Indo-US Tourism Needs Swifter Visa Approval, More Direct Flights: Experts

Highlighting the significant headroom for progress in the travel space between India and the United States of America, the additional secretary of the Union Ministry of Tourism, Suman Billa stated that there is a need for swifter visa approval and more direct flights between these two countries to boost the Indo- US Tourism. The minister was speaking at the first Indo-US Tourism and Hospitality Summit, organised by the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce  (IACC).

In a panel discussion on ‘Outbound Tourism, India to USA’, Billa stated, “The most important thing that we need to understand is that the bulk, the lion's share of the market is going through third countries. So, the Middle Eastern market or the European market is benefiting. It's those airlines which are carrying Indians into the US. What it does is that if you can have direct flights, we make it most cost-competitive for people to travel both ways but we will also, add to the convenience, the easiest convenience of travelling into the US. And I think that for some reason, is not happening.”

Highlighting the need for a swifter visa approval, the additional secretary mentioned, “The best thing about getting a US visa is that once you have it, it's valid for 10 years. So there's not a lot of repeat visitation that happens. But you have to really walk through fire to get that Visa in the first place because there are long waiting times now and, you know, so there's a whole lot of disincentive for people wanting to travel.”

Addressing the event, the Attorney General of India, R Venkataramani highlighted the need for responsible tourism. He stated, “I think India stands for equal regard and equal reward principle and I think tourism is probably one umbrella where we can talk more and more about it. And to project India's position in it.”

Jonathan M Heimer, Minister Counsellor for Commercial Affairs, India U.S. Commercial Service, however, noted that over the past year, the pace of visa application processing has gained momentum leading to record visa issuances. "On the backend for the application processing, we've been able to process something like 60 per cent more visas with more or less the same resources. And also we have issued more than 1.1 million visas in the last year, which for us, is a record and that's just going to continue to go up that number," Heimer added.

In his response to the issue of the visa application process, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO), MakeMyTrip suggested the introduction of short-term visas for tourists.

"There are many other countries which have done it, maybe short-term tourist visa can be quick, maybe that could be one potential innovation that can happen as well," he said. speaking in favour of boosting international tourism he said that international travel is not growing at the cost of domestic travel.