The meeting with representatives of travel agencies was yet another of a series of activities, by which the Embassy seeks to support people-to-people contacts between the Czech Republic and India through tourism, and by creating preconditions for a sustainable growth of exchange between the citizens of both of the countries.

The Embassy cooperates closely with the agency CzechTourism. The activities of Czech Embassy draw from the enormous potential of India as one of the most dynamically developing markets for tourists traveling abroad. According to estimates, by the end of this decade, 50 million Indians will travel abroad annually.

The Czech Republic wants to attract a share of potential Indian travelers and so far, its efforts to do so have been fairly successful. In 2015, over 55 thousand Indians have overnighted in the Czech Republic, which is more than a twofold increase of the number of people form India, who could appreciate the historical sights and natural beauties of the Czech Republic. However, out of to the 13.4 million tourists, who overnight in the Czech Republic annually, Indians constitute still only 1.5 percent.

Representatives of Indian travel agencies were briefed on new information regarding the upcoming tourist season and a lot of attention was given especially to information on the visa process. The goal was to assure, that Indian tourists receive clear information on what they need to fulfill in order to get visa to the Czech Republic without any obstacles.

During the presentation, a representative of the consular department of the Embassy explained, that there was a drop in demand for visa after the introduction of obligatory biometrics for all Schengen visa. However the renewed interest for Czech visa is increasing at the moment. The applicants now understand better, that biometrics is a precaution also against their data being misused and therefore increases their security as well. The Embassy plans to introduce a new service for those, who decide to give their biometric data in one of visa centers operated by VFS Global. At the moment, there are two such visa centers available – one in Delhi and one in Mumbai.

It is for sure good news for the simplification of the visa process, that the number of visa centers will be increased in the coming months by 4. The representatives of Indian travel agencies, who were present, were offered an opportunity to choose according to their experience, which centers should be opened first. The outcome was clear; the schedule will be Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.

The exact dates of opening of the new visa centers will be announced together by the Embassy and VFS Global, whose representatives were also present at the event.  

The representative of the Embassy also reminded of the active stance of Czech tour operators on the Indian tourist market. Representatives of the Czech travel agencies participated in travel fair SATTE 2016 and are ready to participate again next year in February in SATTE 2017.

One of the plans of the Embassy is to consider a decision to renew a direct flight between the Czech Republic and India and the steps which need to be taken in order to fulfill this ambition. It was also mentioned that CzechTourism might reopen its representation in India.

The successful event, which included plenty of time for a Q&A session, was followed by a networking cocktail party, during which tourism and visa related topics were discussed further.

The Ambassador of Czech Republic, Mr. Milan Hovorka, who presented at the start of the event and also actively participated during the Q&A session, assessed the meeting:”Such events are extremely useful. For us, representatives of the country, they present a unique opportunity to get feedback, which we can take advantage of in our work. At the same time, they also offer a chance to present the interest of the Czech Republic to support development of mutual tourist traffic on a systematic basis and also directly contact our Indian partners, who organize trips to our homeland. The Czech Republic has in India a very good name as one of the most often visited places in Europe. It is our role to help transform this good reputation and public awareness into concrete interest and steps that would lead Indians to the decision to visit the country in the heart of Europe.”