Bharat has considerably improved its position with
regard to the traveler source market to United States as of Q2 2023, as per the
US Department of Commerce.
Bharat is now number 2 (excluding Mexico and Canada)
in the list of overseas traveler source markets to United States. The rank was
3 during the previous four quarters and 8 during the pre-Covid time in 2019.
The experts point out that the improvement to the
second rank is despite the huge backlog of tourist visas, which indicates high
pent-up demand.
Bharat is expected to become the top traveler market
to the United States with vacations or holidays main purposes of the trip. The
other purposes of the trip include visits to friends and families or business
travels.
The data comes as Indians were the second largest
visitors (after the UK) to the US during the peak travel month of June this
year. The jump is despite a long visa processing backlog and skyrocketing
airfares.
As per the US Department of Commerce, more than 1.5
lakh Indians visited the US as of September this year.
The American Embassy in Bharat has assured that they
are working to reduce the visa processing time and are clearing the backlog in
stages.
Currently, the processing time for a tourist visa to United
States varies per city and stands as high as 607 days in Kolkata to 441 days in
Hyderabad.
In order to clear backlogs faster and reduce the visa
processing time, Indians were also offered the facility to apply for US tourist
visas from the consulates of other countries.
The visa authorities are also resolving technical
problems from their end which create delays in steps like appointments,
interview scheduling, etc.
Agencies
