Liberalised visa regime pushing outbound growth
With India’s emergence as one of the fastest growing outbound travel market, many countries have been pragmatic enough to usher in an era of liberalised visa regime
Visa policies are among the most important governmental formalities having a great impact on international tourism. The development of policies and procedures for visas is closely linked to the development of international tourism. With the swift growth of international tourism in the last few decades, the quality, reliability and functionality of visas and other travel documents has evolved. Countries having a liberal visa regime have been reaping the benefit of international tourism, resulting into a greater push to the host economy. Realising this fact, many countries have adopted a liberalised approach towards grant of visa to those countries which are evolving as a major tourism generating markets to drive inbound traffic. Many countries in the world have eased their visa processes realizing that India has emerged as the fastest growing outbound travel market in the world. Moreover, India is also emerging as one of the fastest growing economy and bilateral ties between India and overseas countries are growing with every passing year. Globally, countries are also recognizing tourism as a major contribute to economic growth and employment generator.
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) long-term forecast Tourism Towards 2030, international tourist arrivals are expected to continue to grow at the sustained pace of 3.3 per cent a year on average, reaching 1.8 billion by 2030. One of the major factors of this sustained growth is the liberalized visa regime. The UNWTO has been long advocating for the need to advance travel faciliation as a means to promote tourism development and multiply its socio-economic benefits. Research by UNWTO and the World Travel and Tourism Council on the impact of visa facilitation clearly shows that visa facilitation can boost demand, grow exports and create additional jobs. However, some untoward incidents like terror attacks during recent years forced some countries to adopt cautious approach while granting visa approvals which may hinder the tourism growth.
Changes in visa regimes:
Visa regulations are not static and with India emerging as a big source market for inbound tourism to countries in Europe, USA and other key nations, they have been pragmatic enough to usher in an era of liberalised visa regime. “While they did not dilute their requirements as that’s each country’s decision, they became more flexible. Indians were not looked at from the prism of suspicion but genuine holidaymakers out to have a good time and return home. The Indian outbound business is expected to cross 50 million by 2020 and it is pertinent for countries to woo the Indian traveller. A common Schengen visa for Indian nationals was one of the first liberal policies. Countries also started giving Indians multiple entry visas or providing with electronic visas in order to speed up the system,” says Karan Anand, Head – Relationships, Cox & Kings. Anand further reveals many countries innovated their visa policies such as the joint UK-Ireland visa scheme launched in 2014 is one such initiative that made it easy to explore both Ireland and UK on one Visa for Indians. “The move benefited those who travelled to either country. Also, India was one of the first few countries where Brand USA set up its office. The USA intends to best capitalize on the growing number of Indian arrivals and hence they announced a 10-year multiple entry visa enabling inflow of more visitors from India who also rank 7th in spending. Many Asian countries also have welcomed Indians. Malaysia started VOA scheme for Indians who hold a valid Singapore or Thailand visa. The Philippines also give VOA for Indians holding valid Schengen, US, Australian, Singapore, Japan, Canada or UK Visa,” Anand adds.
Vinay Malhotra, COO – Middle East & South Asia, VFS Global says that Indians in urban cities have always been prolific travellers, and are keen to explore different shores for tourism, education or business. “Considered one of the top outbound tourism markets in the world, and still growing, we do see a lot more comfort among applicants with regards to the visa process. Indian traveller has certainly evolved over the last few years in his tastes, showing more interest in emerging destinations. The impact of this has been that we are seeing a more client governments expand their network of Visa Application Centres in India, through VFS Global, as they become increasingly confident about the potential for growth in outbound travel from the country,” Malhotra adds.
VFS Global is the world’s largest outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions, serving 50 client governments with operations in 126 countries and have processed over 135 million applications till date. “In India particularly, we serve close to 40 client governments. In India alone, in 2016, we processed in excess of 4 million applications annually. Over the last decade, India has emerged as an important travel hub, for business and tourist travellers alike. So we have expanded operations substantially over the last couple of years. As you are aware, biometrics has become a key aspect of the visa process after the regulation was made mandatory by the Schengen member states. The successful roll out of biometrics facilities in all our application centres in India and around the world underlines our competence in meeting the requirements of our client governments. As of now, we offer biometric solutions in 115 countries, and have conducted over 45 million enrolments globally,” Malhotra informs.
Technology easing visa processing
Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International Services, opines that the emergence of technology has the potential that can continue to accelerate the growth of visa outsourcing industry in India. “The development of visa process and systems with technology has paved the way for a better and successful future of the industry in the country. Technology has assisted the Government of India in order to simply the visa application processes and complex systems. Government has taken several measures such as ‘e-visa scheme’ and ‘e-governance project’ to encourage digitalization in various citizen services. ‘E-Visa scheme’ is forming up the future of Indian tourism. The number of people adopting this facility has increased enormously and we expect a further growth in FY18,” Aggarwal adds. BLS International Services currently has operations in more than 48 countries and process around 3 million applications annually.
