How not to encourage tourism.

Welcome to Guwahati. "No Room". "No Room". "Which country". "England". "Hotel full". I would have thought that tourism was to be encouraged in India, this is the principle of the most recent VISA change. VISA on arrival was supposed to make tourism easier. Why did it occur to nobody that in some cities almost all hotels will not accept foreigners, due to my favourite rant, the 'form-C problem'. How can it pass the attention of tourism officials, which is a post that exists in some of these impossible to visit cities, that it is so. The answer is perhaps a lack of understanding that in the well developed tourist locations of India, foreigners often pay far less than the expensive hotels which have form-C available. But a tourist department is a government department. Government departments have entrance exams and paperwork. To actually do something would be going too far.

For a recap, form-C simply contains some details of the foreigner and has to be submitted to the local police. At the very least hotels don't have this form in stock, or can't be bothered to make the trip to the police station. The suggested complication is that the police simply wouldn't accept it anyway without the right 'fee'/ family relation. The solution: allow any hotel in the country to complete the form online. This would instantly give the government required information. Camera phones might now be good enough to take a snap of the passport and visitor. But that would be logical. India loves paperwork. Stamp.