[Info] Visa on Arrival to Indians in...

While India has foreign trade relations with many countries in the world, Indian tourists normally have to apply and get the right visas before visiting them. Many other nations - especially in "blocks" like Americas, Europe/EuroZone, etc. - provide much more convenient options for travellers from their respective countries.

But, while that does not prevent Indians from traveling the globe, let that not be a dampener to your travel plans. Here's a list of countries that provide Indians visa-on-arrival*:

(*Important: proper documentation may still be required in most cases, including valid passport, sufficient funds, etc. The following is only for information and readers are requested to check with appropriate authorities, policies, etc. and these are subject to change from time-to-time)

• Kenya (3 months)
• Madagascar (30-days)
• Mozambique (30-days)
• Seychelles (1 month)
• Bolivia
• El Salvador (3 months), including Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua
• Saint Kitts & Nevis
• St. Lucia (6 weeks)
• Antarctica - no visa, but permits required!
• Hong Kong (14-day)
• Maldives (90 days)
• Nepal (150 days)
• Thailand (15-30 days)
• Albania
• Azerbaijan
• Turkey
• Burundi
• Cape Verde
• Cameron
• Comoros
• Djibouti
• Eritrea
• Ethiopia
• Liberia
• Mauritius
• Sierra Leone
• Cambodia
• Indonesia 

(Sources and more information:
a. http://social.linksanywhere.com/webmarks/Travel/countries-that-offer-visa-on-arrival-to-indians-%7C-photo-gallery-yahoo-india-finance/
b. http://www.visasforindians.com/TouristSummary.html)

Stunning (Ohm)-shape building to come up in Mumbai

Mumbai has been steadily transforming in the past few years, with the skyline in South Mumbai and suburbs dotted with skyscrapers that are reaching 30, 40, 60... storeys. Yeah, it's a change, but unlike other major cities the world over, the aesthetics of modern architecture are kind of sore. (Wonder what the famed Fountainhead may have to say about that?).

But, well, as we contemplate that, here's an astoundingly creative building that's being proposed to come up in the Western suburbs. Circa? Anyone's guess...

Read this story with a couple of more images here.

Wimbledon 2012 - Women's Final: Why the media missed Agnieszka?

Wimbledon 2012. Women's final. Centre Court. The stage was set for what was going to be an interesting and historic match for more than one reason. Serena Williams was to play for her record fifth title, and Agnieszka Radwanska for her record first. The match was preceded by a score of media reports that covered the strengths and weaknesses of each player, and set the stage for an exciting Sunday final.

The match lived up to its expectations, (well, mostly, depending on which player you supported), and in the end, Serena conquered the game 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 to win her remarkable fifth Wimbledon crown. The celebrations began and Serena was at the center of all the media attention, for obvious reasons.

Now, following the result, being the age of the Internet, I was generally following up on the news channels and web portals. As expected, the headlines proclaimed Serena's victory over her brave opponent. Fair. A few hours later, and even into the next day, the headlines and reams of electronic pages showered Serena with praise. Well deserved? Absolutely. But something kinda surprised me. On court (during the live telecast), as well as later - in many of the channels, online as well as off, I do not recall a shot that framed the brave runner-up, Agnieszka. Something was amiss... I let it pass, thinking maybe I haven't seen every second of every coverage that there had to be.

Despite the strange inkling about this at the back of my head, I did whatever else I was doing, and went to bed that night. Next morning, I woke up and eagerly took up the newspaper over my cuppa morning coffee. And, as I skimmed the headlines, and went over to the Sports page, once again the glaring "omission" struck me. Now this was indeed sad - a leading news paper did not even have the grace to picture the runner-up champ? Later, I also checked the sports pages of a few other daily newspapers, and even back online. It was sad, that you could not find much about Agnieszka in the context of one of the greatest sporting events.

This thought will always bother me: why did the media miss the coverage? Is winning the only game (or claim to fame)? Is this what represents the spirit of sportsmanship? All the players out there are true champions, and just like the fans who cheer their favorites, I feel, the media needs to do it too.I'll probably never know why this may have happened, but hopefully someone from the media will read this post someday, and think to do better next time.

