Goa Tourism will have to answer as to why it insists on flying to certain countries with road shows to promote tourism or attend tourism conferences, when the response from those countries is at the most tepid, and at times not even that. In recent weeks delegations from Goa have flown to Germany, USA, Australia and Finland. The response from these countries has not been encouraging.

The latest tour by the department to USA has come under controversy with the opposition questioning the need to go the States, when the tourist arrivals from USA from 2012 to 2014 stood at 1.9 per cent annually, as per the figures presented by the Congress. The question is valid, as there is public money involved in the tours, and if such tours show no positive response, then the countries should be dropped from the list. Goa has been promoting tourism in the USA for quite a number of years, but has not been able to show an appreciable increase in footfalls from the country. Against this background, is it advisable to continue promotional tours to USA or stop them? Goa Tourism has to take a call, and has to take it fast.

For its foreign tourism arrivals, Goa depends a lot on Russia, which tops among foreign markets for Goa, followed by Britain. That one country – Russia – sent 166,057 of its countrymen to Goa as tourists during the 2017-18 season in 639 charter flights. The previous season of 2016-71 had seen 160,728 Russian tourists coming in 614 charters that landed at Dabolim airport. So a promotional tour to Russia is perfectly understandable, as is one to England. 

However, compare the figures from Finland. In 2016-17, there were 12 charter flights from Finland bringing 1,776 tourists. In the following season, that has just ended, there were 15 charter flights from Finland carrying 2,398 tourists. Yet, a Goa Tourism delegation has flown to the Scandinavian country on a promotional tour, justifying the marginal increase in arrival. The fruits of this visit will be known only a year from now, and Herald will keep track of this.

The Tourism Department’s defence that participation at international trade fairs and organising of international road shows is one of its primary functions towards promoting Goa Tourism internationally, is acceptable, but should the department retain its focus on countries that have not delivered results or should it break new ground by exploring countries from where there exists the possibility of tourists holidaying in Goa? It always makes business sense to tap new markets, rather than persisting with those that are not delivering, and Goa Tourism should begin strategising as a business entity, rather than getting caught up in the red tape of a government department.

Sadly, Germany, the country the pioneered charter flights to Goa has not sent any to this State for the last four seasons. Condor, that in the 1980s introduced Goa as a charter tourism destination, last flew in the 2013-14 season and then stopped operations to Dabolim. There was hope that the season just ended would bring in the German planes again, as charters from Hamburg were expected. This didn’t materialise, but Goa Tourism flew back to Berlin for the ITB, a tourism mart it has been participating in for almost 30 years. 

Tourism Department’s assertion that the minister is committed to improving the tourism sector in Goa and efforts are on to bring in quality tourists to the State from niche markets, can be vouched for only when there are results seen in the form of tourist arrivals. The 2017-18 season has ended with hardly any change of international markets for Goa, let the 2018-19 season be a test case that gets in tourists from the niche markets that the Department is tapping.