Work out vacation plans, say experts

Some services may be delayed if the shutdown persists, say experts; US embassy says most offices would work smoothly

The US shutdown has given Indian travellers the jitters.

While travel companies are receiving anxious calls from US-bound tourists on concerns ranging from visa issuance to flight schedules, there is a lack of clarity on how things will play out if the shutdown persists for days.

For starters, 410 national park service sites, visited by around 715,000 people a day, will be closed. It has been estimated that 700,000-800,000 Federal government workers out of the 2.1-million employees would be out of jobs temporarily or on unpaid leave.

A US embassy spokesperson told Business Standard that things will run smooth. “The Bureau of Consular Affairs will continue to work domestically and abroad. So that means they will continue visa issuance as well as with  passport operations.”

He said some State Department passport offices, located in Federal buildings, may be forced to shut down during a lapse in appropriations due to a lack of building support services.

However, industry experts pointed out the processes may slow down and travellers would do better to keep an extra margin of at least a week in applying for visas. “There will definitely be an impact in the short term. Both outbound and inbound tourists will be affected. The travel plans for both leisure and business travellers can be delayed,” said Sharat Dhall, president, Yatra.com.

During 2012, the US received around 724,000 Indian tourists. It expects to take this number up to one million by 2015. The country also recently set up its Brand USA office in India. Indian inbound travel to the US grew by 110 per cent from 2005 to 2012.

While there are no cancellations in travel plans yet, travel company operators said the impact could be bigger if the shutdown persists for more than a week.

Addressing the concerns over flight and airport operations, Karan Anand, head (relationships) at Cox & Kings, said: “Immigration and Customs check in facilities at all US airports, air traffic controllers are functioning normally as these come under “essential services”. Thereby, flight operations across all airlines flying to the US will not be affected.”

According to CARE ratings, the US government has shut down 17 times since 1977. “However, it has not happened for 17 years, since the historic face-off between Bill Clinton and the Republican-controlled House halted services for 28 days in 1996.”