(Search for 'Wimbledon 2012 Women's final' in Google-images, and you'll see how few pictures of the second champion you'll find, and you'll probably know what I'm talking about)

Three things that are wrong with the Indian travel industry

It's summer vacation here in India, and soon will be in most of the tourist destinations in the Northern hemisphere. Pick up any newspaper, and you find advertisements that jump out at you: USA, Europe, South-East Asia, Exotic locales... You name it, and there are holiday packages available for those who dare (or should I say wish?) to go.

Well, vacations are no doubt a time to relax, enjoy, discover and well, splurge ( if you can afford it!). The average Indian vacation-eer has no doubt started dreaming big. Call it the boom resulting out of higher disposable incomes, the downtrend in the economy (making vacationing a higher priority than say, buying that dream home for which you pay through your nose), or just the urge to live in the moment!

All that's surely a good thing, for the traveller and of course, the travel industry at large - more tourists means more business, naturally. But look more closely and one has to wonder, what is the deal with the (oh, well,) travel deals?! Domestic Holiday Packages for a bare minimum 3N/4D type, typically start at 25,000+ INR, per person. So, for an average family of four, that's a cool 100,000INR! International Packages probably start in the 30 or 35,000 INR range, and what's worse, it's usually without airfare or visa fees, etc. I can see ads today for a vacation to HongKong or Singapore, that's nothing less that INR60,000/-. Per Person, that is!!

Sure, the rupee is losing its value, and more so, in comparison to the US Dollar, but is this really what good vacations (must) cost? Is this what is the perceived value? Personally, I think that that's just way too much. Yes, the dollar, and jet fuel and taxes have risen, and made hotels and air travel more expensive, but the question that we need to be asking is, what's a fair value deal for a holiday package? For those in the travel industry, the same question may be put as, 'What's the sweet spot for someone to take this package?' (assuming, they are in the business to gain and encourage more people to travel during the vacations).

I don't get the big deal (no pun intended) in pricing a package like so, and then trying to offer discounts and that too for the really 'lucky' handful who somehow 'qualify' for the "*Terms and Conditions/Conditions Apply" of almost all the special offers. It could be funny, but it's often frustrating and irritating. There's so little predictability in the whole deal. It makes planning that vacation so much harder.

So, here's my personal view (and others are free to opine differently) on 3 things that are just not right for the Indian Travel Industry:
1. Planning a family vacation is just too complicated
Surely, with bookings being possible online in the past few years, things have been getting better. Indian Railways, offering  online booking is no doubt a great advantage for many. Leading travel portals have also played a role in aggregating deals and bookings to help the traveler. But, this is only a means. What still remains a very time consuming exercise, is finding the 'right' deal, checking availability - the end-to-end stuff - and the uncertainty about inclusions/exclusions, and confidence in getting value for what you pay for.

2.If it's a family vacation package, why not treat it that way?
This one is not easy, as the 'best' price is not going to be the same for everyone. And, then there are indirect costs - the dollar-conversion, airport taxes, fuel surcharge, etc. A 3N/4D deal @ 25,000/- pp may be okay for some, but will definitely start to look attractive if the whole deal for a family of 3 or 4 could be offered as a real package at 50,000/- or 65,000/-!! What's the idea to still quote the rates as a 'per person' for a family vacation? (That's another thing which gets me: hotel rooms being charged on per-person basis, for double rooms or larger. But that's for another day's rambling)

3. Do not add time (and money) - add value
Many packages imply a "value" by extending the duration, to 7N/8N/10D/12N. But that's not cutting the deal (well, at least for me). It's harder to justify a whirlwind tour of 5, 7 or 10 places all packed into this kind of a package to possibly justify the 'value'. Apart from accumulating stamps on your passport, it's going to leave you quite exhausted. Offer some flexibility to fine-tune the duration, depending on the place and interests of the family.Itemize the tours and costs, and allow one to pick (even if it's from a set list of items).

Don't get me wrong - travel services are not an easy business for anyone to be in. Competition is not making things any easier. And, some travel service providers are trying hard to address some of these aspects through new and creative ways. But, a vacation is all about the value and we need to find better ways to ask and deliver value.

Happy holidays!