Schengen visa issues saw Indian travellers turn to SE Asia, West Asia in April-June

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As COVID-19-related international border restrictions gradually eased in the quarter ending June 2022, Indian travellers looked to South East Asian countries due to increased visa processing time for Schengen visas.

Visa processing time for some nations in Europe and the United Kingdom has risen to four to 10 weeks now, which has forced many would-be travellers to cancel flights and bookings.

"There has been a massive spike in demand for visas. We’re experiencing unprecedented volumes — between 20,000 to 23,000 visa applications daily on an average from India, given the pent-up travel demand," VFS Global COO (South Asia) Prabuddha Sen said .

However, countries including Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Maldives have emerged as the biggest beneficiaries of delays in processing Schengen visas, travel agents and visa processing firms said.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have also seen a significant rise in Indian travellers looking to take vacations after the Indian government lifted its ban on scheduled international commercial flights from March 27 after two years of COVID-19 pandemic.

"There is a lot of pent-up demand for international travel from India. Initially, demand was divided between European countries along with Southeast Asian countries and the Middle East. Demand for Bali, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam has increased exponentially in May and June," a senior official from a visa processing firm told Moneycontrol.

Similarly, Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder & Group Chief Executive Officer of MakeMyTrip, told Moneycontrol that as soon as South East Asia opened up, MMT saw lots of bookings take place to Thailand, Bali, and Singapore.

Malaysia is now offering visa-on-arrival for Indian tourists, while Dubai and Maldives continue to remain attractive destinations for Indians, Magow said.

However, going forward, as visa processing woes are stabilising, and the surge in demand for international travel is expected to slow down, demand is expected to taper back and be spread out across different countries.

"With the end of the summer vacation cycle in India, international travel is expected to taper down a bit in the next few months before the festival season," a senior official from Yatra.com said.

He added that as more international routes open up, travel is expected to taper off to other countries, especially Australia, the United States, and Europe.

"We have seen a rise in visas for Spain in the past two months and this demand is expected to rise even more in the coming months as more people are looking to travel to Europe through Spain," said Shikhar Aggarwal, Joint Managing Director, BLS International.

Similarly, online travel agents also expect international travel to Australia, Qatar, the US, and Europe to rise in the coming few months, especially due to the upcoming world cups in both Australia and Qatar.

“Dubai, Singapore, Sydney, London, Istanbul, and Melbourne are some of the top destinations preferred by travelers,”  Sabina Chopra, Co-Founder & COO, Corporate Travel & Head Industry Relations at Yatra.com said.