Malhotra opines that technology in most sectors has moved from being an enabler to being a big part of the solution itself. “We have always been a technology-driven company and innovation is a key business driver for us. Technology is now being widely used to bring about automation in low-value processes, increase efficiencies in process management and costs, and more flexibility while maintaining data security. “One example of a solution that achieves these requirements is the breakthrough technology-driven innovation for which VFS Global received a lot of recognition, i.e. LIDProTM, or Location Independent Document Processing. This solution enables a client government to process millions of visa applications from multiple points in multiple countries through a single platform,” he says adding that with travel and tourism as a sector expected to outperform the global economy throughout the next decade, we will see more such automation in major aspects of the traditional visa process with similar game-changing solutions becoming the new norm.
Anand also feels that technology plays a big role in visa facilitation. “We have already witnessed the infusion of technology in visa processing. The procedures have been modified and the way we operate currently is a step towards establishing a hassle-free process of Visa procurement. E-visa is one such outcome of technology usage, introduced to ease the old tedious process. Apart from e-visas, we may also expect Virtual Passports making a foray into the travel industry. With Australia and New Zealand, both working towards creating a cloud platform that holds information of their passport holders is all set to make hardcopies a dated affair. The cloud-enabled systems will make it simpler for both passengers as well as different agencies to carry out passport related tasks,” Anand reveals.
Indian visa regime vis-à-vis countries
According to Malhotra, governments across the world are recognising the value of tourism to their economies. “The natural outcome of this is a growing understanding that the more technology-enabled the visa process becomes for travelers, the more likely they are to travel. Those insights are reflected in visa processes of various governments, and we are committed to being flexible in offering the best solutions as per unique dynamics and requirements of each of our client governments,” Malhotra opines. “We have fairly liberalized our visa regime and our government has made every effort to make it customer friendly,” says Anand. Aggarwal opines that countries like UAE and Canada are modifying their visa policies towards Indian travelers, however, countries like USA, UK and China still have very stringent policies for Indian travelers. “India is being perceived as a country making an effort towards a visa-friendly country, and ensuring the genuine traveler or business person is able to travel hassle free to the country. India has strengthened its work permit regime to ensure only genuine workers obtain the required documentation. The Visa Application Centre setup initiative by the Ministry of External Affairs is part of the effort to ensure easy access and a wide network of centers where prospective visitors to India can obtain information to travel to India,” says Aggarwal. According to him, the number of visa-free travel countries has actually decreased for Indians in the past 2 years. “Earlier Indians could travel to 58 visa-free and 29 visa-on-arrival countries which have now decreased to 21 countries where an Indian can travel visa-free and 25 countries where the citizen can utilize the visa-on-arrival option. Hong Kong also recently withdrew the visa-free entry facility for Indians and introduced a complete pre-arrival registration from January, 2017. Of the world’s most powerful passports, India is ranked the 81stin a global ranking and 167 in individual ranking,” Aggawal says.
Mobile visa application picking up?
According to Aggarwal, the concept of mobile visa application is at a nascent stage. “Currently, applicants anywhere in the world can complete the entire visa application process for an UAE and UK visa using mobile devices. This involves one-time profile creation, and allows data and document upload, payment and service delivery. However, it will take time for the Governments introduce mobile visa application programs whereby applications and biometrics are collected flexibly in various locations. The mobile biometric services shall be rendered under value added services,” Aggarwal adds.
Malhotra reveals that VFS Global launched the DVPC mobile app, a first-of-its-kind transactional mobile app, which enables customers to apply for UAE visas through their mobile phones just three months ago. “What this means is that any applicant in any corner of the world, can apply and secure an UAE visa at the simple touch of a button,” he adds. According to him, VFS Global has received an overwhelming response to this service, with more than 2000 new downloads every month since launch. “Though it is a global app, India accounts for close to 40 percent of the number of applications submitted through the DVPC mobile app, so that definitely points to the popularity of the mobile app concept. The key to developing any visa process-related mobile solution is that it should adhere to the stringent security requirements of any client government, and that is where our domain expertise, in the combined fields of technology and visa services, comes into play,” adds Malhotra.
Countries receiving maximum applications
For VFS, the popularity of the US and the UK as key travel destinations has not diminished in the Indian market and they continue to attract a good portion of the outbound travel. “The Schengen countries too continue to witness a strong demand in terms of visa applications. What is interesting is that we are seeing a rising preference for emerging or ‘offbeat’ destinations, especially locales like Vietnam, Croatia, Cyprus, or Turkey, indicating that Indian travellers are becoming quite keen to go off the beaten path in their travel tastes,” Malhotra says.
For BLS International Services, USA and UAE top the list in terms of volumes in passport segment and in visa segment, UAE, China and Canada are the prominent zones (~55%). “However, Russia is witnessing traction in visa application volumes. Overall UAE, Canada, China, USA and Oman account for ~67% of the total application (visa + passport + others) volume,” Aggarwal says.
Although much has been done, several areas of opportunity remain for destinations worldwide to promote a safer and more seamless travel experience. UNWTO recommends destinations to focus on particular in a stronger segmentation of travellers, in improving visa application processes and entry procedures, in making use of regional integration opportunities, and last but not least, on providing precise and accessible information for tourist. The positive evolution registered in recent years is the clear result of determined actions taken by governments who have seen the positive impact of visa facilitation in terms of economic growth and job creation through tourism, UNWTO states.
