Do I need a visa to visit Costa Rica?

H​urricane Idalia is barreling toward the Florida Gulf Coast and is expected to make landfall as a major hurricane on Wednesday and disrupting travel up and down the coast.

Whether it’s divine providence or this travel writer giving it the thumbs up, take the hint! Book a flight to Costa Rica!

Costa Rica is an eclectic mix of customs, beliefs and people, whose multicultural and multilingual inhabitants descended from the cultural fusion of immigrants, including Africans, Chinese, Jews, Lebanese and Italians. With a population approaching five million, similar to that of Kentucky, Costa Rica remains small enough to afford visitors the opportunity to become acquainted with its friendly people.

Taking note of the massive delay in processing visas, the U.S. is taking steps to reduce wait times for Indians. The U.S. Consulate in Mumbai has brought in consular officers from around the world to help out with visa operations. “All hands on deck to reduce visa wait times! Our incredible team of consular officers have temporarily left their regular duties around the world, from the State Department in DC to the U.S. Consulate Naha, to help out with visa operations in Mumbai,” the consulate in Mumbai tweeted. Reducing visa delays has been a priority for the U.S. consulates in India as wait times for visitor visas are still around 614 days. The U.S. Embassy in India processed over 100,000 visa applications in January 2023, their highest total in a single month and the highest in any month since July 2019, according to media reports.

India has restored e-visa services for the nationals of Saudi Arabia wanting to visit the country with immediate effect, the Embassy of India in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia tweeted last week. The facility which had been available for five categories of travel — e-tourist visa, e-business visa, e-medical visa, e-medical attendant visa and e-conference visa — was suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. The application and payment of fees are required to be made for a minimum of four days in advance from the date of travel and wait for the approval. For online filling and submission of the application, applicants need to visit the official website — indianvisaonline.gov.in. Earlier, Saudi Arabia had announced a few exemptions for Indian nationals to obtain a visa for traveling to the country as it looks to India as a key source market for tourism, especially with Saudi’s ambition to achieve 100 million visits annually by 2030. Saudi Tourism Authority during its recent delegation visit to India, featured a range of meetings, industry round-tables and networking events followed by two roadshows in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Saudi Tourism Authority has also, commenced an official partnership with the popular cricket meet — Indian Premier League.

Credit card, payment and expense companies have seen a massive jump in transactions for the first quarter.

The amount of time a first-time visitor visa applicant in India has to wait for an interview has fallen from an average of 669 days in mid-March to 337 days in early April, a 50 percent drop, according to the U.S. Travel Association. 

Good morning from Skift. It’s Monday, June 5. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

The United Arab Emirates has lifted a visa ban on Lebanese nationals following a temporary suspension over security concerns, Lebanon’s foreign minister said on Friday,

Long visa processing times are restricting destination marketers’ ability to attract new tourists from key international markets. 

India-headquartered travel tech firm RateGain has set its sights on expanding in the Americas, and to spearhead this effort, it has appointed Peter Strebel as President for the Americas region, Skift has confirmed.

Editors note: This post has been updated with new information.