I have been looking enviously at the “incredible India” campaign from the Indian Tourism Office lately. They appear to have lots of money to spread their message all over North America. It seems to have generated lots of interest in India, which of course is worrisome when you work for the Canadian Tourism Commission. But, as Tony Wheeler (founder of Lonely Planet) reports, we don’t have to worry too much, because luckily, India has a very effective immigration department, which manages to do a great job discouraging prospective tourists from actually getting a visa to go there.

As Tony mentions, the US is no less effective. Read especially this blog entry from an Icelandic woman who overstayed her visa by 3 weeks, 10 year ago.

At least Canada is much nicer to its tourists – provided you come from the US, Europe or other developed nations, that is. Now, if you are a citizen of, for example, a latin American country, well, that is a different matter all together. The Canadians can be pretty effective at keeping potential visitors at bay as well…