Why Kolkata tour operators are discouraging people from visiting Hong Kong

Tour operators from Kolkata are taking Hong Kong off their travel map. It has been observed that pre-arrival registration of Kolkata tourists are being rejected without any reason.

Earlier, tourists would fly to Hong Kong and get a 14-day visa from the airport. Later, they were required to fill a pre-arrival registration (PAR) to get a clearance before they arrived in Hong Kong.

Of late, it has been noticed that PAR forms, which were filled and submitted online and were approved within minutes, are being declined for many tourists, especially those holding passports issued in Kolkata.

"The problem has escalated so much that we are now not considering Hong Kong as a travel destination. Hundreds of cases of permission being denied have been reported and a dip of about 40 per cent in tourists going to Hong Kong has been noticed. We are also discouraging people from going there," said Anil Punjabi, chairman (east), Travel Agents' Confederation of India. He cited examples of families where the entire family had to call off their trip because one member was denied a visa. He also said that there were instances where people spent huge sums of money to book tickets to Hong Kong Disneyland but had to cancel the trip later. "The rejections have been done without stating any reason," Punjabi added.

Atridev Mishra, a city-based PR professional, was supposed to go to Hong Kong for an award function.

"My case study 'Winning over the Bengali Diaspora' was shortlisted for PR Award Asia, which is taking place in Hong Kong this year. My company had booked round trip flight tickets, hotel stay and table booking, but my PAR visa application was denied. The reason behind the denial is unknown," he said.

Airline authorities also claim to have incurred a loss. "Traffic to Hong Kong has fallen by 30 to 40 per cent. Earlier, about 5,000 people would travel to Hong Kong per month, now the number has come down to around 1,500," said a Cathay Dragon (airline) official.

Some argued that the Chinese consulate in Kolkata can help in the matter, but talking to DNA, Ma Zhanwu, Chinese Consul General in India, said, "Hong Kong is a special administrative region of China and visa applications are handled by Hong Kong's administration. We can't do anything about it."