SUNDAY, MAY 05, 2024
Team Herald
PANJIM: With just a month left for the charter season to kick off, the State tourism industry is looking with a hope at the Central government to re-include United Kingdom in the list of e-visa facility countries.
TUI Airways, an international charter flight operator, is set to bring in first flight from Gatwick, UK, to Goa on November 2.
Visitors from the UK constitute the largest chunk of foreign tourists to the State after Russia. The Centre had, last year, withdrawn the e-visa facility for UK and Canada, reportedly as a reciprocal action to those countries not extending the same facility to Indian nationals.
Speaking to Herald, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) president Nilesh Shah said that TTAG as well as the State government has petitioned Centre and we are hopeful of some positive outcome in the days to come.
Shah said that while on one side there have been inquires from British charter operators, at the same time there are some cancellation. “All hopes are now on the response of the Central government,” he said.
The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has received requests for charter flights to Goa from Tel Aviv, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain, Russia, Gatwick, Almaty, Manchester and Muscat. These flights will be in addition to the scheduled commercial flights that come in from London, Doha, Dubai, Muscat and Sharjah.
Shah said that as per the information received from AAI, eight charters will land every week in Goa from next month. “Charters from Russia, UK, Kazakhstan and other CSI countries have made requests,” he said.
Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte last month had raised several issues pertaining to Goa’s tourism industry before the Union Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation including to allow e-visa facilities for UK tourists.
