Newstrack

'Ireland is no longer the appendix of the UK'

Chetan Kapoor - Mumbai

Cyrus Guzder CMD, AFL

With Tourism Ireland promoting itself aggressively on Indian shores, Indo-Irish relations are also improving. Said Cyrus Guzder, CMD, AFL and also the honorary consul general of Ireland in Mumbai, "The last three years have seen a resurgence of interest between the two countries (India and Ireland) on many fronts - Indians are investing in Ireland, more students are pursuing post- graduate courses there as an alternative to the US and the UK, Bollywood has shown interest by shooting films in the country, and even the thoroughbred racehorse sector is being looked at closely by the Indians."

Given this, there has been a three-fold rise in the number of visas issued to Indians visiting Ireland, especially the business travellers, and Dublin too is being added as a routine offering by the tour operators as part of Europe and UK packages. Although there are no direct connections between the two nations, Etihad and Gulf Air provide services between the two countries via Abu Dhabi and Bahrain, respectively. To this Guzder remarked, "The current traffic doesn't justify having direct connections as yet, but Aer Lingus, the national carrier of Ireland, did send a team to India to explore the opportunities. Also, they have placed orders for the A330 and it would be about two to three years before we see direct connections between the two countries. Nonetheless, Ireland is no longer the appendix of the UK."

Furthermore, Guzder informed that the embassy has also given assurance of simplifying the visa process, with more visas to be issued from the Mumbai office, thereby reducing the timeframe from a week to three days.

When asked about opportunities for MICE travel given the number of business travellers visiting the country, he remarked, "The real problem is taking multiple flights to reach Ireland, which just adds to the total cost, unlike places like Thailand and Malaysia where one gets attractive packages with hotels and air travel included at attractive costs."