Thursday, January 24, 2008

Tourist duped by Govt approved agency in Incredible India

While no of foreign tourist are increasing in India like never before and govt and business organization associated with tourism are are enjoying the success but nothing has much has been done for the safety of tourist in India.

Not only are the various touts who are looking for cheating foreign tourist in the various tourist places in India but
even govt approved agencies are also not far behind.

Mr Simon Wynn’s was duped by government-approved tour operators.

“We just didn't anticipate somebody trying to rip us off,” said Wynn.The nightmare for Simon began at the New Delhi Railway station, where he arrived to board a train to Agra.

Some gentleman who appeared to be an official wearing a badge, gave him very sound advice about useually late train in India saying that it was running late or might be cancelled and that he should get in a taxi and go over to Old Delhi Railway Station where they would pick up a later train and on the way they can pop into a government ticket office to get his tickets changed.

The agency involved is in Connaught Place - Exotic Adventure Tours.
The agency has been a listed tour operator with the Ministry of Tourism for 12 years now and its name features in the list of approved tour operators on the ministry's website.

At the agency, valid rail passes worth Rs 30,000 were cancelled and Simon was given a taxi for four days for over Rs 60,000.

If this is the way india tour agncy and tout in India keep working and govt would not take any stern action,
time is not far away when Incredible india would be known as cheating India and that tourist would decide to switch to some other safe destination.

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Health and safety tip when travelling to India

In Indian sub continent the major risks to your health from mosquitoes are malaria, encephalitis, kala azar and dengue. Cover your arms and legs; use the repellent and in problem areas sleep under a mosquito net. Traveller’s diarrhoea is another running problem and year after year traveller after traveller gets the stomock upset.

More serious problem is the risk of contacting AIDS, Hepatitis B and other sexually transmitted diseases.

For climbers and mountaineers: look out for symptoms of altitude sickness/acute mountain sickness. If you ascend above 3500meters too fast you might feel nauseous, sleepless, and your head may ache. Also carry sunscreen with minimum SPF 20 to escape sunburn.

The quality of health services is very uneven . Urban cities, particularly metros, have good hospitals, well stocked late night/all night chemists, highly competent doctors and top of the line medical services. Conversely, rural and semi-rural areas have very limited facilities. Stick to the larger cities if you are anticipating trouble. Medicines are fairly cheap in India.
Travellers from yellow fever areas are required to have an inoculation certificate. Prior inoculation for poliomyelitis is recommended.

Safety
Areas that may be avoided are Bihar,Jammu & Kashmir and parts of the Northeast, which in any case have restricted tourist activity. Cases of mugging, theft and worse are frequent.


Few precaution you may consider:

Keep several photocopies of your passport, insurance, travellers’ cheques etc. scattered through your luggage,


Do not put all your money in one place,

Be extremely alert in the dark.

Many women travellers wear the long tunic and loose pyjama dress of Indian women called the salwar-kameez and find that it substantially dissuades unwanted male attention.


If you are travelling alone, do not tell others.


If you lose your passport lodge a First Information Report at the local police station and contact your embassy.If local police people misbehave or does not listen best is to talk higher officer or contact your embassy and then action happen fast.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Belgian embassy official murdered in Delhi

A Belgian embassy official posted to India was found stabbed to death in her New Delhi home , police said. The woman, who had been stabbed 22 times, was identified as Isabelle Dessoy, 35, a Press Trust of India news agency report quoted police as saying.

Dessoy was a secretary at the Belgian embassy, according to the diplomatic mission's website. Police said Dessoy may have been killed after a party on Saturday night at her home in the Vasant Vihar neighbourhood in south New Delhi which is home to several foreign embassies and staff. Five people, including Dessoy's driver, were held in connection with the murder.

Monday, August 07, 2006

Dutch woman tourist found dead on Indian train

New Delhi - A 25-year-old Dutch woman tourist died Thursday on a train while coming to New Delhi.
According to police, Janine Corina was part of a group of tourists that had come to India on July 15. ‘The group was returning from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh during that time, she complained of uneasiness and became unconscious ,’ said a senior Government Railway Police official.

Corina’s sister, Dayenne Peternella, was also part of the group that had come from Holland, police said.