11/08/2019 16:17

Night Italian Visas

[IMG=20648-6425]Working hours in the Italian Consulate prolonged until 5 a.m were witnessed by couriers of travel companies who got visas on August 4th. Tour operators of the Italian destination interviewed by a BANKO correspondent doubt the situation will soon stabilize, however they are not concerned about the current problems. Thus, Konstantin Khotov, Expert of the Italian Destination of Mondo Tours, explained: ‘high season, high workload. If we get documents from the Consulate at 11p.m or 12 p.m. it seems to be early! We are grateful that the Consulate agents work hard, therefore there have been no missed flights owing to lack of visa’. ‘Italians do their best to issue visas in time’, said Yury Besputin, General Director of SOLOITALIA S.r.l. ‘A number of cancellations has not increased. Besides current problems can be explained by colossal demand for Italy’, added Tatiana Varga, the Head of the Marketing Department of Tourparade’. Meanwhile, travel market experts commenting on the situation in the Italian Consulate remember the force-majeure May in the Consulate of France when in high season Consulate agents left work without having issued all visas that resulted into frustrated holidays of the hundreds of tourists. At the moment tour operators do not experience such problems with the Italian Consulate therefore they believe it is better to spend overnight near the Consulate and to get visas than not to get them at all. Travel market experts forecast the situation will stabilize as soon as annual leaves of the consulate agents finish and the demand for Italy decrease.