Team Herald
PORVORIM: Admitting that there was a decline in the number of charter arrivals in Goa from Russia during the last tourism season, Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar said global recession and the economic meltdown along with curbs in issuing of visas could be some of the reasons for the decrease in the charters.
Responding to Congress MLA Reginaldo Lourenco’s question, he said there is no decrease in foreign tourists’ arrivals in the State for the last five years, except for a drop in the number of chartered flights from Russia during the year 2018-19.
“Probably, the global recession and the meltdown, curbs in issuing of visas could be responsible for decrease in flow of charters,” Ajgaonkar said.
He said in the last five years since 2014-15 till June 30, the tourism dept has held 39 international exhibitions and road shows in countries like Netherland, Berlin, Moscow, Dubai, Poland, Kazakistan, London, Austria, amongst others.
Similarly, he said during the same period 85 domestic exhibitions and road shows are held in the country to promote Goa tourism.
In yet another question, Ajgaonkar rubbished the media reports that they were promoting Casinos during their participation in Arabian Travel Mart at Dubai.
He said that there was a media report in the local English newspaper about the participation in the Arabian Travel Mart at Dubai in 2019 about promotion of casino.
“However, the said news items were not endorsed by the dept,” he said.
Stating that the Goa government has been in the process of Tourism Master Plan, Ajgaonkar said that the plan has been prepared after exhaustive research and surveys at the ground level and after having several consultative sessions with the tourism industry stakeholders concerned.
