Team Herald
PANJIM: Sita Chief Operating Officer (COO) Ernest Dias is hopeful of charter flights resuming in first week of November following Government of India’s plans to open the doors for foreign tourists in a phased manner.
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The international flights operations have been suspended since March 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Dias said Goa will be the major beneficiary of the leisure travel since the Union government has decided to allow fully vaccinated foreign tourist while Goa has also majority coverage of both COVID-19 vaccine doses.
“We are hopeful of starting charter flights soon preferably in the first week of November. We have been talking to our overseas travel trade partners. We also recently flew a travel partner from Russia to Goa and interacted with Chief Minister Pramod Sawant in a bid to resume charter flights,” Dias said.
“From our side too we are pushing the government because Goa is heavily dependent on tourism. Without tourism we cannot survive. Government has made some concessions like first five lakh tourists visiting the country would be given free Visa. This will benefit Goa because it will open first. It will help to attract tourists. The announcement of giving subsidy to first few chartered flights will also help Goa,” he said.
Dias said, “It’s very competitive market. Every country is opening up. See for example Egypt is opening up after seven years. Russians love to visit Egypt. So we have to compete with other countries. Charter tourists in 2019 were almost two lakh and number of total foreign tourists who visited Goa was around 3.5 lakh.”
Dias said post-pandemic, domestic tourists in the State are coming in good numbers and most starred hotels are full.
“I am hopeful that charter flights will start coming to Goa by November 1, 2021. Advantage is that chartered flights are full with the passengers. We are giving inputs to our overseas trade partners,” he said.
