ATM 2024: Schengen visa woes will be over soon, says travel official from Europe
Digital visa to Schengen countries will help solve the problem
Dubai: Schengen visa woes will be over soon with the digitalisation of the process, said a European travel official at the Arabian Travel Market (ATM 2024) in Dubai on Monday.
Currently, travellers who need visa to visit Europe, have to wait for months to get appointments to apply for a visa.
Digitalisation is the key to easing travel to Europe, Teodora Marinska, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Public Affairs at the European Travel Commission, said at the ATM.
She said that the initiative to render the Schengen visa application fully digital is a positive development that will ease and speed up the process as frequent travellers won’t be required to go in person.
Addressing a session on the Arabian Travel Market titled Strengthening Inter-Regional Travel: Learnings from Europe, Marinska said: “In Europe, we have the world’s largest passport-free travel area, the Schengen area. And it’s the perfect backbone for the development of inter-regional tourism. And the big and fast rebound after the pandemic was mainly due to the internal or inter-regional tourism.”
The Schengen visa, required to visit most European countries, has been fraught with frustrating delays in getting an appointmen, Gulf News reported.
Marinska said this was because people tend to apply to certain countries where a Schengen visa is easier to obtain. “You can apply for a Schengen visa in any consulate. But we see that people apply at the same consulate because they know the procedure is more lean and easier. So what the European Union is trying to do is to digitalise the process.”
“Digitalisation is key here. And I think that we have the tools to have a super seamless travel experience for people very soon with just the digital visa,” Marinska said, adding, “We need to make sure is that at the border, this works properly. So we avoid delays. And it also doesn’t put additional burden on transport operators”.
Huge success
The Schengen visa has been a huge success and is a model for others to follow, said Marinska, who drives forward the European Travel Commission’s mission to promote Europe as a premier travel destination. “What comes first always [in Schengen policies] is the security component. And this is a pitfall also because it overlooks some of the major European values, such as free movement and the economic benefits of travel.”