Tag Archives: Hungary

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands has awarded VFS Global the global tender to provide visa services in eight out of nine regions worldwide. It will operate for the Netherlands government in Africa, North America, Central and South America, Asia and Pacific, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Western Europe, and India. VFS Global has worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 2006 and will provide Schengen visa services, Caribbean visa services, long-stay national visas, Dutch Travel Documents and Civic Integration Exams under the new contract. Chris Dix, Head—Business Development, VFS Global, said, “VFS Global is delighted that we will continue to serve the Netherlands Government. We have enjoyed a strong partnership with the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for well over a decade, and welcome this opportunity to enhance our service capabilities on their behalf. We look forward to opening our facilities in 40 new locations to offer Netherlands visa applicants best-in-class visa solutions and a seamless application process.” Since August 2018, VFS Global has signed visa service contracts with nine existing and new clients, and governments from Europe to extend their visa service network. This includes contracts to provide additional visa services for client governments such as Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovenia, Slovakia and The Czech Republic.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Ivan Chu and Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO of the Lufthansa Group, signed a new co-operation agreement that will see the airline code share on flights operated by Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines to a number of destinations in Continental Europe. Reciprocally, the Lufthansa Group will codeshare on Cathay Pacific services to four of the airline’s most popular destinations in Southwest Pacific. Under the agreement, Cathay Pacific will offer 14 new destinations in Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Norway, Italy, Switzerland and Austria with the “CX” code placed on the following services operated by airlines in the Lufthansa Group. The Lufthansa Group will place its airlines’ codes on services operated by Cathay Pacific between Hong Kong and Auckland as well as between Hong Kong and Cairns, Melbourne and Sydney. Under a single booking, passengers from Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna and Zurich will be able to check through and seamlessly transfer to their final destination in Auckland or Australia via Hong Kong International Airport. The agreement extends to both airlines’ frequent flyer programmes. Tickets for the new code-share destinations will be available for sale from 5 April 2017 for travel commencing from 26 April 2017.

Hungary witnessed a growth of 70 per cent in Indian arrivals in 2016 till date, while 40,000 Indian tourists visited the country in 2015, informed Mark Kinces, International Marketing Manager, South-East Europe, Hungarian Tourism Agency. This was revealed at the roadshow conducted by Central Europe comprising of Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary in Mumbai and New Delhi in order to promote the region in the Indian market. “We are not only receiving leisure tourists but also mid-sized groups and MICE travellers to Hungary,” says Kinces. According to Emilia Kubik, Asian Markets Project Leader, Polish Tourist Organisation, 26,000 Indian tourists visited Poland in 2015 and the country expects a 10 per cent increase in Indian arrivals by the end of 2016. Kubik also informed that Poland is also planning to introduce a destination specialist programme for the travel trade in 2017. Czech Republic is expecting to receive 50,000 Indian tourists from India by the end of 2016 revealed Karina Vitkova, International Marketing Manager, Long-haul Markets, Czech Tourism while Slovakia has seen a few thousand Indian arrivals and is hoping to increase awareness about the country amongst the travel trade in order to attract more arrivals explains Robert Vincze, Head-Slovak Convention Bureau, Slovak Tourism Board.

VFS Global has introduced the On-Demand Mobile Visa Service for Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Slovenia visas applicants across India. Travellers can give their biometrics data and visa application in the comfort of their home or office. A well-trained and professional team from VFS Global will visit the applicant at his/her chosen location anywhere in India to collect the details. The service is ideal for corporate groups, incentive groups, on-campus students and cultural & sports groups. It is available on any day of the week, including weekends across India. VFS offers a dedicated Helpline numbers for appointment bookings and assistance. The applicant can call the country specific Helpline number to book an appointment, pay the fee online and receive confirmed appointment details, following which a team will make a visit at a location convenient to the applicant on the appointed date and time to collect biometrics and accept the application.