Schengen visa appointment delays for the third year running have prompted Indian holidaymakers planning their summer getaways to increasingly look for alternative destinations, such as Georgia, Australia and Japan, which have introduced easier visa regimes for travellers from the country, said industry executives.
Georgia's e-visa facility is a case in point. At Thomas Cook (India), demand for Georgia has surged a staggering 600% year-on-year, said Rajeev Kale, president, holidays, at the company.
The travel firm has consequently introduced double departures in several of its group series, he said.
"In combination with Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan are also witnessing a significant uptick (around 400%), and we've coupled them with Georgia while also offering standalone options," Kale said. "Locales like Tashkent, Samarkand (Uzbekistan) and Almaty (Kazakhstan) have also witnessed a strong growth of approximately 300% year-on-year."
While Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan offer e-visas to Indian nationals, Kazakhstan allows visa-free stays for up to 14 days.
ET reported on April 24 that delays in visa appointments were continuing for the third successive year for some Schengen countries.
The Schengen visa is an entry permit valid for 29 European countries, including popular tourist destinations such as France, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.
The visa must be procured from the country that's the port of entry.
"Australia's simple digital visa has also accelerated our pipeline, which is already up by over 40% year-on-year," said Kale.
Likewise, online travel firm Agoda recorded a 79% year-on-year increase in searches from India for travel to Japan for travel in May and June.
This summer, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Narita and Hiroshima are the most popular destinations in Japan for Indian travellers, based on Agoda's data.
MakeMyTrip has seen a 57% year-on-year increase in searches for Japan this summer, said Saujanya Shrivastava, the company's chief operating officer for flights, holidays and Gulf.
"Among the top cities within Japan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Nagoya are of higher interest, with Tokyo alone accounting for two-thirds of all hotel searches and 80% of all flight searches," he said.
During his recent trip to India, Agoda CEO Omri Morgenshtern spoke about the impact of visa policy relaxations.
"When the visa process is easy and when the flight capacity is there, we see travel increasing.
It's a business of removing friction," he said, and cited the example of Bangkok, which became the most popular destination for Indians on Agoda after Thailand announced a visa waiver.
Thailand announced this month that it has extended a temporary visa exemption for Indian nationals till November 11 this year to boost tourism further.
Yatra Online is seeing "significant" last-minute bookings for international destinations such as Thailand, Vietnam, Mauritius, Singapore, Bali and Sri Lanka, said Bharatt Malik, senior vice president for flights and hotel business at the travel firm.
In addition, he said, "We have seen a 100% increase in bookings to Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan compared to pre-Covid levels."
On Cleartrip, the top international destinations for Indian travellers are Bangkok, Dubai and Singapore, said Gaurav Patwari, vice president for the air category at the company.
SOTC Travel president, leisure travel, Daniel D'souza said the visa process, which includes availability of application slots and processing time, has become a key deciding factor for Indian travellers, especially with the shortening of booking windows this year to 50-60 days for long haul and about 30-40 days for short haul destinations.
"Australia's streamlined electronic visa offers a smooth end-to-end process," D'souza said, adding that as a result the company saw a 40-45% year-on-year increase in Indians travelling to the country.
Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nri/visit/delays-in-schengen-visa-appointment-prompt-indians-to-change-course-to-georgia-japan/articleshow/110216573.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
