Emailed Copy of Passport?
 

My hotel's concierge has been arranging a day trip by car with a tour operator for me to visit a nearby country. This trip will happen in a few months.

I just got an email from the concierge, saying that the tour operator needs an emailed copy of my passport.

Does this sound fishy? Any concerns or considerations?

Many thanks.

What country?

In a word, yes. I wouldn't agree to it. The only legit reason would be if you need a visa, and a soft copy of a passport ID page is useless to get a visa from anywhere.

He;s going from Dubai to Oman:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/middl...l#post26038769

It sounds like a perfectly reasonable request to me.

Perfectly reasonable if you're ok with surrendering your passport to a hotel clerk in a Middle East country.

I give my passport to the desk clerk at every hotel I stay at. I also routinely email passport copies to tour agents, I have a saved image of my passport on my desktop and I use it frequently.

For me it depends where I am in the world. If someone in the US wanted me to send them a copy of my passport it would seem weird, the same request in a random developing country? Totally normal.

Thanks all for your insights!