Goa tourism take-off hit by turbulence: four charter flights cancelled

| OCTOBER 18, 2018, 03:19 AM IST

the goan I network

PANAJI

The tourism season has not begun on a good note, as four charter flights, which were scheduled to land in Goa, have cancelled their trip. Tourism stakeholders had earlier too raised concerns that the number of charter flights this season would be lesser than previous year.   

A source informed, “A charter flight, which was supposed to land in Goa on September 30, was cancelled. Earlier, it was expected that 18 charter flights would fly into Goa in October. But now, only 15 flights are going to arrive, which means three charter flights are cancelled for the month of October itself.”   

Over several years now, charter flights have become important part of tourism business in the state because such flights bring in foreign tourists from countries like the UK, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, etc.   

A potential drop in charter flights indicates that there could be a decline in the number of foreign tourists as well this season.   

Savio Messias, president, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) said, “Egypt has opened up as a destination now. Foreign tourists also say that both Egypt and Turkey are cheaper destinations for them than Goa. Vietnam and Thailand have also emerged as potential cheaper destinations that tourists prefer.”   

Messias continued, “We have been telling the government that there should be some incentives for charters, but so far, we have not got any support on this. I think the government has to work out some mechanism to incentivise the charters.”   

For European tourists, both Egypt and Turkey are much closer destinations and hence cheaper to fly to as compared to Goa.   

In the last few years, Egypt’s and Turkey’s tourism industries were affected due to geopolitical issues. As a result, a number of foreign tourists had preferred to come to Goa.   

But now, it seems that Egypt and Turkey are going back to normalcy, which unfortunately could have an adverse impact on tourism in Goa.   

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