Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Sorry - link didn't copy - here is article from the STAR

Kuala Lumpur (The Star/ANN) - India is reviewing certain aspects of restrictions on tourist visas which now require a mandatory two-month wait before re-entry into the country.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna said exceptions were made to bona fide tourists and visitors in certain cases.

"This is a policy which applies to all countries. Aspects of it are being reviewed by our government," he said in an interview before leaving for New Delhi.

Asked what aspects were being reviewed, Krishna, who was here to attend the Fifth India-Malaysia Joint Commission Meeting, said the matter was under the purview of the Home Ministry.

"We do realise the discomfiture that it has caused (to Malaysian tourists). With internal security uppermost on our mind, we will have to balance the advantages with the disadvantages," he added.

The Indian Government tightened its rules on all categories of tourist visas in January last year to counter terrorism threats.

Malaysian tourists who had enjoyed six-month multiple-entry visas to visit friends and relatives prior to the ruling are restricted to two visits within the visa period.

Krishna said he had received appeals from tourists who had been hit by the restrictive ruling.

Indian travel agents here had appealed to the Indian High Commission to review the policy. Malaysia has the largest Indian diaspora in the world.

Krishna said the visa ruling aside, people-to-people exchanges between India and Malaysia were developing satisfactorily.

"We have agreed on ways to sustain these trends in the coming year," he added.

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Editorial: Schizophrenic visa system 9 May: Herald. …tourist arrivals from Goa’s most faithful foreign visitors, the British, are dropping… The main reason the drastic changes in visa rules … The needless crackdown on British retirees owning property in Goa has damaged Goa’s image in Britain

www.goanvoice.org.uk

This tourist season, we are told, has been exceptionally good. Goa received its highest number of charter flights ever, with total inflow of both domestic and international tourists aggregating at an estimated 23 lakh. The May rush of domestic tourists will probably take the tourist inflow to around 27 lakh, says Director of Tourism Swapnil Naik.
But despite the optimism, the fact is that tourist arrivals from Goa’s most faithful foreign visitors, the British, are dropping. This last year has apparently shown some recovery, but t hough the British economy has stopped deteriorating, the arrival of British tourists hasn’t improved. In 2007-08, Goa received 365 charter flights from the UK carrying 100,664 tourists. In 2008-09, this figure dropped to 287 flights with 77,500 tourists. This was partly owing to the economic slowdown, but that was only part of the reason.
The main reason was the 26/11 attack on Mumbai and the drastic changes in visa rules that followed. It became very difficult to get a visa for India. Long term vacationers, Goa’s greatest foreign tourist asset, were put to indescribable hardship by a baffling rule – still in operation – that once a tourist leaves India, (s)he cannot re-enter the country for two months.
This, and the needless crackdown on British retirees owning property in Goa has damaged Goa’s image in Britain. And if these quixotic rules are not changed, it could result in this state going off the favorite destination list in the UK. The tourist industry may not be too concerned, since Russians have been coming in ever greater numbers to this state, but the comfort levels of the people in the tourist trade is much higher with English-speaking tourists.
In 2007-2008, the number of Russian tourists was around 42,690 with 159 flights. In 2010-11, it has jumped to 70,053. Even as it has become so much harder for the British to come to Goa, it is ridiculously easy for the Russians to do the same. Russians who live in Yekaterinburg and St Petersburg, cities that – unlike Moscow – do not have an Indian consulate can get a 14-day Temporary Landing Permit (TLP) on arrival at Dabolim Airport. That is like a visa on arrival. It is this TLP that Goa’s tourism trade now wants opened up to all tourists. It’s perfectly reasonable. If a tourist from St Petersburg can get a 14-day visa on arrival, why not one from London?
Besides, it would open out Goa for opportunities, such as when Tahrir square in Egypt was under occupation, and thousands of Britishers booked for the beach resort town of Sharm el Shaikh were stranded. Goa could have reaped a bonanza then.
But it still would not help Goa’s oldest friends; the long-term tourists. For them, our MPs must continue to lobby in New Delhi to reverse that senseless stipulation requiring a two-month ‘cooling period’ after a tourist leaves India to re-enter. What sort of schizophrenic policy allows visas-on-arrival to some and puts endless obstacles in the way of others?
VIPs vs aam admi
Why does Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane need 21 policemen to guard him? Maybe, given that mysterious people offer ‘supari’ to gangsters for his head, Home Minister Ravi Naik may need the 17 policemen he is entitled to. But if Luizinho Faleiro and Dayanand Narvekar can manage with two policemen each, most other VIPs should be able to make do with less, so that the unpatrolled streets of the state can be guarded better.
Thanks to Herald 9/5/2011




Loud music blows away Calangute shack operators fortunes

Shack operators have had mixed fortunes this season ... Loud music played at some shack was beyond the permissible limits and kept the British tourists away …. The number of international tourists was down and the Russians “are rarely keen to party” … the India tourists hardly patronised the shacks…

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Good to see important issues are being dealt with on a priority basis....

http://oheraldo.in/news/Local%20News...sts/48095.html

With only a few weeks till monsoon, presume we will be reading about de-silting nullahs on a "war footing" soon?


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Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

To differentiate them from Doctors, ice cream sales men, butchers, lab technicians and the like i guess :blink:

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Well i am sure this is going to be a very big help. Can't wait to see the Apron after it's been worn for a couple of months though. :lol::lol:

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Goa Police force one of the best, says Police chief 11 May: Herald. Goa’s outgoing Director General of Police Bhim Sain Bassi while praising Goa Police, especially the Bomb Disposal Squad said “Goa Police is one of the best police force,” while addressing his last press briefing in Goa, Tuesday… Goa has been in the news for wrong reasons ranging from rapes, murders, offences against foreigner, drug related offences and other cases being reported very often. The police chief however denied that Goa is unsafe


Goa is not Colombia when it comes to drugs: Police chief 10 May: IANS. Goa’s outgoing Director General of Police Bhimsain Bassi Tuesday described the state’s narcotics scene as ‘insignificant’ and said that Goa was certainly not ‘Colombia’, which is known for its powerful drug cartels

www.goanvoice.org.uk

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

And after Mr Bassi has retired from the post of general director of police, he plans to take up a new career...................................

........................... as a comedian !!!

Dread - x

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/...up-30-per.html

Wonder where those tourists stayed in Goa!:o

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

This amazingly stupid and inaccurate article STATES that 20% of TLPs are issued to British.................you what?


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Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Must have been the air crews on the charter flights that he said were not included in the numbers. I never considered it before but air crew can not afford to have their passports with the visa service for days/weeks on end and the two month rule must not apply to them otherwise the charter flights would be few and far between.

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

Wonder how they would manage if airline crews were subject to the 2 month out rule !

Dread - x

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

It clearly says "British travellers"

So, again, who the hell are they?

Surely aircrew need business/employment visas or similar?


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Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

You said yourself that it was an amazingly stupid and inaccurate article so why expect the bit about Brits getting Visas on arrival to be correct. It is obviously one of the inaccuracies

Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

It must be, obviously.......


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Re: In To-day's Newspapers
 

It is the British aircrew that get the TLP's,as we know quite a few of them.They did used to have tourist visa's until the new 2 month out rule was introduced.

John