" Timor trouble soon over??? " a East Timor Travel Page by Yiannis2000

Timor Lorosae, as East Timor is called by its people, declared its formal independence on the 20th of May 2002. Its formal name is now Timor Leste, in Portuguese. Timor has not developed its infrastructure yet, its people are strugling to heal past wounds, but it offers amazing experiences to the determined travellers that reach it. Lately- May 2006- a wave of violent riots rocked Dili but a new government led by Nobel Peace Laureate Ramos-Horta seems to have stabilised the situation.

Less than a million people inhabit the eastern half of the Timor island, that makes the country of East Timor. The western half still belongs to Indonesia, for some tips on West Timor check my Kupang page...
For general data on East Timor try this Tourismo
link!
In 2005 about 3,000 were estimated to be actual travellers or tourists, with the remainder(over 90% of visitors) being military, media, aid related etc. Timor Leste currently offers just one four star hotel and this, included with other lower category hotels, means there is a total of just 1,500 rooms for travellers to choose from.

In an attempt to spread the word of what the raw beauty of Timor Leste has to offer, officials this year attended three major trade shows - the ITB in Berlin, the BTL in Lisbon and the PATA Travel Mart in Hong Kong. Participation at these events was made possible largely thanks to support from Portugal, Macau, Thailand and other industry partners.

Timor Leste's largest obstacle in attracting more tourists does not come from the question of security, but instead from accessibility. Currently there are only two airlines which fly to Timor Leste, Merpati and Air North. Merpati currently flies from Bali four times a week and will be increasing this to daily in the near future. Air North flies out of Darwin to Timor Leste 11 times per week.
Officials from Timor Leste are already in talks with other carriers, including low cost airlines in Indonesia and Singapore's Silk Air.

All travellers to Timor Leste receive a 30 days visa on arrival except Portugese nationals who receive a 90 days exemption.