Cheap visa did not affect the sales of tours to India

India in September 2019 significantly reduced the cost of a visa for foreign tourists, including from Russia. Now a visa for 30 days in the low season will cost only $10, in the high season - $ 25.  According to tour operators, the market has weakly reacted: sales volumes of leading players correspond to the last year's indicators.  “The demand for India remains at the level of the last year. The information about a decrease in the cost of a visa did not affect tourist demand in any way,” the press service of the tour operator Biblio-Globus confirmed. The first flight of Rossia airline, as part of the flight program of the tour operator, flew to Goa on October 12. However, experts say that such situation in demand is partly explainable: the active season on the destination has not yet begun, so the sales of the resorts of India - primarily beach tours to Goa - will be revived closer to the end of October - mid November.  In addition, as Anna Filatovskaya, the director of the advertising and PR department of the tour operator Russian Express, notes, not everyone knows about visa relaxation. 

According to market participants, in the long term, the low price of an Indian visa can affect demand for the destination, but will not become the main driver of sales. Marina Makarkova from Coral Travel also draws attention to the fact that India has “its own client” in Russia, which already makes this destination quite returnable.  In the winter season 2019-2020, the absolute leader of the demand on the Indian destination is beach vacation in Goa, on the second line are sightseeing tours (the Golden Triangle) in combination with cities and vacation on the coast. And Ayurveda is on the third position. 

According to the tour operator Paks: a vacation in Goa will cost 78 900 Rubles (1 116 Euros) for two persons. The combination of a beach tour with excursion to Taj Mahal (2 nights + 5 nights vacation in Goa) starts from 99 100 Rubles (1 401 Euros) for two.