With a speedy growth in foreign shores that signals Indians from non-metros, VFS Global India has processed 13 per cent more visas when compared to the previous year. In other words, 52.8 lakh applications have been processed in 2018.
Agra, Lucknow, Nagpur which fall under Tier-2 cities have conferred largely to the rise in outbound travel. On the one hand, Tier-1 cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Mumbai showed consistent growth in visas applications and on the other hand, tier 2 cities had a decline in growth especially in Jalandhar and Chandigarh.
Such robust growth in visa applications proves that going onsite is no more a fixed zone for privileged section alone. VFS Global’s regional COO for ME and Asia, Vinay Malhotra, stated that there is no room for sluggish pace in smaller cities as many travelling to international countries which in turn caused this growth.
In 2017, 2.4 crore Indians went on an International travel compared to 2016’s 2.2 crore travellers. The data has been released by Union tourism ministry and it confirmed that the growth in the past decade is expeditious. Keeping in mind how 2000 year had only 44.2 lakh, there is a prediction from CAPA that by 2025, the growth would be 1.4 crore recreational departures.
