Goa’s tourism industry heavily depends on foreign tourists and charters but this season, the state will be lying bare without any of its usual international visitors. Stakeholders of the tourism industry are disheartened at the Centre’s conclusion last week, which states that tourist visas will still remain on hold. This is spelling perils for the tourism and hospitality industry as the state’s much-awaited charter season has been put on indefinite hold.
No Charter Season this year
The charter season in the state usually commences by the mid of October and concludes the following year, by April-May months. International tourists fly in from all across the globe and the footfalls cross lakhs each time. But the tally of domestic tourists visiting Goa, is certainly way ahead of its international attention. Just recently, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) entered into a Air Bubble agreement with the UK, Russia and Poland- which help Goa to scoop off maximum revenue. But these countries have been witnessing a surge in their corona cases, which is a major discouraging factor in this context.
The government of Goa has shown support in restarting the tourism industry by cutting down on the beach shack license fee by 50% and the demarcation process of beach shacks along Goa’s coastal belt has also become operational. For the safety of the tourists, 2 new police districts have also been formed and direct flights from Goa to London and vice versa, have commenced as well. Other various provisions have been issued by the authorities too, in terms of boosting tourism in the state.
