Channel Chat

The Official Voice Of ETAA

British High Commission to enlarge its partnership base

Meeting initiated by ETAA addresses visa concerns

Andrea Lopez - Mumbai

Karl Dantas President of ETAA

The TOTO (Tour Operator Totally Online) programme, initiated in 2007 by the British High Commission, under which five leading Indian tour operators were identified to handle UK visa processing procedures, will now expand its trusted partnership membership to include other tour operators in the country.

At an informal meeting with the British High Commission, ETAA, TAAI and TAFI expressed their concerns over the exclusion of their members from the task of visa processing. Ajay Prakash, national general secretary, TAFI, says, "The meeting was primarily held to discuss the current visa situation with biometrics and to express our concern as an industry over the present membership status. We do not want anomaly in the market through monopoly." He added that the meeting concluded on a very positive note and that the decision to increase the number of trusted partners would also depend on how responsible the travel agent is.

Karl Dantas, president of ETAA, who primarily initiated the meet, said, "When the TOTO programme was initiated in 2007, it was to educate the trade about what the UK visa process is all about. TOTO was brought in as a pilot project with five or six operators in the market doing large groups to the UK. We have received a very positive response from the British High Commission to enlarge the trusted partnership programme beyond the traditional five. This is a path-breaking development that would culminate in more people going to the UK by 2009," he said, adding that the British High Commission was trying to reach out to more visitors to the UK.