Indians favour common ASEAN visa system – Skyscanner

Close to 89% of the Indian travellers are in favour of a common visa to visit more than one country in the ASEAN region,

similar to the Schengen visa that applies to 26 countries of the European Union.

Skyscanner conducted a survey amongst 1,000 Indian travellers to understand how visas affected their travel decisions. The findings of the survey illustrated the extent to which visa requirements influence the holiday choices of Indian travellers, with three quarter admitting that their choice of destination was ‘often dictated by visa requirements.

Interestingly, two out of five travellers in the older age groups (55+ category) said they considered holiday destinations irrespective of the visa issues. If visas were not an issue, the most popular holiday destination that Indians were predisposed to travelling to was the United States with 240 travellers voting in favour of it, followed by the United Kingdom, Singapore and Switzerland which received 120, 70 and 60 votes respectively.

When asked if they had ever had their visas rejected, 20% of the travellers surveyed agreed to having faced this disappointment. The survey results also suggest that many travellers find visa application processes complex with 16% of the respondents in the 18-24 age group admitting to making an error in the application process.

Kavitha Gnanamurthy, Skyscanner’s marketing manager for India said, “In light of recent developments of the Indian government introducing a liberalizing visa regime, our survey provides pertinent and useful insights into Indian travellers preference governing visas. From wanting a single visa system for ASEAN countries to choosing their holiday destinations based on ease of getting a visa, governments and tourism bodies in the ASEAN countries should take note of travellers sentiments to ensure increased visitor arrival traffic into their countries.”