Industry leaders have pledged to fight restrictive visa procedures in order to stimulate worldwide travel demand.
Speaking at the World Travel and Tourism Global Summit in Tokyo, Travel Corporation president and chief executive Brett Tollman called for the implementation of e-visas to “ensure a free flow of opportunity for all of us.”
Chief executive of International Airlines Group Willie Walsh agreed, saying complex visa procedures meant countries were “losing out” in terms of investment and job creation.
“We need to highlight this issue and embarrass governments,” he said.
The council welcomed the recent easing of US visa restrictions by US president Obama, but stressed there was still much to be done.
Meanwhile, Australia was held up as a role model for visa processing, having long introduced the e-visa.
But Tourism Australia managing director Andrew McEvoy told Travel Today that there were still improvements that could be made in terms of ensuring “quick and effective” processing, and updating the working holiday visa.
“Ours is good, but others have gone beyond us now, raising the age limit and tenure,” he said.
