilled,” said Nilesh Shah.
“We should have got relaxation” said the TTAG Chairman. Shah said that because of the long wait for visas for (UK) tourists wanting travel to India there are lots of cancellations that are happening. “All this will become challenging for tourism in Goa,” he added.
Jack Sukhija, who heads the tourism vertical of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry said, “We are going to lose a huge chunk of our market if we don’t have the E-visa facility, especially the small hoteliers. There is a certain segment of hotels that had this fixed clientele. Not just hotels but travel agents, and tour operators who cater to these tourists. They too are going to suffer really badly,” he said.
Former Chairman of TTAG Savio Messais who also runs homestay establishments, said that travel agents from the United Kingdom have conveyed of being in deep trouble as they will now have to refund the money taken from desiring travellers.
“The Government announced 2 lakh free visas. If the Government is not going to allow people to apply for visas then what is the point in making these announcements? This is a mockery,” he added.
Goa’s Tourism Minister, Rohan Khaunte agreed that tourists from the United Kingdom are quite dominant and are a major market not just in Goa but India as well.
“On the E-visa issue we have not received any confirmation. But we are quite optimistic of getting good answers and hope the tourism does not get affected,” said Khaunte.
“The Centre knows about the dominance of United Kingdom tourists not just in Goa but India,” said the Tourism minister.
Khaunte also said that post Covid-19 pandemic, Goa has to start thinking of more emerging markets like Western Europe and areas that have more growth potential in terms of inbound tourists and work towards them. “We expect the issue to be resolved soon,” he added.
India allows 156 countries to avail of E-visa except for Kazakhstan, UK, Algeria, Burkina Faso, Lebanon, and Pakistan. While the tourism industry expects a resolution to this issue the fact is that the cancellations have already started coming in and there is nothing anyone in Goa or Britain is able to do anything about as the cancellations happen.
