Comments

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  Anil September 5, 2010 at 1:06am

  While the 2-month rule has been in place, a while; and preventing terrorism the given official reasoning - It is to discourage people living in India on a back-to-back visas. India to begin with is not an immigrant friendly country. People were using tourist visas to do a back-to-back long term living. Long term (5-10 year) tourist visas were used to go outside for a day and return back to start the 180 day per visit restriction. Both UK an US are just posturing. Visitors can get a waiver or exception from local missions if there is a genuine need.
  
  Try entering US on a tourist visa and do the same thing ? Legitimate tourists are never prevented from re-entering if there is a detailed itn. for touring neighboring countries on a trip. The regulation was enforced towards the end of 2009. The only loud segment protesting are folks who go live on tourist visas for years.
  No one complains about the VWP visitors to US :-)
  
  An Old link from Dec 2009
  
  http://www.eturbonews.com/13391/us-uk-protest-indias-new-tight-tour...
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  Ed Wetschler September 4, 2010 at 10:53pm

  There's a story in the Guardian today about the UK and the US governments protesting new regulations in India that prevent tourists from re-entering India within two months of their last visit. Can this really hurt the UK and US more than it hurts India?
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  Anil August 26, 2010 at 8:11am

  In the course of the day, I get more than a fair share of search engines, websites to check. Last month I was forwarded a meta travel search engine for indian air,train travel. Unlike ixigo, cleartrip etc. this engine is unique that it takes simple english sentences and presents you with the results. Try it.
  
  http://www.90di.com/travel/
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  Ed Wetschler August 24, 2010 at 6:44pm

  Interesting report, Anil. Thank you.
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  Anil August 23, 2010 at 6:10pm

  I was in India past Feburary, and talked to a lot of people about the state of the economy. Th financial meltdown did not impact the indian financial institutions. The economy remained robust; only impact was in the outsourced IT sector. Hotels in India are as such heavily taxed, so their boom bust cycles are based on business and high end tourist sector. The backpacker hotels remain insulated.
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  Ed Wetschler August 23, 2010 at 6:01pm

  Indian Travel Industry Makes a Comeback
  
  eTurboNews: "While the US is still debating whether it is a "V" or "W" shaped economic recovery from the Great Recession, the Indian hotel industry has staged a recovery as steep as the decline it witnessed in 2009."
  
  Moreover, hotels are getting rave reviews and developers are planning to create additional premium hotels.
  
  But will the boom / comeback last?
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  Anil August 18, 2010 at 4:32pm

  I talked to one person connected to this vertical (Medical Tourism) and his view is that majority of folks on medical tourism (and there are a few) go to relax in the beaches of Goa, even when their immune system is not fully recovered from post-operation. This leads to complications, as post recovery is not in a sterile controlled environment.
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  Ed Wetschler August 18, 2010 at 4:19pm

  Mariellen, the Toronto Star reports that even Indian doctors acknowledge that the antibiotic-resistant bacteria are very much for real. However, the Indian physicians say it wasn't their fault, but that of the West's doctors, because our docs prescribe too many antibiotics. (All Greek to me; I was a history major.)
  
  Sam, Indian hospitals report no slowdown in medical tourism since that Lancet report came out. But could that be because people were already booked and committed -- and that they will start backing out now?
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  Anil August 16, 2010 at 11:34pm

  Marieellen - Good to know will forward your pointers to others, and will read your travel blog.
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  Mariellen Ward August 16, 2010 at 6:32pm

  Anil, I run small group tours to India: http://breathedreamgo.com/custom-tours/