Advancing its pre-season engagement with the travel trade in India, visa services firm VFS Global says it organised a series of roadshows across 12 cities in India over the past few weeks.

According to a press statement issued by VFS Global, the roadshows enabled the company to share insights on their plans for the upcoming peak travel season and provided the agents a platform to address the challenges that they encounter.

The events focussed on the need to book appointments in advance

The statement adds that the roadshows commenced in Bhubaneswar on February 19 and concluded on March 26 in Kochi. The other cities where these roadshows were conducted included Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, New Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore, and Chennai. VFS Global says that over 1,200 agents from across these cities participated in the roadshows.

The events focussed on the need to book appointments in advance as most countries accept visa applications up to 90 days or three months before the date of travel. According to the revised Schengen Visa Code, in effect since February 2020, one can apply for a Schengen visa up to six months before the date of travel.
The visa services firm says that it also highlighted another issue that visa appointments are free and are only available on the company’s website.

VFS says that the agents were also updated on the operational changes taking place within the regions and VFS Global took the opportunity to promote Visa At Your Doorstep (VAYD), services and Premium Lounge.
The statement adds that the event received overwhelming response from travel association such as the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI), and the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI). Jyoti Mayal, President TAAI and Ajay Prakash, President, TAFI, addressed the agent community in Delhi and Mumbai respectively, says VFS Global.