Temporary closings/Delays

Argentina: Farmers May Block Roads Again

Date: May 1st, 2008 |

For three weeks in March irate farmers blockaded roads and cut off meat and grain supplies to supermarkets in major cities, including Buenos Aires, but called off their protests when the government agreed to negotiate with them over the tax increase that spawned the protests. Little progress has been made and farmers vowed to set [read more]

Argentina: Bushfire Smoke Plagues Buenos Aires

Date: April 23rd, 2008 |

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Smoke from illegal bush fires blamed on farmers clearing land near Buenos Aires covered the capital for more than a week before winds pushed it away from the city. The pall caused air traffic controllers to cancel landings at Buenos Aires airports and police to close major highways because of poor visibility. The smoke drifted [read more]

Tibet: China to Retain Restrictions on Foreign Tourists

Date: April 17th, 2008 |

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Chinese officials did an about-face on their decision to reopen Tibet to foreigners May 1, saying that the region and its capital, Lhasa, will remain closed until further notice, probably at least until the Olympic torch passes through Tibet and possibly until the end of the Olympic Games. This decision does not affect Chinese tourists, [read more]

China: Heavy Snow Disrupts Travel

Date: January 24th, 2008 |

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Heavy snow disrupted travel in several provinces in central China at the beginning of the travel season for Lunar New Year. The holiday begins Feb. 7 but many Chinese travel weeks in advance to avoid the crush of travelers on trains and buses closer to the new year. Snow closed roads and caused dozens of [read more]

Australia: Fires on Kangaroo Island; Daintree Rainforest May Be Restricted

Date: December 13th, 2007 |

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Fires on South Australia’s Kangaroo Island burned for more than a week scorching 115 square miles of scrub and wilderness, with one fire in the Flinders Chase National Park still burning out of control Dec. 12. Tourism operators urged visitors not to cancel their trips to the popular island following moves to reopen tourist areas [read more]

Brazil: Government to Require Special Permits to Visit the Amazon

Date: May 1st, 2008 |

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The government intends to send Congress a bill within months that will require all foreign visitors to the Brazilian Amazon to obtain a permit to be there or face a whopping fine of 100,000 reals ($60,000). The bill will apply to all foreigners, whether tourists, businesspeople or employees of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Conservative politicians are [read more]

China: Diqing Tibetan Region Reopens to Foreigners

Date: April 17th, 2008 |

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While Tibet remains closed to foreign tourists, the Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan province reopened to all visitors April 10 after being closed for almost a month. The region is home to the tourist resort of Shangri-la, a place formerly known as Zhongdian but renamed in 2001 to cash in on the fabled secret [read more]

Egypt, Gaza, Israel: Border Crisis Stirs Tensions Between Egypt, Hamas, Palestinian Authority

Date: January 30th, 2008 |

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Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians poured into Egypt after Hamas militants blew open the border partition between Gaza and the Egyptian city of Rafah Jan. 23, relieving tensions in Gaza but creating tensions in Egypt. For the past six months Gaza has been blockaded by Israel because of almost daily rocket attacks on Israeli border [read more]

Philippines: U.S. FAA Downgrades Airline Operations

Date: January 17th, 2008 |

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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has downgraded Philippine airline operations because they do not comply with International Civil Aviation Organization safety standards. The FAA moved Philippine carriers into category 2, which means they can still fly to the U.S. but only under heightened FAA surveillance. Philippine Airlines is the only carrier from the Philippines [read more]

Libya: Passport Rules Changed without Notice, Foreigners Refused Entry

Date: November 15th, 2007 |

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Without warning, Libya changed passport rules for foreign tourists Nov. 11, denying entry to foreigners not carrying an Arabic translation of their passports regardless of whether they had appropriate visas. Planeloads of European tourists were turned back after landing and 18 French citizens were stranded overnight before being allowed to leave Nov. 12. None [read more]