That change has to come ASAP so that the industry drops its old mindset and prepares for the changes that will take place.
Currently, the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa is banking on the government allowing charter landings to boost the tourist footfalls in the State and get the industry back on a solid footing after the abrupt and early end to the season in March and the lockdown induced losses that have percolated to the current season. In the current scenario, charter tourism may not be the best solution for Goa. For starters, is Goa ready to take the risk of allowing travellers from countries that are seeing a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic? Europe has been gripped in a second wave of COVID-19 cases leading to severe and several restrictions in various countries. The United Kingdom and Russia are the two main charter markets for Goa, and both are currently facing a steady increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in their countries.
If you enjoyed reading this article, you can help support our journalism by adding OHeraldo as a preferred source.
Take Russia first, as it currently brings the largest number of foreign tourists to Goa. The total confirmed COVID-19 count in the country is over 13 lakh and it is rising every single day. After a daily high in early May, Russia saw its daily rise in cases slowly fall and in August and until mid-September was adding just over 5000 cases a day. But that has now changed. There has been a spurt in cases that started in late September and the daily increase is now over 13 cases a day in the country. Russia is in fourth spot in total cases at the current time.
Look now at the United Kingdom that has also been a steady charter market for Goa, despite the closure of Thomas Cook UK last year. UK saw a fast increase in COVID-19 cases till mid-May and then appeared to see the beginnings of a flattening of the curve, allowing it to open up areas that had been locked down to contain the spread of the virus. From sometime in June till mid-August UK was coasting along with an average daily rise that was well below a thousand, but then saw the daily new cases reaching the four-figure mark and now is adding around 13,000 new cases a day, with a spike of over 17,000 on October 8.
Currently Goa is catering to the domestic tourists, mainly families and groups of friends known to each other, a large number of who are travelling to the State in their own vehicles thereby avoiding the risk of infection during the journey. Under the standard operation procedure, there is no testing for the virus for incoming travellers, so the threat of them bringing the virus exists though it is minimised on account of the travel in private vehicles. On the other hand, if charter travel is permitted, there will be hundreds of persons travelling in the closed confines of the airplane for hours on end which substantailly increases the risk of infection if there is any positive person on the flight.
Charter tourism works on low pricing and full occupancy of the flights. The operators cannot accommodate physical distancing norms on the plane as this will increase the price of the ticket substantially, which will be a major drawback to tourists. Rather than waiting for foreign travel restirctions to be relaxed, the tourism industry in Goa has to seriously consider marketing aggressively to the Indian market if it wants to earn some revenue this season, as it prepares for the revamp that the new policy will bring.
