unfortunately it is true, just heard it on the local news... but they excluded touristic groups... individuals need to apply for a visa before heading to Egypt.
now tourism is dead!
- Thread starter macrobubble
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
macrobubble
Contributor
So, Solly, in which category falls an individual that books his flight, hotel and diving via the internet?
How would they know upon arrival at the airport in Sharm if this is an "individual traveller" or someone who has booked through, let´s say, Thomas Cook?
How does Thomas Cook trate, anyway? Do their customers fall in the category "group" (regarding all TC customers as one "group") or "individual traveller" (because he/she is travelling alone/as a pair? What number of people constitues a group? Do they have to arrive and depart on the same flight and do they have to stay at the same hotel? Is it a group if 10 divers that book everything through the internet and travel together? Or must they come through a recognized agency?
There are so many unknowns and variables that I think it is ridiculous to go public with such a half-baked idea and wanting to implement it on such short notice. What about all the tens of thousands of people that have already booked for the next two or three weeks and have no chance to get a visa in their home countries now? What about last minute offers? They would be just impossible because getting a visa from the egyptian embassy requires weeks!
And again: how would they control at the airport upon arrival who is what. Who is part of any group and who isn´t? What about the foreigners who (legally) own property in Egypt?
This all is so ridiculous that, were it not so important, it would make me laugh!
How would they know upon arrival at the airport in Sharm if this is an "individual traveller" or someone who has booked through, let´s say, Thomas Cook?
How does Thomas Cook trate, anyway? Do their customers fall in the category "group" (regarding all TC customers as one "group") or "individual traveller" (because he/she is travelling alone/as a pair? What number of people constitues a group? Do they have to arrive and depart on the same flight and do they have to stay at the same hotel? Is it a group if 10 divers that book everything through the internet and travel together? Or must they come through a recognized agency?
There are so many unknowns and variables that I think it is ridiculous to go public with such a half-baked idea and wanting to implement it on such short notice. What about all the tens of thousands of people that have already booked for the next two or three weeks and have no chance to get a visa in their home countries now? What about last minute offers? They would be just impossible because getting a visa from the egyptian embassy requires weeks!
And again: how would they control at the airport upon arrival who is what. Who is part of any group and who isn´t? What about the foreigners who (legally) own property in Egypt?
This all is so ridiculous that, were it not so important, it would make me laugh!
- Messages
- 2,580
- Reaction score
- 87
OP
macrobubble
Contributor
Why don´t you get in touch with the german embassy then? They might still have a wall to sell!Not absolutely impossible yet. That's why more measures are to be taken
It´s quite interesting, though, how the egyptians start to build their new "democratic and free society"...
- Messages
- 2,580
- Reaction score
- 87
Walls ain't good enough. BTW, do you know that another "wall" has been literally destroyed today?
I certainly do not have answers to all these questions right now as I can't find any details about what will be the situation other than the info on the news which is pretty much what was in the link in the first post of this thread.
I totally agree that all these questions have to be answered and many parties will be involved for example airlines checking eligibility of passenger to enter the country of destination, tour operators booking packages ...etc.
But I see it is normal, as an Egyptian I am required to do so when traveling to anywhere in the world, I have to apply to the consulate in Cairo (even if I am abroad and traveling and I decide to stretch the trip a little bit I have to get back to Cairo to apply for a visa) and applying to the visa requires many weeks as well (if you try to get a visa from the German consulate today you will get an appointment by mid November and if you satisfy the paperwork requirements your visa will arrive in 15 working days which is exactly 3 weeks ... this is not just a word of a mouth, it is a personal experience) ... why do you accept that for me as an Egyptian and resent it when Egypt decides to apply the same methodology?
Please do not start a debate about tourism industry and how would that have a negative impact ... true it will have an impact but still Spain and France have the same rules and still get a very high ratio of tourists from all over the world.
So I think that the decision needs a lot of work and cooperation to function correctly, and needs lots of acceptance from people to view this as a normal procedure that they have to go through, if they think this is not a good move then I would ask them to ask their governments to give the same rights for Egyptians to get a visa upon entry at the airport in their countries.
Quite simply because its utterly utterly retarded. Tourism is MASSIVELY down. A large percentage of the market of people that ARE here are independent and last minute travellers. And that ratio is increasing. Why have they decided to introduce something that will completely remove the growing and lucrative last minute market and greatly hamper the independent traveller.
And why at such short notice with NO systems in place what-so-ever at any embassy to cope with demand? Its the same as the (lack of) clock change thing only more serious. A half arsed idea by an idiot that is being pushed through in record time with no thought of the consequences OR the implementation.
Please do not start a debate about tourism industry and how would that have a negative impact ... true it will have an impact but still Spain and France have the same rules and still get a very high ratio of tourists from all over the world.
And reference Spain/France - the overwhelming majority of their tourism come from EU member countries. No visas needed, passport isn't even stamped. Freedom of movement between borders so the situation isnt comparable.
If Egypt was "full", tourism was running at capacity and so on then maybe, just maybe they;d have a valid argument at least in part. However it isn't - its MASSIVELY down, is shrinking and is reaching or reached crisis point in some areas yet they're now trying to turn away the few people that ARE coming!
Doubler
Contributor
I have to agree with Solly. What goes around comes around. It takes my Egyptian Military students several months to get US visas and they have been here numerous times. This is a great opportunity for some enterprising Egyptian to start a Visa assistance service. Done correctly could mean big bucks.
MikeBell
Registered
Ugh. I fly in on the 12th. I am relying on the visa upon arrival, I have no time to get a visa before I go. I guess all I can do is cross my fingers and hope I just miss this. Though, it is the weekend, I can't imagine they would be applying this policy over the weekend, would they? Here's hoping :confused4:
I don't think it will be applied that soon...
Similar threads
