Brussels, 19/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The European association of tour operators and travel agents (ECTAA) has welcomed the new arrangement put forward by the European Commission on 7 November aimed at improving the conditions for granting tourist visas to third country nationals (see EUROPE 10725). The current procedures for obtaining a short stay visa - laid down in the EU visa code that has been in force since 2010 - are excessively burdensome, complicated and costly, ECTAA says. ECTAA has long called for the simplification of visa rules in order to boost tourism from emerging countries like Russia, China, India and South Africa. “The plans to improve and simplify the visa rules fit very well with the overall objective of the Commission to retain Europe as number one destination in the world”, the tourism professionals say. For the first time, the Commission's services responsible for the Schengen visa code have recognised the importance of taking economic considerations, notably the tourism dimension, into account when adopting decisions on visa policy, they commented. (IL/transl.fl)