Jewel in the Crown is a tour operator I assume. So the question is they must have arranged the whole tour and would surely have stated the arrival and departure airports? Or am I missing something? Very strange going ons!!

What is it with Goa these days.... EVERYTHING is now about greed and money. When will they (govn/tourism) ever learn?

talking to my friend last week who is goan, he has run a successful bar in calangute for the past 18 years. he said trade was relay down this year, all his suppliers are getting greedy, thus pushing up his prices. and the police wanting their pound of flesh from him, the visa farce, and the threat of people losing their holiday homes, he says goa will burn its self out in the next 5 years. unless there are big changes
andy

I would say the way things seem to be heading, five years is a bit optomistic Alan

Heard something similar before Eddie, I believe that if a foreigner enters on a charter that they have to leave on a charter, not 100% on this but it does seem very dubious, Jewel on the other hand should be worded up about such things, maybe the official was right ? but to offer no reciept is another matter all together

The rules are, that if you arrive in India on a scheduled flight you cannot leave on a charter.If you arrive by charter you can leave India anyway you want.So if your friend arrived into Mumbai on a scheduled flight the official was correct.

John

i agree with jcbrum .ive met loads of people that stay there for months on end and if they arrive via the cities they have to leave that way..unfortunatly that seems to be the system out there..
very surpised that jewel in the crown never mentioned this to your mate eddie????
i would'nt really blame the goans on this one,,,
i would say the reason they do is,is to keep track of people which i feel is a good thing,,shame we dont do it here ,but that is another topic

Eddie,
There was a letter in the Herald on Thursday (21st Feb) from a guy in the UK regarding a similar incident....did your friend write it???
Very good letter, they printed it as their STAR LETTER with the caption "Corruption puts tourists off"
I've tried to find it on the website but there seems to be problems on there at the moment.
GFF xx

I hopefully can shed a little light on this.

When I worked in Goa Winter 2000/01, I flew in Air France to Mumbai in early Sept, and flew down to Goa 2 days later on Jet.

Seven months later, *name removed* - paid $100 to an airport "Official" to make a spurious 'phone call to the immigration officer so that another "official" could place a Dabolim stamp in my passport as it is not allowed for Schedule passenger to depart on a charter flight. This was the case with all my staff, pay the baksheesh or go schedule. It was cheaper and more convenient to pay the bribe.

Unfortunately, this is the "charm" and I use that word very tongue in cheek.

A couple of points Eddie, firstly Jewel in the Crown have an obligation to ensure that your friend has an unhindered passage, and being told that the tour operator is shirking their responsibility is something ABTA would be very interested in.

Secondly, the rep should not tell your friend to pay £100 to fund the corruption in Goa. It is the tour operators responsibility and it should state in pre travel documents if any in resort "surcharge" needs to be paid.

From the information we have, Jewel in the Crown have failed in their duties as a go between and responsible operator and at the very least should have paid the £100 for their guests to ensure the safe passage home and reclaimed that money from their own in resort agents.

Sorry if I am going on a bit about Jewel in the Crown, but it really hacks me off when they treat guests with utter contempt. I have worked at the sharp end and know that India has her own idiosyncrasies, but customer care is at the forefront.

That said something needs to be done with this constant ripping off of the hand that feeds you.

If we all stopped going where would they be then...........