British holidaymakers are cancelling trips to India. Is it visa- related?

British Travel To India: Thousands of British holidaymakers cancelled trips to India owing to a change in a visa rule, a report said.

Thousands of British holidaymakers cancelled trips to India owing to last minute tourist visa rule change, The Times UK reported. The sudden change in the rule required Britons to present themselves in person at visa centres in the UK and apply for tourist visas.

British Travel To India: Thousands of British holidaymakers have cancelled trips to India.

In the process, another obstacle arose when no appointments were available for the Britons for the next two months, the report said. This resulted in the holiday plans of thousands of British travellers to India being cancelled.

The Indian high commission in London however said there have been no changes in the visa rules.

The British passport holders were informed of the change through an automated message, the report said while at nine visa processing centres (VFS) in Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Cardiff, Edinburgh, central London, Hounslow, Leicester and Manchester all appointments were fully booked at least till November 18 and no further dates showed any availability.

The report added that the earliest dates for the visa appointments could be close to mid-December.

VFS Global said that the decision was taken to insist that travellers must be present in person as a high number of administrative errors had been made by third-party visa companies, the report said.