Visa Processing Delays Hurting Irish Tourism - Upton

Business & Finance - Tourism

Thursday, 21 October 2010 16:21

Written by Conor Joyce

Following the release of a report outlining delays in processing tourist visas by the European Tour Operators Association, Deputy Mary Upton, Labour Spokesperson on Tourism, Culture & Sport, has called on the Government to act now to introduce a reformed and speeded up visa process for tourists entering Ireland from emerging markets.

“The figures in this report show that 31% of Chinese tourists and 12% of Indian tourists booking trips to Ireland in 2010 are cancelling their holidays due to the slow processing of visa applications.

“China and India together account for roughly one third of the world’s population and their burgeoning middle classes are occupying an ever increasing proportion of international tourist numbers. We simply cannot afford to be losing visitors at a time when our tourism industry is suffering so much.

“The figures also show that 98% of Chinese and 82% of Indian tourists make their bookings less than three months prior to a trip. Our current visa requirements on countries such as China require applications to be made weeks in advance and in some cases extensive documentation may be required. This lengthy system is no longer feasible in an era when travel decisions are made in such a short time frame.

“The potential long term opportunities to countries that can attract these tourists are obvious and I called for a reformed and speeded up visa process to capitalise on this when launching the Labour Party’s Tourism document – ‘Extending the Welcome’ - in May.

“The Government itself, recognised this in its ‘Trading and Investing in the Smart Economy’ document only a matter of weeks ago. They recommended trade and media activity in these markets to increase awareness of Ireland as a holiday destination. If however, we do not remove the unnecessary barriers to entry from these countries, much of this activity may be wasted”, Ms. Upton concluded.