Dear Readers,

I am very pleased to inform you that we are ending 2023 on a high note at VFS Global. We are honoured to have been able to further strengthen our trusted partner relationships with some key client governments in the past few months. VFS Global winning the global contract for UK visa and passport services, the Department of Home Affairs, Australia, awarding its global biometric collection service to us and Sweden as well as Norway renewing their global visa services contracts with us bears testimony to the trust our client governments have in us and to our overall commitment to service excellence. We greatly value the trust of all our client governments.

Global tourism is set to grow significantly in the next decade. According to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2023 Global Trends Report, by 2033, travel is set to become a US$15.5 trillion (S$21 trillion) industry, accounting for more than 11.6 per cent of the global economy. As the world’s largest visa outsourcing and technology services specialist for governments and diplomatic missions worldwide, this increases our responsibility to continue to support global mobility by understanding and supporting the needs of our customers, continuous development of innovative tech-driven solutions, and an overall commitment to service excellence and sustainable and ethically sound business practices.

I strongly believe that generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) is going to be a game changer for the society at large. I’m happy to share that as the pioneer in visa outsourcing, we have already started working towards harnessing its transformative power to automate processes, further enhance customer experience and revolutionise the visa and consular service industry.We will share more details about this important update in our upcoming editions.

Customer centricity and agility are two of the core values that shape our business philosophy. In the Leaders Speak section, we have featured the Chief Operating Officer of Mainland China, Hong Kong and Mongolia who shares how these two aspects propelled the growth of visa demand after the reopening of China’s outbound travel. We also have our Chief Communications Officer highlight the importance of communication for our organisation that caters to multiple stakeholders. Diversity of thought is the essence of a healthy, entrepreneurial organisation and VFS Global’s diverse culture is an important driver of its success. Our Head of Empowerment and Inclusion for the UAE talks about enhancing awareness of the country’s traditions and culture among our vast employee base, further reinforcing our commitment to inclusiveness.

At VFS Global, we strongly believe that leaders are true role models when it comes to upholding our organisation’s core values and promoting an engaging culture. As part of this endeavour, we continued to strengthen our top management team with the appointment of Jose Manuel Aisa Mancho as our Chief Financial Officer and Srinarayan Sankaran as the new Chief Operating Officer to lead global operations. With their rich experience in respective fields, I am sure they will play a pivotal role in taking the organisation to newer heights.

I hope you enjoy reading this edition of Connect. I take this opportunity to wish you, your teams and your families a peaceful and joyous Christmas season and a deeply fulfilling year ahead!