The news of Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri in Beijing for a two-day official visit has sparked hope among international travellers and travel agents in India.
Why?
Travel agents and international travellers in India eagerly hope the meeting between the two officials will help normalise air connectivity between India and China.
“The travelling and documentation process has become tedious for people travelling to China,” said Vaibhav Tyagi, Director of BluBells Tours And Travels.
According to the report, India and China have not had regular passenger flights since early 2020.
“Pre-2020, we sent around 400-500 people across the country to China per month. It was so easy and accessible, but now things have changed and become difficult,” said a travel agent on anonymity from one of India’s most popular players for flight bookings.
Last week, during the MEA press conference, when asked about the Foreign Secretary’s visit to China and whether issues such as visas and direct air connectivity would be discussed, Jaiswal said, “Regarding the upcoming visit of the Foreign Secretary, which is going to happen on 26 and 27 January, the Foreign Secretary will be meeting his counterpart, the Vice Minister, in China, where all issues of bilateral interest will be discussed.
“People who travel to China mostly do so for business purposes. China is not a market for leisure/tourism,” said a travel agent on anonymity from one of India’s most popular players for flight bookings.
The travel duration to China has become almost 24 hours; sometimes, there are two stopovers.
What’s The Most Popular Route To Travel To China?
“So, there is a route via Singapore and Hong Kong. Singapore is an expensive sector compared to Hong Kong. Mostly, travellers opt for via Hong Kong,” said Vaibhav.
However, the travel agents claim that getting a pre-approved visa from Hong Kong is now difficult. ” Most of them get rejected, and we don’t know why. It’s mostly online, so all that is informed to us is that it’s rejected, ” said Vaibhav.
Even China Visa Is Tough To Obtain
Travel agents admit that the documentation process to obtain a visa from China is equally tough. ” There is no guarantee that even if you’ve had a visa, you can get it again. People with prior stamped entries also get rejected,” said the travel agent.
Impacting Businesses
With no direct flights and a strict visa documentation process, it’s tough for businessmen to expand or continue their business relations in China. ” I used to travel twice or thrice a year to Shangai for business. Post Covid, it came down to once a year. It’s getting tough for me to travel now. It takes double the time, and there is no guarantee that I will get a visa,” said Prashant, an exporter.
So far, there has been no update, but travellers and travel agencies hope things will ease soon.
