At the behest of the European Parliament, a number of developments are emerging on visa facilitation with regards to the EU tourism industry. A debate on how the implementation and development of a common visa policy can be used to increase tourist flows was sparked off by the European Commission. The discussion, initiated in a Communication policy paper, was conceived partly as a response to the economic crisis and partly as a means to ease travel opportunities for legitimate travellers within the Schengen area.

There is an emerging consensus that visa facilitation can have a significant impact on attracting tourists from the so-called emerging economies, where there is certainly untapped potential for growth.

The Commission cites data on Schengen visa applications lodged by third-country nationals in recent years as evidence of the positive impact of visa facilitation on job creation in the travel and hospitality business.

For example, around 460,000 Schengen visas were issued in India in 2011 compared to 340,000 in 2007, while an even more staggering increase has been registered in China where the total number of Schengen visas in 2011 surpassed one million.

Maltese tourism stands to gain considerably from a faster and more efficient EU visa issuance process, not only because the emerging economies constitute a growing source of incoming tourism into Europe but also because tourists from emerging markets tend to have significant purchasing power.

Consequently, obtaining even a minimal share of this expanding market would immensely profit the local hospitality economy especially within the ambit of the sustained growth of niche sectors, like diving, healthcare tourism and English language tuition.

A number of improvements to the visa code are being proposed by the European Commission, such as clear time limits for the main application steps, the harmonisation of procedures with regards to the granting and validation of multiple entry visas, as well as the possibility for visa applications to be done by commercial intermediaries. Travel agents would be ideally positioned to act as an intermediary to ensure that a non-EU traveller obtains his visa papers in a reasonable timeframe and effectively ensures the departure from the Schengen zone once the tourist is done with his travelling in Europe.

In Malta, visa facilitation for genuine non-EU travellers needs to be addressed by, for instance, improving the accessibility of the service from abroad. In the meantime, the Maltese business community looks forward to the Government’s proposition to set up a Central Visa Unit that would be tasked with the coordination, verification and general facilitation of Schengen visas.

For more information on EU business affairs, contact the Malta Business Bureau on info@mbb.org.mt or call 2125 1719.

Omar Cutajar is the Malta Business Bureau’s permanent delegate in Brussels.

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