Source : the age
Mumbai: Premier Chris Minns will ask the prime minister to make it easier for Indian tourists to visit NSW after airline carriers and tourism operators repeatedly highlighted the difficulties of obtaining visas as a major blockage in securing more direct flights to Sydney.
On the final leg of his four-day trade trip to India on Thursday, Minns revealed changes to tourist visa processing had emerged as a major issue throughout the visit, and been a significant barrier to his bid to attract direct flights to the new western Sydney airport.
“The constant and repeated feedback we receive from tourism operators and airlines and those who are involved in the sector here in India is that about 18 months ago the rules or regulations changed, and it became far harder to get a tourism visa,” he said.
“So we’re not talking about education or staying long term or becoming a permanent resident. We’re talking about a tourism visa.”
His comments came after Minns highlighted the visa issue during a speech at a tourism event in Mumbai on Wednesday night. The event – also attended by his predecessor, Jodi McKay, whom he deposed as Labor leader – was one of a string on the trip where the visa issue was raised.
At a tourism roundtable held before the event, the premier was told the system had been more predictable before changes about 18 months ago.
Tourism operators said the process was especially onerous for families, where some family members often receive approvals weeks before others, making it impossible to plan trips.
Minns had highlighted a meeting with Air India earlier this week as one of the most critical of his first overseas trade trip as premier.
But, while the airline indicated it was interested in more flights to both Sydney and Melbourne, no deal was struck. The visa issue, along with Air India’s own attempts to grow its fleet, are among the major blockages.
Minns said he would raise the issue with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying tourism operators had made “common-sense suggestions” to fix the problem, including allowing automatic entry for tourists who had already been approved for entry into the US or Schengen area in Europe.
Even one additional direct flight on the route could unlock about $250 million a year in tourism, he said.
Asked on Thursday about coming across McKay, now a senior trade and investment commissioner for the federal government, Minns said the two had “buried the hatchet a long time ago”.
“She looks fantastic in her new role here. She’s doing a great job promoting trade, and in many ways, I feel like Jodi was one of a few people that was prophetic about the relationship between NSW and India,” he said.
“She’s always been a passionate advocate of the relationship.”
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