Fresh tourist visas for those arriving on charter planes: India

But travel industry says the decision has come too late

The Government’s decision to issue fresh tourist visas for those arriving on charter planes from Friday has received a tepid response from the travel industry, which says the move has come too late to help reap any benefit during the travel season.

“Unfortunately, charter operations in Europe are planned 6 to 8 months in advance and we are already booked for destinations like Dominican Republic, Mexico, Maldives and Kenya. India is very late in opening itself to foreign tourists, and it is unlikely that at this stage there will be a sudden influx of foreign tourists,” J.J. Singh, President, Indo Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industries, and President of IATA Travel agents in Poland, told The Hindu from Warsaw.

According to a DGCA official, by Friday they had only received a few queries on charter operations but there were no formal applications for chartered flights. He said they were waiting for detailed guidelines to seek greater clarity on important issues like RT-PCR tests for arriving passengers, etc.