U.S. Visa Applicants Can Book Appointment Without Wait Time

Can you fly without an ID? If you have to ask, you're probably finding out the hard way. But what really happens if you lose your ID before a domestic flight—or show up to the airport, only to realize it isn't in your wallet? How about the too-late epiphany that your driver's license has officially expired?

Brazil will mandate visitors from the U.S., Australia and Canada obtain an e-visa prior to entering the country starting January 10, 2024, according to Embratur, Brazil tourism’s board.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, January 13, and there’s no reason to be superstitious. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, February 13. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

China said that it will reopen its borders to foreign tourists for the first time in the three years since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic by restoring the issuance of all types of visas from Wednesday.

India has restored e-visa services for the nationals of Saudi Arabia wanting to visit the country with immediate effect, the Embassy of India in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia tweeted last week. The facility which had been available for five categories of travel — e-tourist visa, e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa and e-conference visa — was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. The application and payment of fees are required to be made for a minimum of four days in advance from the date of travel and wait for the approval. For online filling and submission of the application, applicants need to visit the official website — indianvisaonline.gov.in. Earlier, Saudi Arabia had announced a few exemptions for Indian nationals to obtain a visa for traveling to the country as it looks to India as a key source market for tourism, especially with Saudi’s ambition to achieve 100 million visits annually by 2030. Saudi Tourism Authority during its recent delegation visit to India, featured a range of meetings, industry round-tables and networking events followed by two roadshows in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Saudi Tourism Authority has also, commenced an official partnership with the popular cricket meet — Indian Premier League.

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U.S. visitor visa wait times remain over 400 days on average for first-time visa applicants from top inbound markets, according to the U.S. Travel Association.

A debate over market access was rekindled at an aviation event in India as foreign carriers seeking additional capacity to serve more routes in India feared the Tata Group-owned Air India’s rebirth and record order of 470 jets might capture most of the market. Dubai’s Emirates, Turkish Airlines and Kuwaiti carrier Jazeera Airways have all called for sharp increases in air traffic rights to and from India to meet demand. Vietnam and Indonesia also want more flights, an Indian official said. However, speaking to Reuters India’s civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said the country has no plans to increase air traffic rights for the United Arab Emirates. He instead urged domestic carriers to fly long haul and help establish new hubs. “We are going to see an explosion of air traffic in India in the years to come,” he said, adding he wanted domestic carriers to focus on international expansion. “We are not getting enough share from this market,” Turkish Airlines Chief Executive Bilal Eksi said. Dubai has requested an extra 50,000 seats a week on India routes while Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways said the current weekly allowance of 12,000 was inadequate and asked for the cap to be raised to 28,000 seats.  

Reducing visa delays has been a priority for the U.S. consulates in India as wait times for visitor visas has gone down from more than 600 days to 247 days in New Delhi, 332 days in Mumbai, 357 days in Kolkata, while in Chennai the wait is still around 680 days. Skift had earlier reported about how the U.S. Consulate in India had been taking an all-hands-on-deck approach to reduce visa wait times. India ranks sixth among the top source markets for the U.S, said Jackie Ennis, vice president, global markets for Brand USA. A total of 1.25 million arrivals were registered from India in 2022. The latest figures in February revealed that 203,540 Indians travelled to the U.S. so far between January and February. In 2019, Indian travelers spent $16.5 billion in the U.S. The destination marketeer for the U.S. — Brand USA conducted its 2023 India Sales Mission in Mumbai and Delhi last week. Speaking at the event Ennis spoke about how the air connectivity between the two countries has been strengthened with Air India launching two direct flights to San Francisco from Bengaluru and Mumbai in December last year and from Mumbai to New York (JFK) in February. With this, Air India now has 46 weekly non-stop flights between the two countries, in addition to seven weekly direct flights operated from Newark to Delhi by United Airlines and seven weekly direct flights from New York (JFK) to Delhi by American Airlines. Calling India a fast-growing market with tremendous potential for growth in tourism, Ennis added, “We are thrilled to see a heightened interest in exploring beyond the gateways to lesser-known destinations.”

Aiming to be a top adventure tourism destination, the Indian tourism minister recently spoke about focusing on infrastructure development to boost this segment. However, India would need more than just infrastructure development. Quality standards, regulation and oversight would be needed for India to become a leading adventure tourism destination. Most guides, operators and instructors in the country fail to meet basic safety requirements as there are over 5,000 unregistered adventure tour operators in the country, said Vaibhav Kala, founder of New Delhi-based Aquaterra Adventures, told Skift. Highly specialized activities are operated by non-specialized operators due to lack of guidelines and limited skilling facilities. “We need a uniform nationwide regulatory system with ease of registration, training institutes and licensed guides to offer quality and safe experiences to tourists from around the world,” said Kala. Tourism in India lacks legislative backing and is therefore, a state subject. The Centre doesn’t have a mandate to enforce approved regulations and guidelines on the states. States like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal have all been working on adventure tourism standards and guidelines — but in total isolation. Pradeep Murthy, director of Kerala-based MuddyBoots Vacations, highlighted to Skift how several unregulated adventure bucket shops which provide low-quality equipment severely impact safety. “Many operators use plastic helmets for bungee jumping and white water rafting which are otherwise used for scaffolding work in construction,” he said. It’s important that consumers understand and find out if the right adventure equipment is being used — which should ideally be tested in proper laboratories and certified to international standards. “Operators would be forced to adopt regulatory practices only if customers start demanding for licensed operators. The government should therefore, look at educating consumers on a mass level,” added Murthy. India also needs to have a proper mechanism for evacuation and rescue so that tourists are airlifted to safety. 

Before the pandemic, solo travelers accounted for roughly a third of hotel bookings by inbound travelers. But a push for social interaction and India’s growing reputation as a couples getaway has since led families and couples to take a majority share of inbound bookings, according to travel tech firm RateGain Travel Technologies’ India Inbound Travel Trends report. Family hotel bookings have increased from 4 percent in the first quarter of 2019 to 10.2 percent in the first quarter of 2023. France and Spain are the top origins for families visiting India. Solo bookings have significantly declined in recent years — from 41.6 percent in the first quarter of 2019 to only 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2023. The report studies travelers’ behavior from nine countries, including the U.S., UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Russia, Germany and France. We wonder where the inbound business travelers have gone. Here’s another startling statistic from the RateGain report: the share of female travelers visiting India from developed countries has increased to 49 percent over the past five years. While the share was a little more than 33 percent of all travelers between January and March 2018, it rose by 50 percent to occupy 49 percent of the total share of international travelers between January and March 2023.