tour company needs passport #s???

[lizinindy]

Why would a private tour company in Peru require us to give them our passport numbers for a tour that we arranged and paid for via credit card? Does that sound strange to anyone? Has anyone ever used Orquieda tours in Peru?

[Rev22:17]

lizinindy,

 

Why would a private tour company in Peru require us to give them our passport numbers for a tour that we arranged and paid for via credit card? Does that sound strange to anyone? Has anyone ever used Orquieda tours in Peru?

 

There are several possibilities. These come to mind.

 

>> 1. The national government might require lodging operators to report this information on all guests in the hotel, in which case the tour operators might have to provide it to the hotel operators.

 

>> 2. The national government might require tour operators to report this informaton on all guests on their tours.

 

>> 3. The tour operator might have to provide the information to a railroad, a coach company, or an airline that provides transportation for the tour.

 

>> 4. The tour might cross an international border somewhere, even as a shortcut in a mountainous area.

 

>> 5. The tour operator might have been burned in the past by customers who booked a tour and then cancelled at the last minute because a passport did not arrive in time.

 

And this list is not necessarily exhaustive.

 

Norm.

[lizinindy]

Good thoughts and thanks for bringing up some valid points but

 

1. It's just a shore excursion type trip, no hotels

 

2. Maybe that's it...has anyone ever had this request?

 

3. A possibility...maybe they rent their vans?

 

4. No border crossings

 

5. We already paid

 

I guess I'm asking if this is a request you'd have no hesitation in providing.

It's not like they're asking for my social security number....but....it just struck me as odd. I didn't want to give them the numbers and then have everyone on the board saying "you idiot...now they can ????? (I don't know??) Too paranoid, eh?

[lysolqn]

The request doesn't unreasonable - we were required to provide our passport information to the private tour companies we used on our two Baltic cruises.

[Moeve]

Credit Card companies are requiring vendors to take photo IDs as a precausion when clients make payments in advance. I have even had that happen in the US lately. But you could make sure by calling your CC first.

[cruise_girl_too]

It's also possible that because cruise ships carry passengers from different countries on the same ship, that the passport information request is because Peru does not have a visa exempt program with the countries the passengers may be from, and they request this information because the excursion exempts the passenger from applying for, and receiving a visitor's visa to be there....just a thought...

[Host Anne]

We recently did an excursion from St. John, USVI to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands and we had to provide our passport info to the tour operator in advance as well. Same thing when we did tours in St. Petersburg two summers ago.

 

Have a great time!