In a statement issued by the Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO), a national tourism industry association with 1,600 members who represent all segments of the tour operator industry, the organization claimed that it had made numerous representations to the Ministry of Tourism, Home Affairs, and External Affairs requesting that the e-tourist visas for the UK and Canada be reinstated.
To speed up the resolution of issues affecting the travel industry, the IATO has now reached out to the Prime Minister’s office in order to expedite the process.
As a result of this, the association has written Prime Minister Modi to request his intervention in restoring e-Tourist visas for the United Kingdom, Canada, and other key source markets such as the United States, as these countries send the most foreign tourists to India.
Rajiv Mehra, President of the IATO stated that “Having failed to elicit any response from these ministries, we have written to the Prime Minister in the hope that a quick resolution can be obtained.” The letter was sent on October 6, he added.
India e-Tourist Visa
A few months after the outbreak in March 2020, the e-tourist visa program-which was available to 166 nations, including the UK and Canada-was discontinued. After a break of 18 months, the program was partially reinstated in late 2021 under the air bubble arrangements and Covid-19 protocols.
In accordance with an order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), it has been announced that the government will resume the provision of e-Tourist Visas to 156 countries from March 2022 onwards.
The UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Oman were not included in the March order, according to Mr. Mehra. He explains that they were informed of security reasons for the exclusion during meetings with officials of the MHA and MEA in the previous year.
Visa Delays
Several requests have been received from the IATO’s members and international counterparts expressing concern over the delays in obtaining visas, according to Mehra, and since there is no e-tourist visa available at the moment, travelers in the UK are having trouble obtaining a regular visa for India.
According to the VFS Global offices in the UK, appointments are not available to intending foreign tourists at any time. It takes between six and eight weeks in the UK to get a normal Indian visa, and even for those visas, no appointments are being given by the VFS Global offices.
As a result of the Indian Embassy in the UK/VFS Global’s lack of proficiency in handling normal paper visas, many tourists planning to visit India find it very discouraging and burdensome since it takes two to three months for a normal tourist visa to be issued after considerable effort,” Mehra said with concern.
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