The Hindu Business Line : Travel, airline industry divided on UK visa impact

New Delhi, Dec. 19 The impact of the new visa rules announced by the British Government has divided the Indian tourism and aviation industry. While the travel industry feels that the move would be catastrophic on the large number of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) segment of Indian tourist going to the UK, the airline industry has advised caution on jumping to the conclusion that there would be a drastic drop in Indians travelling to the UK.

On Tuesday, the British Government announced plans to reduce the duration of tourist visa for non-European nationals and imposition of restrictions on people visiting their relatives under the “sponsored family” scheme. Families who sponsor visitors, will now be required to deposit a cash bond of £1,000 that would be forfeited if their guests do not leave after the expiry of their visa.

“The decision is wrong. All western countries talk about removing barriers, then why should they put barriers for the movement of people. It is surprising that this decision should be implemented at a time when London and Delhi are engaging with one at a deeper and more varied level,” the Chairman of the travel group, STIC, Mr Subhash Goyal, told Business Line.

The Vice-Chairman, Mercury Travels, Mr Ashwini Kakkar, felt that while the impact of the decision may not be “humungous” the “loss of goodwill would be huge”.

Officials of Cox & King and SOTC also felt that the decision would affect the movement of VFR segment of Indians.

“The VFR segment which constitutes a large chunk is likely to suffer immensely. The movement of business travellers, leisure travellers and individual travellers is unlikely to suffer due to the new rules. But this constitutes less than half of the volume of Indians travelling to the UK ,” said the Executive Director, Cox & King, Mr Arup Sen.

The Business Head, SOTC Do It Yourself Holidays, Ms Anahita Avari, added that the move could also affect senior citizens.

Airline industry officials, however, felt that it was too early to judge the impact of the latest UK Government decision. “There was a furore after the events of September 11 when the United States clamped down and increased visa fees. But things soon came back to normal,” said an international airline spokesperson.

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