Visa limit for UK, Canada nationals causing loss to India’s inbound tourism

NEW DELHI:  The central government’s decision to discontinue the E-Tourist Visa facility for the UK and Canadian nationals is having a negative impact on the country’s inbound travel & tourism industry. The stakeholders have now requested this measure be addressed to avoid big losses during the October 2022-March 2023 period.

“The UK and Canada were among the top source markets for Indian tourism, together contributing more than  10% to Indian inbound, while the UK also accounted for nearly 50% of Western Europe inbound travel to India,” Aashish Gupta, consulting CEO of  Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH) told The New Indian Express. Gupta added that apart from the massive volume of tourists from these two source markets, the UK and Canada also add diversity to Indian tourism with nearly 45% of women travellers and an average of 20% travellers in the 50-plus age bracket.

He believes negative press emerging from these source markets will impact the sentiment in other markets too, thus hindering the much needed revival in inbound tourism. Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) last week had written to PM Narendra Modi seeking his intervention for immediate restoration of e-visas for the UK, Canada and other countries from where maximum tourists travel to India.

“At stake, is the immediate season and if the government does not act quickly, this season can also get washed out,” the association noted. As per IATO, it is taking 6-8 weeks’ time in the UK to get a Normal Indian tourist visa, which is very discouraging for the sector.

The e-tourist visa facility, which was easily accessible to nationals of 166 countries, including the UK and Canada – was discontinued when covid struck in March 2020. In March 2022, the government restored the facility for 156 countries, but excluded the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia, among other nations from the list, citing “security reasons”.