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TRAVEL GUIDE
Travel Information for the
Tourists is available in the following languages
Airports
of Entry
India is 5.30 hours ahead
of GMT. Business travellers can enter India through
any of the five major cities with regular International
Airports - New Delhi, the capital, in the
north; Mumbai (formery Bombay), the commercial
capital on the coast of the Arabian Sea in the
west, Chennai (formerly Madras) on the southern
coast of the Indian Ocean, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta),
in the east, and Thiruvananthapuram in the South-West.
In addition to the International Airports there
are also several Domestic
Airports in India with limited international
operations: - These have customs and immigration
facilities for limited international operations
by national carriers and for foreign tourist and
cargo charter flights. These include Bangalore
(CE), Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Calicut, Goa (CE),
Varanasi, Patna, Agra (CE), Jaipur, Amritsar,
Tiruchirapally, Coimbatore and Lucknow. India
also has several Customs
Airports across the major centres of trade
in the country. Visit the Airports
Authority of India for obtaining more information
on the various types of airports in India.
Airport
Charges
Airport departure tax for
international departures is Rupees 500 (Foreign
Travel Tax) plus Rs.200 (passenger service fee),
i.e Rs 700. For departures to India's neighbouring
countries, the charge is Rs 150 (Foreign Travel
Tax) plus Rs 200 (passenger service fee). Although
departure tax is usually included in the cost
of ticket, it is advisable to recheck before departure
with your ticketing/travel agent.
Currency
Declaration, Customs and Baggage Rules
Currency
Declaration
The unit of the Indian currency
is the Rupee.
Travellers can bring into
India any amount of foreign exchange, subject
to the condition that on arrival a declaration
is made to the custom authorities in a Currency
Declaration Form. It is necessary to fill out
a declaration form if the foreign exchange exceeds
US$ 10,000 or its equivalent and /or the aggregate
value of foreign currency notes is US$ 5,000 or
its equivalent.
Travellers Cheques in US Dollar
and Pound sterling are easily exchangeable and
ATMs are available in major Indian cities. Credit
cards are accepted in hotels and large stores.
Customs
and Baggage Rules
There are two channels for
customs clearance :-
(i) Green Channel for passengers not having any
dutiable goods.
(ii) Red Channel for passengers having dutiable
goods.
Passengers walking through
the Green Channel with dutiable / prohibited goods
are liable to prosecution/penalty and confiscation
of goods.
Duty
free allowances and the rates of duties applicable
for goods imported as personal baggage are contained
in the rules established by the Central Board
of Excise and Customs, Government of India.
Domestic
Airlines operating in India
International
Airlines in India
India is well connected by
air on all international routes and served by
all major international airlines. You may contact
your travel agent or the airlines for flight schedules.
The international airlines that operate services
in to and out of India include
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International Airlines operating in India
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Indian
Railways
Indian
Railways
Travel
Maps
Detailed and digitised maps
helpful for travelling inside India are now available
from the Internet. These also provide interactive
facilities for obtaining more detailed information
about specific locations by zooming inside the
maps. You may visit MAPTELL
web site or Maps
of India web site for viewing the maps. You
could also buy these maps online.
Inter-State
Travel
Most parts of the country are
well connected by air, rail, and road transport
infrastructure. Indian Airlines, the government-owned
airline, and a number of other private airlines
run scheduled flights to various destinations.
Charter flights are offered by a few private companies.
For more details on Indian Airlines services,
please visit indian-airlines.nic.in,
www.jetairways.com,
www.airsahara.net,
www.airindia.com
Railway reservations can be
made from any of the 520 reservation centres in
the country or at railway stations. For further
details, please visit www.indianrail.gov.in
Travel
Agents
India has a well established
network of Travel Agents and tour operators. Most
Travel Agents and Tour Operators are also Members
of reputed National and International Associations.
The Government also has a system of providing
recognition to them. You may search for members
of the Travel Agents Association of India from
TAAINET.
Hotels
Hotels in India are classified
into different groups such as deluxe, international
chains, heritage and palace hotels, tourist bungalows,
traveller lodges, rest houses. etc.
Liberalization and a spurt
in travel have brought a large number of international
hotel chains to India. While well-known chains
such as Sheraton, Holiday Inn, Hyatt, Inter-Continental,
Meridien, Quality Inns, Best Western and Kempinski
have been in the country for a while, the recent
entrants are Country Hospitality with all its
chains (Regent, Radisson, Country Inns, TGIF),
Marriott, Hilton, Park Plaza, Four Seasons and
SHPC.
Centralized
reservations may be obtained through the travel
agents. For further information, please visit
the following websites:
www.hotels-india.com
www.india-hotels.net
http://www.fhrai.com/
Food
Indian cuisine differs from
region to region .There is Mughlai food, Tandoor
(bar-be-que in clay Oven), South Indian food.
For people in the north wheat is the staple, while
it is rice in south India. Generally Indian food
is spicy and hot. The waiters can be told to make
it less spicy.
There are some Indians
who are vegetarians. Hindus do not eat beef considering
cow as sacred. Muslims do not eat pork. There
are some vegetarians who do not eat egg, onions,
garlic etc.
The trend towards dining out
has increased and many restaurants serve Continental,
Chinese, Thai, Spanish, French. Mexican, Italian,
Lebanese, Mediterranean, and other cuisine. American
fast food is very popular and outlets are present
in most cities and towns.
Tipping is optional but a
common practice in India. The usual option involves
leaving a 10% tip for the services provided.
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